Experience two richly inventive works for strings composed nearly 150 years apart: Johannes Brahms’ Sextet in G Major Op. 36 (1864), and American composer Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte (2011).
For this intimate and beautifully presented concert, Opera North’s sextet is led from the violin by the Orchestra’s newly appointed leader, Katie Stillman.
Brahms’ second sextet is highly regarded for its technical ingenuity, particularly the mastery of counterpoint, but also for its tonal richness that is almost symphonic. Caroline Shaw has won several Grammy awards and was the youngest ever winner of the Pulitzer Prize in Music. She has written for Anne Sofie von Otter, Davóne Tines, Yo Yo Ma, Renée Fleming, Dawn Upshaw and the LA Phil, as well as contemporary dance, theatre and scores for silent film.
“Shaw’s music belongs to a post-minimalist world that is fundamentally and unashamedly tonal, while never taking that tonality for granted.”
– The Guardian
Featuring players from the staff and Orchestra of Opera North, our Distilled series explores new ways in which to present classical music. A chance to experience small ensembles interacting at close quarters, each of these shorter programmes offers an intense experience of chamber music in its purest essence.
