TOPSHAM — For the grand finale of its 20th anniversary season, the DaPonte String Quartet will perform a program titled “The Passions of Youth,” featuring the early music of three composers, Beethoven, Tan Dan and Mendelssohn.
Beethoven wrote his String Quartet in B-Flat Op. 18 No. 6 in 1802. Nicknamed “La Malinconia,” it was written by Beethoven just as he began to be revered as one of the foremost composers of Europe. But, at the same time he wrote this piece, he learned that he was going irreversibly deaf, and one can hear in it how he seems to respond to this devastating blow.
Tan Dan, is known to movie goers for his film scores such as “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” He wrote “Eight Colors” for string quartet, in 1986, when he arrived in New York from his native China.
The final work on the program is String Quartet in Eflat, Op. 12, written in 1829 by Felix Mendelssohn, who was 19 years old. By turns tuneful, dazzling, introspective and nonchalant, Mendelssohn had already honed the expressive powers and craftsmanship that make his music immensely appealing to audiences young and old.
Concerts are scheduled for 7:30 p.m. today at St. Mary the Virgin Church, 43 Foreside Road, Falmouth; at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at the Lincoln Theater in Damariscotta, and at 3 p.m. Sunday at Mid-Coast Presbyterian Church, 84 Main St., Topsham.
General admission tickets cost $22. Admission for seniors is $18. Concert goers younger than 21 will be admitted free.
Tickets are available at the door of each concert venue, online at www.daponte.org or at Gulf of Maine Books on Maine Street in Brunswick.
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