traditions and transformations

New friends and old favorites sit side by side in a program of masterpieces from three centuries, performed by SMF faculty and fellows. Flutist Jasmine Choi weaves a magical web of sound in Claude Debussy’s mesmerizing Syrinx, the myth of a water nymph pursued by the Greek god Pan. Hungarian composer György Ligeti’s 1953 work, Six Bagatelles for Wind Quintet, is fiendishly difficult for the players and hugely enjoyable for the audience. New SMF faculty cellist Gabriel Cabezas joins pianist Robert Levin in Beethoven’s Cello Sonata No. 2, in which the visionary young Beethoven juxtaposes intense drama with jovial humor. SMF faculty and fellows join together for Mendelssohn’s magnificent Octet for Strings, a musical miracle written when the composer was only 16.