The Orion Ensemble: “To Joy!”

Program

Richard Strauss
QUARTET in C Minor for Violin, Viola, Cello and Piano, Op. 13

Ludwig van Beethoven
SEPTET in E-Flat Major for Strings and Winds, Op. 20

With guests Stephen Boe (viola), Robert Kassinger (bass), Andrei Muravev (bassoon) and Greg Flint (French horn)

Recognized as one of Chicago’s finest chamber music groups, The Orion Ensemble has been performing since 1992. John von Rhein of the Chicago Tribune called Orion “one of Chicago’s most vibrant, versatile and distinctive ensembles.” With the possibilities inherent in its unique combination of instruments—piano, string trio and clarinet—Orion offers exciting interpretations of standard repertoire, introduces audiences to rarely performed masterpieces and inspires composers with commissions for new works.

The Orion Ensemble boasts a roster of superb musicians who have performed throughout North America, Europe and Asia, as an ensemble and individually in solo, orchestral and other chamber music roles. In Chicago, Orion presents a four-concert series in three venues, is heard regularly on the broadcast series “Live from WFMT” and appears frequently on the Chicago Cultural Center’s Lunchbreak Series “Classical Mondays.”

Orion programs diverse works ranging from Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms to William Bolcom, Chick Corea, Paul Schoenfield, Augusta Read Thomas and other living composers, offering audiences a remarkably broad chamber music experience. Orion’s expansive commitment to chamber music embraces the works of the classical through modern standard repertoire as well as an extensive range of new pieces for piano quartet and clarinet. Orion continues to inspire composers with commissions for new works written especially for its unique combination of instruments. As the Chicago Tribune’s John von Rhein wrote upon Orion’s 10th anniversary, “It seems like only yesterday that a remarkable chamber group of musicians calling itself the Orion Ensemble was born. The Orions … quickly established themselves as one of the Chicago area’s most vibrant, versatile and distinctive ensembles, at home in every period but especially committed to enlarging the repertory of its unusual combination of piano quartet and clarinet.”