Jesse Holstein

Fri, 10/10/2008, 5-7pm:

SALON - Providence String Quartet violinist Jesse Holstein on Dmitry Shostakovich and Benjamin Britten, featured composers in PSQ’s spring series at the Athenaeum. Great admirers of one another’s music, Shostakovich and Britten stand as two giants of 20th century music. Britten’s 2nd quartet, written in 1945 to commemorate the 250th anniversary of composer Henry Purcell’s death, concludes with an immense baroque chaconne as a direct tribute. Shostakovich dedicated his powerful 8th quartet, “In memory of victims of fascism and war.” In the Dresden summer of 1960, writing the score for a film on WWII, Shostakovich, emotionally overcome by his subject matter and the city’s bombed-out condition, composed his pseudo-autobiographical quartet in a mere three days. Spring series dates: 2/19 (Shostakovich), 5/14 (Britten); buy your tickets at the Salon! For Athenaeum members and their guests. (Sponsor: The Curatorium, thecuratorium.com)