A program of works created during the World War II period from three distinct nationalities: Irish-English, Soviet and German. The evening closes with a rare performance of Richard Strauss’s Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings written during the waning months of WWII and widely regarded as an elegy for Germany’s destruction during the war. Elizabeth Maconchy: String Quartet #4 (1942) Sergei Prokofiev: String Quartet #2 in F Minor  (1942) Richard Strauss: Metamorphosen for 23 Solo Strings (1945)

An exhilarating journey across time, place, and vastly different artistic sensibilities. Duke composer John Supko’s 2020 quartet, commissioned by the Ciompi, receives its first live performance; pianist Ieva Jokubaviciute joins the quartet for a major work by the Soviet composer Miecyslaw Weinberg; and the Quartet revives a favorite piece by mid-century American, William Grant Still. The concert begins with a suite from the English renaissance by John Dowland. John Dowland: Suite of Songs (arranged for piano quintet by Andrew Waggoner)…

The beauty, drama, and heartbreak of real life are woven into this program, which spans 250 years of the string quartet’s history. The Ciompi Quartet’s final Baldwin program this season is animated by the distinctive naturalism of three composers: Haydn, Janacek, and. Christopher Theofanidis. Poet Melissa Studdard and Theofanidis take Sufi poet Farid ud-Din Attar’s “Conference of the Birds” as the starting point for a unique musical-poetic collaboration. Leos Janacek: Selections from "On an Overgrown Path” (arranged for string quartet…