ROMANCE, FIRE, AND TRANSCENDENCE

The New Asia Chamber Music Society presents an inspirational concert in collaboration with the Sullivan String Quartet, including music of Dvorak, Shostakovich, and Schubert. Dvorak's Cypresses are delicate musical gems based on early songs for voice and piano. Schubert's Cello Quintet is a towering composition that conveys a panoramic vista of all human existence. Though it was composed when Schubert was facing death, his music expresses a spiritual joy that transcends the human condition. Shostakovich's Piano Quintet is a musical epic that expresses the drama and the angst of being alive during the mid-twentieth century. Residents of both East and West had to endure the traumas of World War II and the Cold War, as well as the stifling effect of technocracy on human spirituality. Shostakovich and his contemporaries wrote music that testifies to the resilience of the human spirit under the most barren and hopeless conditions.