An Evening of German and Russian Music and Literature featuring the Rimsky-Korsaov String Quartet

Kyung Ah Kim and Han Nah Son (pianists, Boston), Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet (St. Petersburg), and Charles Coe (poet, Boston). The program will feature compositions written by Russian and German composers and authors such as Piano Quintet by Robert Schumann, poems by Goethe in Lermontov's translation “Wanderers Nachtlied” set to music, and others. Presented by the Educational Bridge Project in collaboration with the Center for the Study of Europe's “Russian Voices” initiative. Event takes place at the Goethe Institut Boston.

The Rimsky-Korsakov String Quartet, based in Saint Petersburg, Russia, formed in 1939, is a monument to Russian musical history. The present members Mikhail Bondarev (violin), Ekaterina Belisova (violin), Alexei Popov (viola), Anton Andreev (cello) are graduates of the Saint Petersburg Conservatory who, by virtue of a shared background, steeped in the grand tradition of Russian music making, achieve organic and convincing interpretations of a diverse repertoire of masterworks, Russian classics, and contemporary masters. The Quartet champions the music of Russian composers with the core of their repertoire being the music of Borodin, Tchaikovsky, Glazunov, Taneyev and Stravinsky. They also perform lesser-known masterworks of Glinka, Alabiev, Rimsky-Korsakov, Gretchaninov, Miaskovsky and Mossolov. The group is an exponent of contemporary composers having recently premiered Hans Werner Henze’s Piano Quintet at the Berliner Philharmonie. Furthermore, they have been active in presenting premiere performances of young composers in Saint Petersburg. Since 1989, the group has been actively touring abroad and has made appearances at numerous prestigious music festivals.