The Lott Quartet will be performing the music of Beethoven, Dvorak, and Wynton Marsalis at the Denmark Arts Center on Sunday, May 29 at 3 p.m., and at the Leura Hill Eastman Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, May 31 at 7 p.m.
Based in New Orleans, the Lott Quartet was founded around a mutual love of chamber music and a deep desire to reach audiences with engaging and insightful programming. Recently appointed as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of New Orleans, the group begins a role as musical ambassadors to the greater Southeast U.S., bringing their passion as performers and educators to audiences and students throughout the Gulf region and beyond.
The May 29 and May 31 program begins with the stormy opening to Beethoven’s C minor quartet. This four-movement work showcases the genius writing of a young and fiery Beethoven, whose chosen key of C minor is so often used to depict his most personal inner struggles. Next, Marsalis’ Hellbound Highway kicks the energy into high gear as the composer takes the audience on a train ride from “down south.” They finally arrive in the Big Easy, dancing to the celebratory Rampart St. Row House Rag. After a brief intermission, the quartet will perform Dvorak’s Quartet No. 14 in A-flat major. Dvorak wrote the work Bohemia shortly after returning from America in 1895. Romantically Czech in nature, hints of American influence lead Dvorak’s son to state that the work “recapitulated his successful trip to America and his happy return home.” The May 31st concert will feature a special guest performance by the Valley Strings—an ensemble composed of Fryeburg Academy students and community members.
Tickets to the May 29 performance at the Denmark Arts Center are $15 general admission. Order online at www.denmarkarts.org/events. Tickets to the May 31 performance at the Leura Hill Eastman PAC are $15 for adults and free for students (reserved seating). Order online at www.fryeburgacademy.org/pac, or call the box office at 207-544-9066. Both performances are funded in part by a grant from the Maine Arts Commission, an independent state agency supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.
