The Music Academy season was in top gear during the second to last week in July, with outstanding offerings in a broad range of classical music genres. I heard two great concerts of contemporary music early in the week, and then returned on Saturday, July 25, to the Lobero for a night that paired Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 3 in A Minor, Op. 56 with excerpts from an early 18th century opera, Rinaldo, by Handel.
What follows is a relatively in-depth account of the early week doings, followed by a necessarily short but heartfelt expression of appreciation for maestro Nicholas McGegan’s contributions on Saturday.
Back-to-back evenings on Monday and Tuesday featuring the JACK Quartet were outstanding examples of what the Music Academy of the West does to promote contemporary composition. JACK is Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violins, John Pickford Richards, viola, and Kevin McFarland, cello. The group’s name is an acronym based on the player’s first names, and the quartet’s collective mission is to perform great new music. On Monday, July 20, they played works by Caroline Shaw, John Zorn, Matthias Pintscher, and Iannis Xenakis that demonstrated both a broad range of styles and a commitment to the elaboration of a specific tradition within the field of late modern music. The next night, composer Thomas Adès joined the group on piano for a performance of his Piano Quintet from 2000.