This final program delights in the art of transformation – of a simple theme spun into infinite possibility, and of everyday life elevated into music. Philip Bimstein's Cats in the Kitchen blends flute, oboe, and an astonishing array of kitchen sounds – meows, cracked eggs, sizzling skillets, and pepper grinders – into something genuinely hilarious and surprisingly touching. Dorothy Howell's lyrical Air, Variations & Finale showcases a long-neglected master who was once called the "English Richard Strauss." Brahms's autumnal Viola Sonata and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 5, with its celebrated set of variations, round out an evening that reminds us music can be tender, playful, and transcendent all at once.

PROGRAM

Howell, Dorothy - Air, Variations & Finale for Violin, Oboe, and Piano

Shawn Welk, oboe; Alana Carithers, violin; Leslie Amper, piano

Brahms, Johannes - Sonata for Viola and Piano, Op. 120, No. 2

Bernard Di Gregorio, viola; Leslie Amper, piano

Intermission

*Bimstein, Philip - Cats in the Kitchen

Valerie Watts, flute; Shawn Welk, oboe

Beethoven, Ludvig van - String Quartet No. 5 in A major, Op. 18, No. 5

Jonathan Sturm, violin; Julie Fox Henson, violin, René Reder, viola; Andrea Di Gregorio, cello

*American composer