Jasper String Quartet
Peter Sirotin doesn’t just shut his eyes and throw darts at a dartboard as a way of picking musical groups for a new season of shows.
As co-director of Market Square Concerts, he makes a “concerted” effort to have reasons for his choices. He listens, he connects, he thinks. Ask anyone who has enjoyed MSC’s rich variety of performances, and they’ll tell you that his picks are stellar.
“We spend a great deal of time listening to young performers and seasoned artists, as well as considering cultural relevance of different programs to our contemporary experience,” he said.
Sirotin also trusts his audiences. Their feedback plays a vital role, particularly in decisions about inviting artists back. Yet Sirotin will go beyond what is expected. He also loves to surprise and give music lovers new experiences. The 2024-25 season of shows is no exception.
These new experiences begin on Sept. 25 at Temple Ohev Sholom with the award-winning Calidore String Quartet, a group that debuted with MSC a few years ago and is back by popular demand. Described as intimate with a “refined balance,” and as having “grunge-band grit,” Sirotin admits to the group’s distinct style of playing.
“Calidore String Quartet offers an electric energy, tremendous dynamic range combined with an unusual clarity of individual voices,” he said. “I was thrilled to invite the Calidore String Quartet back for the opening of our season with a program exploring three centuries of string quartet evolution through compositions by Mozart, Beethoven and Korngold.”
Next on the schedule is the Philadelphia-based music ensemble Tempesta di Mare on Nov. 9 at the acoustically splendid St. Michael Lutheran Church on State Street. The program, “Cruel Amaryllis,” traces the evolution of madrigal in early 17th-century Italian music.
The popular “Stuart and Friends” program follows on Jan. 5 at Market Square Presbyterian Church. The event will celebrate Maestro Stuart Malina’s 25th anniversary in Harrisburg with two masterpieces: Messiaen’s transcendent “Quartet for the End of Time,” written during the darkest days of World War II, and Dvorak’s uplifting “Piano Quintet in A Major.”
Malina will be joined by clarinetist Richie Hawley, violinists Alexander Kerr and Peter Sirotin, violist Michael Isaac Strauss and cellist Julian Schwarz.
“I am really looking forward to performing the marvelous Dvorak Quintet with the group,” Sirotin said.
The following month, on Feb. 22 at Market Square Presbyterian Church, pianist Mark Markham will perform a recital showcasing groundbreaking works by Brahms, Ravel and other composers, written in their twenties. The recital is a part of Markham’s artistic residency in Harrisburg, which will include his appearance as a soloist with the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra, performing Ravel’s “Piano Concerto for the Left Hand.”
“This unique masterpiece was dedicated to pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who lost his right arm in World War I but developed new techniques of playing, which allowed him to continue performing with the left hand alone,” Sirotin said. “In March of 2025, the world will celebrate the 150th anniversary of Ravel’s birth, which is a wonderful opportunity to bring Mark Markham back to Harrisburg for an artistic residency featuring Ravel’s music.”
On March 26 at the Derry Presbyterian Church in Hershey, the young, award-winning Trio Gaia from Boston will make its MSC debut. This delightfully eclectic program includes works by Schumann, Debussy, Reena Esmail and Gabriela Lena Frank, whose “Four Folk Songs” were inspired by melodic motifs and rhythms of her mother’s homeland, Peru.
Concluding the season on April 27 at Temple Ohev Sholom will be a performance by the award-winning Jasper String Quartet. The group will perform a playful and rustic program surveying folk influence in music by European, Russian, Korean and American composers from the classical era to present day.
Sirotin calls music a “powerful antidote to the growing anxiety and isolation in our society.” He has kept that power in mind as he went about creating this upcoming season. What will resonate with the audience? What will uplift listeners in these trying times?
“Attending live performances and sharing powerful musical experiences with people of different ages, backgrounds and political views help build community,” he said “Great music, like all great art, has an ability to connect us with the life experience of people from different eras and cultures. It entertains and inspires, provides emotional support and educates.”
For more information on Market Square Concerts, visit www.marketsquareconcerts.org.
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