The Abeo Quartet Returns to Easton for a Chamber Music Concert on March 1

By James Carder

Chesapeake Music proudly presents the passionate artistry of the Abeo Quartet on its return to The Ebenezer Theater in Easton, Maryland, March 1 at 2 p.m. As a bonus, one of the most sought-after violists of her generation, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, will accompany the Quartet in a performance of Brahms’ exuberant second viola quintet. Whether you’re a classical music enthusiast or simply curious about the engaging world of chamber music, the technical brilliance and heart-felt performances of these musicians guarantee that this will be a thrilling concert not to be missed.

Founded in 2018 at the Juilliard School of Music by violinist Njioma Grevious and violist James Kang, the Abeo Quartet is completed by violinist Rebecca Benjamin and cellist Macintyre Taback. The Quartet’s name, Abeo, means “bringing joy” in a Nigerian dialect and was chosen by the founders as a reflection of their love of playing chamber music and sharing its beauty and power with others.

At the March 1st concert, the Quartet will channel its considerable energies into performing two late quartets – a dramatic Shostakovich and an exuberant Brahms – as well as a provocative piece by prominent American Black composer Adolphus Hailstork. The concert begins with Hailstork’s 2012 String Quartet No. 2 “Variations on ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot,’” a piece that employs Hailstork’s unique sound world to embody the hope for freedom expressed in the spiritual. The work creatively transforms the spiritual in unfolding variations, including simple melody, complex counterpoint and syncopated jazz rhythms and blues riffs. Hailstork has written that the spiritual theme is “interrupted by abrupt dissonant chords that serve as ‘fate motifs’ to remind the listener that the ‘carry me home’ in the spiritual text is an end-of-life request.” These dissonant chords notwithstanding, the quartet eventually eases into a peaceful tranquility with the cello bringing the piece to a serene close.

The concert continues with Dmitri Shostakovich’s deeply personal 1966 String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 122. A seven-movement work played without pause, this late quartet contrasts poignant lyricism with harsh dissonance and counterbalances outright whimsy with a melancholic sense of profound loss, specifically the death of the dedicatee, Shostakovich’s close friend, violinist Vasily Shirinsky. In the short first movement, two themes are introduced that will be developed throughout the piece: a beautiful theme given to the first violin and a solemn theme introduced by the cello. The quartet ends with the first violin holding a high C for almost 30 seconds, seemingly a final scream of anguish that then dissolves, resolving both the quartet’s bitterness and melancholy and Shostakovich’s sorrow over Shirinsky’s death.

Joined by Pajaro-van de Stadt, the Abeo Quartet concludes its program with Johannes Brahms’ 1890 extroverted and highly melodic String Quintet No. 2 in G Major, Op. 111, a piece full of buoyant high spirits. Brahms declared that the G-major Quintet would be the final composition of his career – fortunately a declaration he soon abandoned. The Quintet is an extraordinary work, often cited as being one of the finest of Brahms’ compositions and, therefore, of all of chamber music. It is unmistakably Brahmsian in its exuberance, elegance, and above all the Hungarian flavor of the fourth movement.

Chesapeake Music offers a limited number of free tickets for students, educators, and Talbot County First Responders, as well as a “buy-one-get-one” option for first-time patrons of Chesapeake Music. General admission tickets are $50, and two-concert packages are $75. Visit ChesapeakeMusic.org for tickets and more information.