Upcoming Events with Apple Hill

Fall/Winter Concerts and Events

Sunday, November 29, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: Thankful for 50 years of Apple Hill

Join us online to celebrate! For the first video blog of our 2020-21 virtual season, go around the world as faculty and alumni show us their favorite special occasion foods. In a “cooking show” first for Apple Hill, Director Lenny Matczynski and Apple Hill String Quartet violinist Elise Kuder reveal the summer workshop dal recipe–a spiced lentil dish made famous by our former Nepali summer chef, Chyangba Tamang, that Apple Hillers will remember fondly from sessions past. To finish, the Apple Hill String Quartet performs “Free and So Thankful” by alumna Sato Matsui, filmed in the Harrisville General Store, as we celebrate cherished local businesses too.

Watch and chat online together the 29th at 3pm–link available here soon–or watch the video anytime after that on our YouTube channel.

Sunday, December 13, 3pm
Virtual Concert

This afternoon’s concert features Summer Workshop faculty and alumni Eric Thomas, clarinet; Chelsea Bernstein, cello; and Mikael Darmanie, piano.

Program:
Schumann, Fantasy Pieces, Op. 73, for cello and piano
Poulenc, Sonata for clarinet and piano, FP 184

Listen and chat online together the 13th at 3pm–link available here soon–or view the video anytime after that on Apple Hill’s YouTube channel.

Sunday, December 27, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: Year in Review, the 50th year to come

Join Director Lenny Matczynski and friends to revisit the successes of a uniquely challenging year. The Apple Hill String Quartet performs two arrangements by summer guest faculty Jeff Louie:  Danza del gaucho matrero (“Dance of the Outlaw Cowboy”) by Alberto Ginastera, and the exquisite slow movement of Felix Mendelssohn’s Symphony No. 5. We’ll end the year in style with a world premiere K-pop arrangement by the Apple Hill String Quartet’s own Jesse MacDonald! As we continue to showcase local businesses, the recordings will take us from the newly renovated Brewbakers coffeehouse in Keene, to the stately elegance of Aldworth Manor and the cozily intimate Harrisville Inn.

Sunday, January 10, 3pm

Virtual Concert II

This afternoon’s concert features Summer Workshop faculty Pei Lu, cello; Jean Schneider, piano; and Apple Hill String Quartet violinist Elise Kuder.

Program:

Scarlatti Sonatas
Tchaikovsky, Pezzo Capriccioso
Paganini, Moses Variations
Chopin Nocturne C # minor
Mendelssohn D minor trio mvt. 1

Sunday, January 24, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill:  The Gardens

Right when we’ll need it most, time-travel back to August to join the Apple Hill String Quartet and Director Lenny Matczynski for a behind-the-scenes tour of Apple Hill’s luxurious and bountiful gardens. We’ll talk to board member Emily Carr, one of the grounds’ most dutiful caretakers, and to Emily Hartshorne, responsible for the vegetable garden’s 90s renaissance. We’ll also hear from cellist and summer alumnus Joshua Perkins, whose love of Apple Hill’s natural world inspired him to pursue a career in Environmental Education, currently at The North Carolina Arboretum. The Apple Hill String Quartet plays a Jeff Louie arrangement of Claude Debussy’s The Little Shepherd. Spring is coming. In a few months. 


Sunday, February 7, 3pm

Virtual Concert III

This afternoon’s concert features Summer Workshop faculty and alumna Jennifer Morsches, with her cello duo partner Tim Merton; and guitarist and alumnus Oscar Somersalo, joined by the Apple Hill String Quartet.

Program:
D Gabrielli Canon for 2 Cellos
F Couperin XIIIe Concert from Les goûts réünis Vivement – Air – Sarabande – Chaconne
Solo Guitar
Castelnuovo-Tedesco Quintet, op. 143, mvt. 1

Sunday, February 21, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: 50 Years of The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music

The Apple Hill String Quartet performs Aleksandra Vrebalov’s virtuosic Pannonia Boundless.

Sunday, March 7, 3pm

Virtual Concert IV

The first of two virtual concerts by the Apple Hill String Quartet, featuring F.J. Haydn’s B minor String Quartet Op. 64 no. 2, Reena Esmail’s String Quartet Ragamala, and Dmitri Shostakovich’s String Quartet no. 3.

Program:
F.J. Haydn: B minor String Quartet Op. 64 no. 2
Reena Esmail: String Quartet Ragamala
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet no. 3

Sunday, March 21, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: The Playing for Peace Show

For many years, Director Lenny Matczynski and the Apple Hill String Quartet have traveled the world presenting a practical demonstration of the skills of chamber music. From panels of corporate executives, to college leadership classes, to primary schools in Jordan and Ireland, these five musicians show how these skills, applied to everyday life, form the core of Apple Hill’s Playing for Peace program and show a path to creating a more loving, successful society. The quartet concludes the lecture with a reading of Beethoven’s life-affirming Cavatina from Beethoven’s late quartet, Op. 130.

Sunday, April 4, 3pm

Virtual Concert V

Summer alumni Matthew Smith and Peipei Song present works for cello and piano and are joined by Apple Hill String Quartet violinist Jesse MacDonald for trio works.

Program:
Beethoven, Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1, for cello and piano
Jacob do Bandolim, Doce de Coco
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Trio Elegiaque No. 1

Sunday, April 18, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: The Return of Lenny’s Listening Club

Join Apple Hill Director Lenny Matczynski LIVE for an hour of listening and a live chat discussion.

Sunday, May 2, 3pm

Virtual Concert VI

The second concert featuring resident ensemble the Apple Hill String Quartet, featuring George Walker’s String Quartet No. 2, Caroline Mallonee’s The Butterfly Effect for string quartet and electronics, and Leoš Janáček’s Intimate Letters String Quartet.

Sunday, May 16, 3pm
Scenes from Apple Hill: Summer Preview

We look ahead to a summer of concerts and chamber music; the Apple Hill String Quartet performs Jeff Louie arrangements of Claude Debussy and Heinrich Schütz.

The concerts are free, but please consider a “ticket” donation to support our musicians!

Summer Concert Series

The Summer Concert Series features the Apple Hill String Quartet and Summer Chamber Music Workshop faculty artists. Each Tuesday night concert begins with an introduction by Director Leonard Matczynski.

Committed to fulfilling our mission, but with safety concerns of paramount importance, Apple Hill shifted to hosting an abbreviated, online summer program in 2020. Open to all, this combination of concerts, lectures, and discussions embodied the unique and diverse music-making of the Apple Hill community.

Our 2020 concerts and virtual summer events, beginning with the May 3 Monadnock Region Concert Series concert, are available on our YouTube channel.