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

Join Director Lenny Matczynski and the Apple Hill String Quartet to revisit highlights of a uniquely challenging year, and what we are looking forward to in 2021: Apple Hill’s 50th anniversary. The 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 Quartet’s own Jesse MacDonald! As we continue to showcase local businesses, the recordings will take place at the stately elegant Aldworth Manor and the cozily intimate Harrisville Inn.

Concerts and events are free and available to all, thanks to your support.
Click here to make a suggested ticket donation.

Click here to watch on YouTube.

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:

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.

Click here to watch on YouTube.

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.

Program:

Lento from Five Bagatelles, William Walton (1902-1983)
Sevilla from Suite Española, Op. 47, Isaac Albéniz (1860-1909)
Variations on Carnival of Venice, Francisco Tárrega (1852-1909)
-Oscar Somersalo, Guitar

Canzona XV à 2 Bassi detta la Lievoratta (1628), Giralomo Frescobaldi (1583-1643)
Canon à due violoncelli (1689), Domenico Gabrielli (1659-1690)
XIIIe Concert from Les goûts-réunis, ou Nouveaux concerts (1724), François Couperin (1668-1733)
Vivement ~ Air ~ Sarabande ~ Chaconne
-Jennifer Morsches & Timothy Merton, Baroque cellos

Click here to listen on YouTube.

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

Join us to celebrate Apple Hill’s 50th season! This Sunday’s event features a look at the past 50 years through music and photos, featuring an amazing 1978 live performance by the former Apple Hill Chamber Players; Dinny’s Suite, an original work composed by Apple Hill String Quartet violist Mike Kelley in the 1990’s; and a showcase for the current musicians in residence, the Apple Hill String Quartet, performing a virtuosic work by Serbian composer Aleksandra Vrebalov.

Listen on YouTube.

Sunday, March 7, 3pm

Virtual Concert IV

The first of two virtual concerts by the Apple Hill String Quartet.

Program:
F.J. Haydn: B minor String Quartet Op. 64 no. 2
Caroline Mallonee: The Butterfly Effect for string quartet and electronics
Dmitri Shostakovich: String Quartet no. 3
Click here for program notes on the Shostakovich.

Click here to watch on YouTube.

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.

Click here to watch on YouTube.

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:
Ludwig van Beethoven, Sonata No. 4 in C Major, Op. 102, No. 1, for cello and piano
Jacob do Bandolim, Doce de Coco, arr. for violin, cello, and piano
Edvard Grieg, Sonata No. 3 in C minor, Op. 45 for violin and piano: 2nd mvt (Allegretto espressivo alla Romanza)
Sergei Rachmaninoff, Trio Elegiaque No. 1

From Jesse MacDonald, violin, Apple Hill String Quartet:
One of the pieces that we will be playing on the program is Jacob do Bandolim’s Doce de Coco, a beautiful tune with Bandolim’s quintessential Brazilian phrasing and harmonies. Made famous to myself (and to Matt as I was to later find out) on Yo-Yo Ma’s Obrigado Brazil album, I have had the distinct pleasure of arranging this piece a while back, and, along with many of my other arranging projects, in it lies a “first ever” for me! This will be the first time that I have arranged for piano, and so I have to give a shoutout to Peipei for being patient and flexible throughout this entire process! Enjoy!

Click here to listen on YouTube.

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

Join Apple Hill Director Lenny Matczynski LIVE to listen to, chat about, and discuss music.

Lenny says:
“This Sunday, we are going to listen to and discuss some of the music that got me through this past year and hopefully hear what music you listened to. We listened to music for a lot of different reasons: to escape or to switch off the world; maybe to be comforted, or to be inspired, or to find some hope. We wanted to be connected, to go deep, to be in touch with the performers and the beauty they were creating, and maybe we listened even to survive.
“Then we will listen and discuss the Adagio movement from Haydn’s Lark Quartet, Op 64 #5,  performed by the Apple Hill String Quartet on their first CD.”

Listen on YouTube.

Sunday, May 2, 3pm

Virtual Concert VI

The second concert featuring resident ensemble the Apple Hill String Quartet.

Program:

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791), String Quartet No. 18 in A major, K. 464
Allegro
Menuetto & Trio
Andante
Allegro

Pauline Oliveros (1932-2016), 70 Chords for Terry: A Meditation on String Theory (2005)

George Walker (1922-2018), String Quartet No. 1
Allegro
Molto adagio
Allegro con fuoco

Watch on YouTube.