One of Martinu’s first popular successes, La revue de cuisine is an Absurdist jazz ballet about the affairs of kitchen utensils: the impending wedding of Pot and Lid is threatened by the lothario Twirling Stick, but Pot and Lid kiss and make up, and Twirling Stick goes off with Dishcloth. The suite from it includes a slyly twisted tango and Charleston, and a vertiginous polymetrical finale.

Come for:

Chamber music surrealism and the wartime Quintet that Shostakovich often performed himself.

And more:

Mendelssohn’s Second String Quintet is one of his most unusual chamber pieces, in its emotional weight and formal innovation - plus the pre-concert wine reception.

MARTINU: La Revue de Cuisine
Michele Zukovsky, clarinet
Whitney Crockett, bassoon
Thomas Hooten, trumpet
Barry Socher, violin
Jason Lippmann, cello
Vicki Ray, piano

SHOSTAKOVICH: Piano Quintet
Shelley Bovyer, violin
Edith Markman, violin
Dale Hikawa Silverman, viola
Barry Gold, cello
Robert Thies, piano

intermission

MENDELSSOHN: String Quintet No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 87
Johnny Lee, violin
Minyoung Chang, violin
Ingrid Hutman, viola
Meredith Snow, viola
Gloria Lum, cello