Today's Teatime Concert, scheduled for 4:00 p.m. in Kanbar Auditorium, Studzinski Recital Hall, will feature Harlequine Quintet.
The Teatime Concerts began more than five years ago, and they are so called because they are accompanied by midafternoon refreshments, like those one might enjoy during a traditional English tea hour.
This week's program will include Johannes Brahms's Piano Trio in B Major, Op. 8, as well as the Adagio from the Chamber Concerto by Alban Berg, and "Petroushskates" by Joan Tower.
This program reflects the group's equal commitment to traditional and contemporary chamber music, enabling the audience to experience the transformation of music from the 19th century to the present. Brahms was an archetypal composer of the late Romantic period, while Berg was a member of the Second Viennese School, a musical period known for the use of expanded tonality in composition.
In 1990, Tower, a contemporary American composer, received the Grawemeyer Award for Music Composition, other recipients of which include renowned composers such as Gyorgy Ligeti and Tan Dun.
Harlequine Quintet is an all-female group whose members include flutist Nicole Rabata, clarinetist Kristen Finkbeiner, violinist Lydia Forbes, cellist Jing Li and pianist Anastasia Antonacos. Forbes and Antonacos are both members of Bowdoin's applied faculty. "Harlequine" is a name that reflects the femininity of the quintet.
"We settled on 'Harlequine' because it's the name of a commedia dell-arte character with very colorful clothing and expressive face. The male equivalent (Harlequin) figures prominently in Romantic literature and music," said Antonacos.
The members of this young ensemble have extensive musical backgrounds. Together, they hold performance degrees from schools such as Yale University, the New England Conservatory, Indiana University, University of Southern California, University of Michigan, and Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, United Kingdom. They have been active as soloists, recitalists, chamber musicians and orchestral players in the United States and other countries such as Netherlands, Sweden, France, Greece, Russia, and Belgium.
In addition to performing, the members of the Harlequine Quintet teach extensively. They hold music faculty positions at colleges including Bowdoin, Bates, Colby and the University of South Maine, as well as at various community centers and private studios.