By Signe Hammer
Mark Kosower played two wonderful concerts for us in 2019, and we are very pleased to welcome him back to San Miguel de Allende. He and pianist Steven Vanhauwaert will play inside St. Paul’s Church on Saturday, December 4, at 5pm. Seating will be socially distanced at a maximum of 50 percent capacity, and standard health hygiene protocols will be in place.
Kosower has been playing the cello since he was 18 months old, when he began learning from his father. Later, he studied with János Starker at Julliard and became a solo cellist with Germany’s Bamberg Symphony. Principal cellist with the Cleveland Orchestra since 2010, he’s equally at home on tour internationally. “It has been my life mission to get out and perform all over the world,” he has said. “I always feel very inspired traveling” and “experiencing different environments, people, culture, and food.”
Kosower is a frequent guest at chamber music festivals, from Santa Fe to Japan’s Pacific Music Festival, and has performed as concerto soloist with orchestras ranging from the Orchestre de Paris, to the China National Symphony in Beijing, to the Brazilian and Venezuela Symphony Orchestras, as well as across the United States. He has played solo and duo recitals at an equally wide range of venues. With his program Bach for Humanity, he’s given free recitals of Bach’s cello suites at schools, community centers, senior residences, and, during COVID, virtually, as a source of solace and inspiration. Strings Magazine has cited his “stunning virtuosity, passionate intensity, and elegant phrasing.”
The program opens with Beethoven’s “Sonata in G Minor, Opus 5, No. 2, one of a pair of sonatas written for the king of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II, an excellent cellist himself. No. 2 is large-scale in concept despite having only two movements; the first is melodically rich, while the second overflows with rhythmic vitality.
Dvořák’s “Silent Woods” follows. Originally part of a larger composition, this piece was written in America but also reflects the Bohemian and Moravian folk music the patriotic composer loved. Rounding out the first half are the Caprices by Carlo Alfredo Piatti, whom Franz Liszt called “the Paganini of the cello.” Piatti’s music sparkles with charm, character, and virtuosity.
“The Waltz and Celebration” from Aaron Copland’s “Billy the Kid,” his iconic evocation of the American West, starts off the second half of the program. The legendary cellist Gregor Piatigorsky persuaded Copland to create this cello-and-piano version. Next, we’ll hear the Soviet composer Myaskovsky’s “Sonata No. 2 in A Minor,” and the Czech composer Martinů’s “Variations on a Theme of Rossini.” These variations are played on one string, a tradition started by Paganini when he broke all his other violin strings. The cello version was composed for Piatigorsky.
Tickets for the concerts at St. Paul’s are 200, 400, and 600 pesos donation each and are on sale through our website and at the concert 45 minutes before performance time.Details of all Pro Musica’s concerts and Patron Membership are on our website, www.promusicasma.org, or contact us at promusicasma@aol.com.
