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Evening of chamber music at Gobin
Virtuoso pianist Eugenio Urrutia and Indianapolis Symphony violinist Patrick Dalton-Holmes join cellist Eric Edberg as the Greencastle Summer Music Festival continues Wednesday night at Gobin Memorial United Methodist Church with "Beethoven and the Archduke," an evening of chamber music by perhaps the greatest composer of all time.
No tickets are required for the free 7:30 p.m. concert. The festival is supported by free-will offerings, donations an endowment at the Putnam County Community Foundation, along with local businesses, including the Inn at DePauw.
The concert's title comes from the concert's concluding work, a four-movement piece for piano, violin and cello.
"It's known as the 'Archduke Trio,'" explains Edberg, the festival's director and a DePauw music professor, "because it was written for Beethoven's friend and patron Archduke Rudolf, who was also his student. It's one of the greatest pieces of small-ensemble music ever composed. And it was perhaps the last piece Beethoven ever performed in public. He had been a great pianist, but his deafness was making it increasingly difficult for him to actually hear what he was doing."
The festival's motto is "friends making music for friends," and Edberg says this concert shows the historical roots of the concept.
"In the early 1800s, most music was performed not for an anonymous paying audience; ticketed public concerts were just beginning," he said. "All the music we are performing this week, including two sonatas for violin and piano, came into being because of the friendship between Beethoven and other musicians, and was first performed by him and his friends for people in their social circle. We'll tell the story of each piece Wednesday night."
Edberg is also excited about performing with Urrutia and Dalton-Holmes.
"They are both outstanding musicians and great guys. I've been making music with each of them for years, but never the three of us together before. This is a very special concert for me."
Patrick Dalton-Holmes is a native of Syracuse, N.Y. He began his study of the violin at age three. Dalton-Holmes earned a Bachelor of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan.
Before joining the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra in March 2006, he played with the New World Symphony Orchestra (Florida) and as a substitute musician with the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.
Award-winning pianist Eugenio Urrutia made his concert debut with the Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepcion at age 11 and the following year won the Claudio Arrau International Piano Competition and Concurso Jovenes Talentos.
He has performed with the National Youth Symphony Orchestra of Chile, the New Millennium Orchestra of Indianapolis, the Akron Youth Orchestra, LaGrange Symphony (Ga.), Orquesta Sinfonica de Concepcion, Orquesta Clasica de Santiago (USACH), the Akron Symphony Orchestra, Indianapolis Chamber, Orchestra Die NordwestDeutsche Philarmonie, Germany, and the Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra of Indianapolis.
As a recitalist and chamber musician, Urrutia has performed an extensive repertoire in South America, the United States, Germany and Russia collaborating with violinists Alexander Kerr and Laurie Carney, cellists William Grubb, and Andres Diaz, violists Roberto Diaz and Csaba Erdelyi, bandoneonist Pietro Antonio Soave, and clarinetist Frank Glover.
The Greencastle Summer Music Festival brings the community together with friends making music for friends. Its 11th season of free concerts (supported by donations) are staged every Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. through Aug. 19 in the sanctuary of Gobin Church.