Smithsonian Chamber Music Society audiences are privy to the unparalleled experience of being able to hear two magnificent quartets of instruments—one made by Antonio Stradivari, the other by his teacher Nicoló Amati—in this popular three-concert series on Sundays.
The Axelrod Quartet—Marc Destrubé (violin), James Dunham (viola), Kenneth Slowik (violoncello), and now includes violinist Mark Fewer—presents three programs, each of which is anchored by one of Schubert’s last quartets. Additional works of quartet masters Haydn, Beethoven, and Shostakovich are joined by three 20th-century works related, in their diversity, to varied interests of the National Museum of American History through the 2023-2024 concert season. Note that Sunday concerts do not feature pre-concert lectures.
Concert Program
This concert features music by Joseph Haydn, Franz Schubert, and 20th-century composer, Erich Wolfgang Korngold. The Austrian American Erich Wolfgang Korngold is probably most widely known for the nearly two dozen Hollywood film scores he wrote in the 1930s, ’40s, and ’50s (among them The Adventures of Robin Hood, for which he won the Academy Award in 1934), but many of his operas, orchestral and chamber works, songs, and piano pieces employ the same appealingly kaleidoscopic harmonic palette.
- Joseph Haydn: Quartet in F Minor, Op. 20, No. 5
- Erich Wolfgang Korngold: Quartet No. 2 in E-Flat Major, Op. 26
- Franz Schubert: Quartet in D Minor, D810, Death and the Maiden
Additional Axelrod String Quartet Sunday Series Concerts
Other Smithsonian Chamber Music Society Performances
General Information
- Advance registration for this concert will tentatively end by 2 p.m. ET on Friday, April 5, 2024. Limited tickets will be available for purchase at the door. Mobile device and credit card only. No cash transactions.
- Refer to our health and safety information for in-person programs.
