On Sunday, January 8, 3 PM, at Yavapai College Performing Arts Center, Arizona Philharmonic is presenting the James D’León And Friends concert. A piano trio and a duo play the first half of the program, and the second half features the entire piano quintet. Last year’s piano quintet concert with James D’León was one of our most praised concerts.
A piano quintet, in its most general definition, is an ensemble of a pianist with four instrumentalists. On this concert, we are presenting the piano quintet in its most common form: piano plus a string quartet consisting of two violins, viola, and cello.
Of course, Steinway Artist James D’León is on piano. Accompanying D’León is AZ Phil’s principal string quartet, whose members also perform with other orchestras around the state. Included are Arizona Philharmonic’s Concertmaster Katie McLin, Principal Violin II Luke Hill, guest violist Kim Hankins, and our Principal Cellist Ruthie Wilde.
Similar to a piano quintet, a piano trio is for piano and two instruments. In the string world, a piano trio includes the piano, violin, and cello. Our piano trio will be James D’León (piano), Katie McLin (violin), and Ruthie Wilde (cello).
James and Katie have previously only played together in our inaugural concert. They have tremendous respect for each other, and they have collaborated closely to craft this beautiful concert. The program opens with Piano Trio No. 39 in G Major, Hob. XV:25 (“Gypsy Rondo”) by Joseph Haydn, followed W. A. Mozart’s Duo for Violin and Viola in G Major, K. 423, and then Cafe Music by Paul Schoenfield. The second half of the concert features Robert Schumann’s
This concert is an opportunity to see a handful of Arizona Philharmonic’s finest musicians join the stage with the powerful James D’León. All of the program features demanding and beautiful works that you would be hard pressed to hear as exquisitely presented elsewhere.
I’d like too close with a teaser for this concert. Listen to the rollicking final movement of Haydn’s Trio No. 39 in the video below. I promise you’ll have a lot of fun with this one. Then, imagine how much more fun it will be to hear and see it live on Sunday, January 8.
