It's all about the intimacy. If you like your classical music full of big sounds and spectacle, go to the opera. You want something large-scale with lots of layers? Catch an orchestra. But if you want to experience excellent musicianship in an up-close-and-personal setting, the Schubert Club is your prime presenter.
The Twin Cities' oldest arts organization presents recitals and chamber music from some of the world's most magnificent musicians, with its International Artist Series first doing so more than 125 years ago. Here's who's coming for the series' 2023-24 season. All events will take place at St. Paul's Ordway Center for the Performing Arts, some in the Music Theater, some in the neighboring Concert Hall.
Lisa Batiashvili, Gautier Capucon and Jean-Yves Thibaudet: Talk about an all-star piano trio. Georgian violinist Batiashvili, French cellist Capucon and his countryman, pianist Thibaudet, will each take a break from soloing with the world's great orchestras to present two concerts of music for the combination of their three instruments on Oct. 17.
Milos: This guitarist from Montenegro burst onto the scene in 2011 with his album, "Mediterráneo," which topped the classical charts in multiple countries. He's continued to expand ears as to what a classical guitar can do, and his solo takes on the Beatles are pretty cool, too. He'll go for baroque at the Ordway on Nov. 18 and 19, playing music of J.S. Bach, Handel, Jean-Philippe Rameau and Domenico Scarlatti.
Vikingur Olafsson: If you missed this brilliant Icelandic pianist's January 2022 recitals of music by Mozart, J.S. Bach and Philip Glass, know that they were among the Twin Cities' most deeply involving classical concerts of the past few years. He'll return to perform Bach's demanding "Goldberg Variations" on Jan. 30 and 31.
Golda Schultz: In what might be the most exciting local debut of the season, South African soprano Schultz will demonstrate why she's brought the house down with so many of the world's top opera companies. She'll perform a recital of songs by women composers from the Romantic era to modern times with pianist Jonathan Ware on April 10, 2024.
Daniel Hope: Next season's Schubert Club featured artist is this exceptional and eclectic violinist, who will perform two International Artist Series recitals with pianist Simon Crawford-Phillips on April 25 and 26, 2024. But don't be surprised if you find him doing something adventurous on the Schubert Club Mix season, too. Watch for an announcement of that series in upcoming weeks.
Music in the Park
If you want to get even more on top of the musical action, may we recommend the Music in the Park Series at St. Paul's St. Anthony Park United Church of Christ? It's a great place to experience chamber music on a Sunday afternoon, and the lineup for the 2023-24 season there is quite impressive.
String quartets are the dominant instrumentation next season, starting with the Ariel Quartet and pianist Orion Weiss teaming up to launch the season on Oct. 1. Then the Modigliani Quartet comes to town on Nov. 12. A different kind of foursome is Le Consort, a French chamber music group devoted to trio sonatas of the baroque era. They're here on Feb. 25.
St. Paul Chamber Orchestra violinist Eunice Kim will collaborate with bassist/composer Xavier Foley on March 24, 2024, before the Heath Quartet closes the series on April 21, 2024.
Subscriptions for both the International Artist Series and the Music in the Park Series go on sale at 10 a.m. March 8 at 651-292-3268 or Schubert.org. Prices for the International Artist Series range from $105 to $280. Music in the Park Series subscriptions are $125. Student subscriptions to either series are available for $55.
Single tickets for all concerts will go on sale in early August.
Rob Hubbard is a Twin Cities classical music writer. Reach him at wordhub@yahoo.com.
