Palisades Ensemble makes special Music Mondays appearance Jan. 27

Cornell College’s Music Mondays series continues Jan. 27 with a special appearance by the Palisades Ensemble, a regional group formed and directed by Cornell Professor of Music Martin Hearne.

The free public concert begins at 7:30 p.m. in King Chapel.

Hearne founded the Palisades Ensemble in 1992 for a performance at the May Music Festival, the predecessor of Music Mondays, and it has returned numerous times to perform. The ensemble is comprised of the finest instrumental musicians from regional orchestras and includes 18 current and former Cornell music faculty members.

“It dawned on me during my first year at Cornell that I had landed in a place—eastern Iowa—where there are an amazing number of extraordinarily talented professional musicians,” said Martin Hearne. “All of us were hungry to make quality music, and we were lucky enough to have the chance to do that together.  Although personnel evolved over the years, some players have been with us from the beginning.”

The Jan. 27 program will feature Cornell Music Professor Lisa Hearne as soprano soloist in excerpts from “Chants d’Auvergne” by Joseph Canteloube. The work is a collection of folk songs from the Auvergne region of France, arranged for soprano voice and orchestra.

Also on the program are “El Sombrero de Tres Picos” (“The Three-Cornered Hat”), Suite No. 1, by Manuel De Falla; and “Appalachian Spring Suite for Orchestra” by Aaron Copland.

Amara Piano Quartet Feb. 17
The final concert in the 2019-20 Music Mondays series will be the Amara Piano Quartet at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Feb. 17, in King Chapel. They will perform their latest George Tsontakis’ commission, as well as Frank Bridge’s “Phantasie” and Gabriel Fauré’s Piano Quartet in G minor, Op. 45. The piano quartet features a pianist, violinist, violist, and cellist.