Scheckmate

The ScheckMate ensemble was formed in 2017 by cellist Raffael Scheck and lutenist/guitarist Timothy Burris. For this concert, they will perform pieces that express a range of passions, from the inward-looking to the exuberant.

Antonio Vivaldi’s introspective G minor cello sonata opens the program. Mr Burris will play a set of Spanish works he calls “Three Generations”: an energetic “Bolero” by Julián Arcas; a wistful “Lágrima” (Spanish for ‘Tear’) by Arcas’s best known pupil, Francisco Tárrega; “Elegía,” an homage to Tárrega by his pupil Daniel Fortea. Mr Scheck follows with “Homage to Julián Arcas,” a work for solo cello by the modern German composer Dietmar Berger. ScheckMate then goes back to the 19th century for three nostalgic nocturnes for guitar and cello by German composer Friedrich Burgmüller. The program concludes with the contemporary solo “I am Cello” by Elena Kats-Chernin.

RUN TIME: 45 minutes, no intermission