Description:

Pre-concert conversation, 6:30 p.m.

Jinjoo Cho and David Bowlin, violin; Min-Jeong Koh, viola; Max Geissler, cello 

Bienen School associate professor of violin Jinjoo Cho and special guests present a powerful recital culminating a week-long colloquium devoted to 20th-century American composer George Rochberg, titled Unearthing Love and Grief in George Rochberg’s Third String Quartet. The event highlights the dramatic and deeply personal transformation in Rochberg’s musical voice following the loss of his teenage son—a shift that ignited spirited debate across the musical world.

Internationally acclaimed for her expressive artistry and a top prizewinner in major competitions, Jinjoo Cho has performed at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium, the Aspen Music Festival, the Banff Centre, and with leading orchestras including the Cleveland Orchestra, Orchestre symphonique de Montréal, Deutsche Radio Philharmonic, and Seoul Philharmonic. For this special performance, she is joined by violinist David Bowlin (Eastman School of Music), violist Min-Jeong Koh (The Glenn Gould School at The Royal Conservatory), and cellist Max Geissler (Butler University/Latitude 49) to present a compelling program of works by Anton Webern and George Rochberg.

The evening opens with a pre-concert conversation featuring musicologists Amy Wlodarski (Dickinson College)—author of George Rochberg, American Composer—and Ryan Dohoney (Northwestern University), along with renowned cellist Norman Fischer (Rice University). Rochberg’s Third String Quartet, written for and premiered by Fischer’s ensemble, the Concord String Quartet, stands as one of Rochberg’s most significant and personal works. Fischer’s lifelong friendship and close collaboration with the composer during its creation offer audiences an unusually intimate perspective on its history, meaning, and legacy. 

Anton Webern, Langsamer Satz 
George Rochberg, String Quartet No. 3