Promoting and strengthening the artistic and cultural development of Orange County, North Carolina
November 15: Pauline Viardot & Gabriel Faure
The Gut Instinct Chamber Music Project is a three-part, free concert series in UNC Chapel Hill’s Person Recital Hall which brings UNC’s historical instrument collection together with artists committed to presenting inspired, visceral, historically informed performances of the 19th-century chamber music repertoire. This season’s programming features music of female composers and their artistic circles. The name “Gut Instinct” is a play on words. In 19th-century Europe, the violin, viola, and cello were strung with (sheep) gut.
This program features Pauline Viardot, one of the most important singers and musicians in the Parisian musical scene in the middle of the 19th century. Her salon concerts were frequented by the likes of Chopin and Liszt, and Gabriel Fauré fell hopelessly in love with her daughter, Marianne Viardot. In fact, he loved her so much that he wrote his Violin Sonata in A Major and dedicated it to her brother–that is, Pauline’s son, Paul Viardot, a noted violinist of his day. Mimi Solomon will perform on UNC’s beautiful 1843 Pleyel Piano, an instrument most likely played by Chopin himself. Nicholas DiEugenio joins her on the violin.
All of the artists collaborating with the Pleyel and Graf pianos at UNC-Chapel Hill (built in 19th-century Paris and Vienna, respectively) use these gut string materials. The turn of phrase “gut instinct” also refers to the visceral, accessible nature of the musical performances that the artists of this series will be presenting. We want to make “Historically Informed Performance” accessible, relatable, and culturally relevant! We also want to feature these special pianos that are rarely heard by the public, along with great music by female composers which has remained lesser known to the greater public for far too long!
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