**PLEASE NOTE** – This recital has been moved to Sunday, October 27th at 3:00 pm.
Join The Community Library for a special recital with Hemingway Writer-In-Residence Stephen McDougall Graham (Violin). Stephen will be joined by local musicians Rudolph Kremer (Viola) and Ellen Sanders (Cello) to present Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat major (K. 563) .
Composed in September 1788, Mozart’s Divertimento in E-flat major (K. 563) is celebrated as a pinnacle of chamber music. Written for the traditional Viennese string trio (violin, viola, ‘cello), it is Mozart’s only completed such work. This is remarkable, given the peri-contemporaneous popularity of trios of this instrumentation, proving its success as a genre. A Divertimento of this period is a piece written for festivals or parties, and are thus considered to be “occasional” works. However, it is not known for what occasion K. 563 was written. Scholars have speculated that Mozart wrote the work on commission for his friend Michael Puchberg, a fellow Freemason who frequently provided Mozart with small loans and commissions to help the composer during his later years’ increasingly desperate financial situation.
Alfred Einstein, the best-known Mozart biographer, called the work one of the composer’s “noblest works… intended to offer… something special in the way of art, invention, and good spirits… every note is significant, every note is a contribution to spiritual and sensuous fulfillment in sound.”
Stephen McDougall Graham is one of the current Hemingway Writers-in-Residence with The Community Library. Stephen earned a BA in music and philosophy from Bucknell University, where he led the orchestra as concertmaster. He went on to earn a Master of Public Policy at Georgetown University, and worked for six years as a grant specialist at a leading global women’s health nonprofit. In 2013, Stephen decided to pursue his passion and began to transition into the professional music scene in New York. Since the 2014/15 season, he has performed regularly with The Chelsea Symphony, also serving on its board as Vice President and Director of Development. In May 2018, Stephen completed a Master of Music in classical violin performance at the Aaron Copland School of Music at Queens College. Stephen has performed at Merkin Hall, 92nd St YMCA, LeFrak Concert Hall, Shalin Liu Performance Center, and the Weis Center, among others.
Rudolph Kremer is the founder and artistic director of Valley Ensembles. He has been a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival first violin section since 1996 and is currently the violin and viola teacher at the Sun Valley Music Festival School of Music. He began his orchestral career with the San Francisco Symphony in 1995 and frequently plays with the Chicago Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, and the Pittsburgh Symphony. His wide and international professional experience includes work with the San Francisco Opera Orchestra, the Florida orchestra, the International Orchestra of Italy, the Malaysian Philharmonic, and the Saigon Philharmonic. He is also a visiting artist and professor at the Saigon conservatory and the Auftdart Academy in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Ellen Sanders has been a member of the Sun Valley Music Festival for 27 years, has been teaching in the Summer Music Workshop since 1998, and is now a full-time teacher in the Wood River Valley. Ms. Sanders is a graduate of Oberlin College and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Prior to moving to Idaho, Ms. Sanders was principal cello of the Santa Cruz Symphony, assistant principal cello of Opera San Jose and a member of the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. She has also performed frequently with the San Francisco Opera. Ellen now divides her time between teaching in the Blaine County School District and the Sun Valley Symphony’s year-round School of Music classes.
