Here’s a secret of great artistry: no one does it alone. This season, First Mondays explore connections and friendships between composers and musicians who inspired each other.

Join us as we celebrate 35 years of First Mondays: well-loved classics and new compositions, performed by some of the finest chamber musicians in the world, free and open to all.

Clara Wieck Schumann was born in 1819, 200 years ago. The love that united her and Robert had music at its core. While Clara deferred to Robert as composer, she was one of the most famous pianists of her time.  But her “Romances” of 1853, dedicated to the wonderful violinist Joseph Joachim (born 1832), show her deeply felt gift for composition. Robert’s part of the program includes his preoccupation with the human voice as an expression of love. His “chamber music year” (1842) finished with the enduringly popular piano quintet.

Program:

Clara Schumann: Three Romances for Violin and Piano, op. 22 (dedicated to Joseph Joachim)

Donald Weilerstein, violin

Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, piano

Robert Schumann: Spanische Liebeslieder, op.138

Sarah Yanovitch*, soprano

Jaime Korkos*, mezzo-soprano

Michael Kuh*, tenor

Corey Gaudreau*, baritone

Tanya Blaich, piano

Cameron Stowe, piano

Robert Schumann: Piano Quintet in E–flat Major, op. 44

Donald Weilerstein, violin

Ari Isaacman-Beck*, violin

Kim Kashkashian, viola

Timotheos Petrin*, cello

Michael Bukhman, piano

*denotes NEC alumni