Early Music Festival: Morton Feldman
The quivering, sensual, minutely calibrated textures of Feldman's music, and its conjuring of an ethereal, timeless quality, mark it as special. He would have turned 90 in January, and the anniversary is being celebrated in a four-day festival organized by Zeitgeist, the St. Paul-based contemporary music group. Among the longer works on offer are "Clarinet and String Quartet" and "Crippled Symmetry" for flute, piano and percussion, with a clutch of riveting shorter pieces including "The King of Denmark," "Voices and Cello" and "Only." All told, this is a unique, possibly unrepeatable opportunity to get an overview of one of the great American individualists. (7:30 p.m. Thu.-Fri., 4:30 & 7:30 p.m. Sat., 2 p.m. Sun. Studio Z, 275 E. 4th St., Suite 200, St. Paul; $10-$15, 651-523-2459, zeitgeistnewmusic.org.)
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There can't be many musicians on the planet who know more about the art of playing Baroque stringed instruments than Belgian Sigiswald Kuijken. A pioneer in historically accurate performance, Kuijken fronts a colorful program for the Bach Society of Minnesota, with works by Corelli, Schmelzer, Bach and Vivaldi. Look especially for his solos on the "viola da spalla" ("shoulder viola"), an instrument he's played a key role in reconstructing. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Sundin Music Hall, Hamline University, St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. Sat., Central Lutheran Church, Winona; 4 p.m. Sun., Concordia College, Moorhead. $5-$22, bachsocietymn.org.)
Before disbanding seven years ago, the Guarneri Quartet spent four decades as one of the nation's finest chamber ensembles. Cellist Peter Wiley hooks up on Sunday with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota in a powerful program including Kodály's Duo for Violin and Cello and Brahms' Second String Sextet. (4 p.m. Sun., Sundin Music Hall, St. Paul. $15-$25, chambermusicmn.org.)
On the choral front, there's a cut-price chance to hear the Rose Ensemble's "Slavic Wonders," one of the group's most popular programs, before it goes on tour again. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Ascension Catholic Church, Mpls. $10-$15, roseensemble.org.)
If you enjoy a drink with your music, don't miss the latest installment in the Minnesota Orchestra's Symphony and Suds series, as a horn quintet from the orchestra checks into Sociable Cider Werks in Minneapolis for a bibulous micro-concert. (7 p.m. Thu., 1500 NE. Fillmore St. Free.)
Terry Blain
