Week's best classical: Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja with the SPCO, piano superstar András Schiff

October 20, 2017 at 9:07PM
Patricia Kopatchinskaja Photo: Marco Borggreve
Patricia Kopatchinskaja Marco Borggreve (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Violin and electronics

One soloist, using six separate music stands, plays along to a prerecorded soundtrack mixed from eight separate channels. Violinist Patricia Kopatchinskaja, an iconoclast by nature, is perfectly suited for such an unusual project. She'll play "La Lontananza Nostalgica Utopica Futura" by 20th-century Italian composer Luigi Nono, a strange work for violin and electronics, casting a ghostly spell over listeners. (7:30 p.m. Thu., Walker Art Center, Mpls., free, thespco.org) Kopatchinskaja's concerts with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra this week are also intriguing, featuring music by Schoenberg, Webern, Takemitsu and Mozart. (8 p.m. Fri. & Sat., Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul; 2 p.m. Sun., Benson Great Hall, Arden Hills; $11-$50, 651-291-1144 or thespco.org)

Piano superstar

In an age where promising young pianists are regularly overhyped, András Schiff has built an outstandingly successful career based on his lack of showiness and pretension. He earned his reputation as one of the great J.S. Bach interpreters in the 1980s with his recordings of Bach's keyboard music. Sure enough, Schiff's performance of Bach's English Suite No. 6 is sure to be a highlight of this recital (unmissable for pianophiles). The program also includes Brahms, Mendelssohn and Beethoven — all composers Schiff has played with distinction. (3 p.m. Sun., Ordway Music Theater, St. Paul; $32-$71, 651-224-4222 or schubert.org)

Bach Society opener

The Bach Society of Minnesota opens its 85th season with a wide-ranging concert featuring Spanish mezzo-soprano Nerea Berraondo, percussionist Ziya Tabassian and artistic director Matthias Maute. Berraondo sings two arias by Vivaldi. Also featured are works by Bach, Jean-Baptiste Stuck, Juan Pérez de Bocanegra and Domenico Zipoli. (7:30 p.m. Fri., Sundin Music Hall, St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. Sat., Calvin Presbyterian Church, Long Lake; 3 p.m. Sun., Central Lutheran Church, Winona, Minn.; $5-$25, bachsocietymn.org)

Norwegian premiere

Norwegian composer Kim André Arnesen has written a new choral work honoring the "common ground shared by all people of God." A week after its premiere in Washington, D.C., Arnesen's "Holy Spirit Mass" reaches the Twin Cities, thanks to a performance by the National Lutheran Choir, the very group that commissioned the piece. (8 p.m. Fri., Basilica of St. Mary, Mpls.; 4 p.m. Sun., Ordway Concert Hall, St. Paul; $25-$50, nlca.com)

Reformation celebration

Twin Cities early-music group Consortium Carissimi opens its season with a concert celebrating the 500th anniversary of the Lutheran Reformation. The program includes vocal music by Josquin des Prez, Luther's favorite composer. Also featured are works by Des Prez's Flemish contemporary Heinrich Isaac, as well as Johann Hermann Schein, a predecessor to Bach as Thomaskantor in Leipzig. (7:30 p.m. Fri., St. Timothy Lutheran Church, St. Paul; 7:30 p.m. Sat., Pilgrim Lutheran Church, St. Paul; $10-$25, consortium carissimi.org)

TERRY BLAIN

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