Berkeley Early Music Festival Fringe: Between Heaven & Earth – A Year with Brahms
$20, tickets available at the door
- Tekla Cunningham, violin
- Sheila Weidendorf, piano
Johannes Brahms — Violin Sonata No. 2 in A major, Op. 100
Johannes Brahms — Violin Sonata No. 3 in D minor, Op. 108
Tekla Cunningham, violin and Sheila Weidendorf, piano will play the Brahms violin sonatas, works of great expansiveness and beauty that have provided a musical refuge during these pandemic years. Tekla and Sheila have spent the past year and more immersed in the violin sonatas of Johannes Brahms, meeting weekly during the pandemic to form a micro-music pod. The lockdown has forced all of us indoors and inwards, and this time of reflection and deepening has been transformative both personally and musically for this project. Brahms' violin sonatas, full of depth and expanse, served a musical refuge from the contraction we were experiencing in the world around us. This program was part of the Whidbey Island Music Festival's 2021 summer season. Here is one concertgoer's account of the performance: "We not only heard the heartbeat of Brahms, and the sighing, and the dancing; we also were exposed to Brahms’ fierce grasp of nature, of a windstorm, in the thunder of the piano, and the lightening of the violin! One of the most memorable, the most unforgettable nights of my life. For my gratitude, words are inadequate".
About Tekla Cunningham, violin
Baroque violinist Tekla Cunningham delights in bringing the music of the baroque, classical and romantic eras to life with vivid and expressive historically informed performances.
Praised as "a consummate musician whose flowing solos and musical gestures are a joy to watch", her performances have been described as "ravishingly beautiful" and "stellar". Her greatest musical love is music of the baroque and chamber music of all stripes, though she can’t seem to quit Johannes Brahms. She is co-artistic director of Pacific MusicWorks in Seattle, artist-in-residence at the University of Washington and founder and director of the Whidbey Island Music Festival.
Tekla plays regularly as concertmaster and principal player with the American Bach Soloists. Her new release 'Stylus Phantasticus' with Pacific MusicWorks is delighting critics. "Tekla is a marvel…an endlessly songful bird". Early Music America describes the recording as "played with verve, the music presented here reaffirms the old notion that instrumental music can have the flair of any theatrical spectacle. … a stellar vessel for the boldest showmanship".
Tekla plays on a violin made by Sanctus Seraphin in Venice in 1746.
http://www.teklacunningham.com/About Sheila Weidendorf, piano
A music major in college, Sheila Weidendor received her B.A. in Piano and Music History from the University of Minnesota School of Music, under the mentorship of the late Duncan McNab. Significant injury sidelined my erstwhile life and caused her to walk down new paths, and thus earn an M.A. in Feminist Theological Studies from United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities, in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Five children and vocational delights in cooperative management, medicinal herbalism, energy healing, writing/editing, and whole foods catering later, Sheila moved from Minneapolis to Whidbey Island, Washington where--miracle of miracles!--music was restored. Since about 2011 Sheila has been regularly performing all kinds of music in the greater Seattle area, blessed to play with the most amazing musicians and spending her days primarily at one keyboard or another--be that the piano, the organ, or the harpsichord.
She has recorded works by Alan Hovhanhess with the late, great Buell Neidlinger and members of the Alder Quartet. According to Fanfare Magazine, "her way with texture is a constant delight."
https://www.sheilamakesmusic.com/