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Thursday, January 21 • 7:00 pm

Haydn After Hours
St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, Charlotte
1001 Queens Rd, Charlotte, NC 28207

String quartets, luminous chorales, and the wit that changed chamber music.

Haydn knew how to surprise an audience. In this intimate opening-night program, two of his great string quartets reveal a composer of dazzling invention, sly humor, and astonishing emotional range. The C major Quartet from Op. 20 looks back toward the contrapuntal world of Bach with its brilliant final fugue, while the E-flat major Quartet, Op. 33 No. 2, “The Joke,” plays with expectation, timing, and theatrical wit in ways that still feel fresh more than two centuries later.

Set alongside luminous chorale settings by C. P. E. Bach, the evening offers a vivid portrait of the musical world after J. S. Bach: rooted in craft, alive with conversation, and full of new possibilities. Elegant, surprising, and deeply human, Haydn After Hours is chamber music with sparkle, intellect, and a wink.

Featuring
String Quartet in C Major, Op. 20, No. 2
String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 33, No. 2 “The Joke”
Franz Joseph Haydn

Various Chorale Settings
Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach

Aisslinn Nosky, Violin I
Fiona Hughes, Violin II
Maureen Murchie, Viola
TBA, Cello

Concert Duration: Approximately 65 minutes without intermission

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