Horn Quintet in E-flat major, K. 407 by W.A. Mozart

Performed by Dena Levy (french horn), Owen Cromwell (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), Aireleen Zhu (cello), and Matt Udry (cello)

Composed in 1782, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s Horn Quintet in E-flat major, K. 407, was written for the horn player Joseph Leutgeb, a close friend of the composer and the dedicatee of all four of Mozart’s horn concertos. Their relationship was famously informal and playful, and Mozart wrote the work with Leutgeb’s musicianship and personality in mind. Scored for horn, violin, two violas, and cello, the quintet reflects Mozart’s interest in unusual chamber combinations and his long-standing creative partnership with Leutgeb.

Quintet in G Minor Op. 39 by Sergei Prokofiev

Performed by Raphael B. Zimmerman (clarinet), Saya Leznoff (oboe), Owen Cromwell (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), and Matt Udry (cello)

Prokofiev initially wrote this quintet as an accompaniment for a dance which would have had a simple plot based on circus life. Prokofiev took on this commission as a way to earn some extra money while he was living in Paris, and the dance would have been titled “Trapeze”. However, the music turned out to be too complex for the dancers, so Prokofiev turned the work into a quintet. The music remains very circusy, filled with humour through unexpected harmonies, and irregular rhythms.

String Quartet Op. 76, No. 4, “Sunrise” by Joseph Haydn

Performed by Owen Cromwell (violin), Grace M. Alexander (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), and Matt Udry (cello)

Composed in 1797, Joseph Haydn's String Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 76, No. 4, is nicknamed the Sunrise Quartet after the first violin's opening melody, which gradually rises above the accompanying voices like the sun appearing over the horizon. Rather than treating the first violin as a soloist, Haydn gives each instrument an active, conversational role, allowing themes and ideas to pass naturally between the four players. This equal partnership among the instruments became a defining characteristic of the string quartet and strongly influenced later composers such as Mozart and Beethoven.

Trio for Clarinet, Cello & PIano, Op. 114 by Johannes Brahms

Performed by Raphael B. Zimmerman (clarinet), Aireleen Zhu (cello), and Gabrielle Gagnon-Picard (piano)

Composed in 1891, Johannes Brahms’s Trio in A minor for clarinet, cello, and piano, Op. 114, was written after Brahms heard clarinetist Richard Mühlfeld, whose playing inspired him to return to composition after a period of retirement. It comes from the same creative burst as Brahms’s Clarinet Quintet and Clarinet Sonatas, all written in response to Mühlfeld’s artistry and marking a final, important chapter in Brahms’s chamber music.

Music from Night’s Edge by Alexina Louie

Performed by Grace M. Alexander (violin), Owen Cromwell (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), Aireleen Zhu (cello), and Gabrielle Gagnon-Picard (piano)

Alexina Louie’s Night’s Edge explores the space between darkness and light, and the second movement feels like it moves through shifting fragments of that in-between world at midnight. Listeners may hear sudden, sharp gestures that appear and vanish quickly, like flashes in the dark, alongside more sustained sounds that feel suspended and hovering. You might also hear animal calls, creaking branches, whistling wind, and other nighttime critters.

Sextet by Aaron Copland

Performed by Raphael B. Zimmerman (clarinet), Owen Cromwell (violin), Grace M. Alexander (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), Matt Udry (cello), and Gabrielle Gagnon-Picard (piano)

Aaron Copland is often thought of as one of the composers who helped shape what “American” classical music sounds like. Before that style fully took form, he spent time in Paris studying with Nadia Boulanger, where he absorbed European modernist ideas and experimented with a more compact, sharper musical language. His Sextet for clarinet, string quartet, and piano (1937) comes from that period. In three short movements, it reflects a composer still finding his direction, combining those European influences with the clarity and directness that would soon become central to his mature style.

Contrasts for Violin, Clarinet & Piano by Béla Bartók

Performed by Grace M. Alexander (violin), Raphael B. Zimmerman (clarinet), and Gabrielle Gagnon-Picard (piano)

One of Bartok’s most distinctive compositional traits is his use of folk song. Contrasts is a perfect example, using Romanian, Bulgarian and Hungarian harmonies and rhythms as inspiration for this virtuosic show piece. The third movement begins with the violinist using a second violin tuned in scordatura, meaning that the violin is tuned differently than normal, in this case to resemble the sound of a fiddle. Violin and clarinet are not a common duo, and the contrasts in their sonorities are both stunning and surprising as they shadow and echo each other throughout this piece.

“Shine You No More” by the Danish String Quartet

Performed by Owen Cromwell (violin), Grace M. Alexander (violin), Akseli Mende (viola), and Matt Udry (cello)

Shine You No More is a traditional folk tune arranged by the Danish String Quartet, from their album Last Leaf. Drawing on folk traditions from Scandinavia and the British Isles, the arrangement treats a simple melody with care and imagination, unfolding naturally through changing textures and subtle interplay between the four parts. What begins as a straightforward tune gradually opens up into something richer and more layered, showing how traditional music and string quartet writing can speak the same expressive language.