Chiharu Naruse and Dean Stein. Photograph by Michael Bradley/Bates College.

Two members of the Bates music faculty present the complete series of Beethoven sonatas for violin and piano in three concerts in the coming weeks.

Violinist Dean Stein and pianist Chiharu Naruse perform at 3 p.m. on two Sundays, Feb. 3 and March 3; and at 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 12, all in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Admission per concert is $10, available at batestickets.com. Free tickets are available by reservation for the first 50 seniors or students; please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Maine-based musicians with international careers, Stein and Naruse have played together in larger chamber ensembles over the years but made their debut as a duo only last fall.

The February program includes the Sonata No. 7 in C minor (Op. 30, No. 2), which marks a transition to the composer’s mature style in scope, harmonic language and structure. The program also includes sonatas No. 4 in A minor (Op. 23); No. 8 in G major (Op. 30, No. 3); and Beethoven’s first violin and piano sonata, No. 1 in D major (Op. 12, No. 1).

In March, Naruse and Stein play the Sonata No. 5 in F major (Op. 24), nicknamed “Spring” because of what music writer John Henken called its “generally cheerful sense of zesty blossoming”; also, No. 10 in G major (Op. 96) and No. 6 in A major (Op. 30, No. 1).

The April program ends the series with the celebrated “Kreutzer” sonata (No. 9 in A major, Op. 47), known for its emotional power, as well as for the difficulty of the violin part. Also featured are No. 2 in A major (Op. 12, No. 2) and No. 3 in E-flat major (Op. 12, No. 3).

While Beethoven wrote these 10 works relatively early in his career, there’s no mistaking the sensibility behind them. “While you find his debt to his predecessors,” such as Haydn and Mozart, “you also find his stamp on the music right from the opening of the first sonata,” says violinist Stein.

“He has his own voice already. He has his own sense of humor already.”

Where other composers of the era tended to make the violin secondary to the piano in the sonata form, Beethoven treated the two as equal partners. “The way the instruments blend together, move apart and develop motivic ideas is pure Beethoven,” Stein says.

Naruse and Stein structured the three Bates programs such that each contains a particularly popular or otherwise outstanding work, and each represents a chronological mix.

And there was no choice, they add, about concluding the series in April with the “Kreutzer” sonata. Like Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Naruse says, the “Kreutzer” has musical themes that are utterly compelling. “It sticks in your mind and you don’t forget.”

With oboist and fellow Bates faculty member Kathleen McNerney, Stein is co-artistic director of the VentiCordi Chamber Music Festival in Kennebunkport. He is also on the Bowdoin College faculty, performs with the Atlantic Piano Trio and is concertmaster of the Maine Music Society. For the past year Stein has regularly performed as guest first violinist with the Portland String Quartet.

A native of Japan, Naruse moved to the United States to study with Bates artist-in-residence Frank Glazer in 2002. She has toured France and Japan, and in Maine has been a featured artist at the Ocean Park Music Festival and the Franco-American Heritage Center.

In summer 2012, she performed Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in four Maine locations with Maine Pro Musica. Naruse also teaches at the Portland Conservatory of Music, where she is the director of the professional division.

The orchestra performs music by Beethoven and Richard Strauss at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Donations to a relief fund for the coastal town of Yamamoto-cho, 24 miles south of Sendai, will be gratefully accepted.

NBC affiliate WSCH-TV interviews Hiroya Miura, conductor of the Bates College Orchestra, prior to the March 19 concert that raised funds for the people of Yamamoto-cho, Japan.

For more information or to reserve seats, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Miura was born and raised in Sendai, near the epicenter of the earthquake, and his parents currently reside in Yamamoto-cho. According to Wikipedia, the town is one of the areas hardest hit by the quake.

The orchestra will dedicate the concert to the memory of those lost in the disaster, and Miura will personally see that audience donations are delivered to the mayor of Yamamoto-cho.

• Including donations received during the March 19 concert and online, more than $8,200 had been raised for Yamamoto-cho by March 22. Donations are still most welcome.

For people unable to attend the concert, donations can made online at www.batestickets.com or mailed to:

Support for Japan
Bates College, Olin Arts Center
75 Russell St.
Lewiston ME 04240

About the program

The orchestra will play Beethoven’s landmark Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) and Richard Strauss’ Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments, works that “are full of youthful energy from these two German composers,” Miura says.

The Beethoven symphony is a milestone in symphonic music, a work marking the transition from the formal strictures of the Classical period to the more emotional, organically unfolding style of the Romantic.

The Strauss serenade, meanwhile, is the earliest composition by this late-Romantic composer to endure in the repertoire. It’s scored for flutes, oboes, clarinets, horns, bassoons, contrabassoon or tuba, and bass.

“Eroica,” which Beethoven completed in 1803, was written as he was coming to grips with hearing problems that would culminate in total deafness.

“It was probably the first time in history that a symphony became so intensely personal and dramatic,” Miura says, “and the ‘Eroica’ was by far the longest, and perhaps the most substantial, symphonic work of its time.”

The work makes bold use of brass instruments, especially French horn, “and it’s no surprise that the ‘Eroica’ was one of the most influential works for young Strauss, whose father was an orchestral horn player.

“It’s also no coincidence that this serenade by the hand of 18-year-old Strauss is in the key of E-flat major, the key of the ‘Eroica’ and Strauss’ later work ‘A Hero’s Life,’ ” Miura says. “I hope the audience will enjoy the virtual musical dialogue between young Strauss and Beethoven in these two works.”

The orchestra concert comes days before two Miura compositions will be premiered at the JapanNYC Festival organized by Carnegie Hall, with Seiji Ozawa as artistic director, in March and April.

Miura’s “Mitate” will be performed by the Juilliard Percussion Ensemble at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall on Tuesday, March 29. Line C3, also a percussion ensemble, debuts his “Blowout” at LaGuardia Performing Arts Center on Saturday, April 2. Both concerts begin at 8 p.m. Learn more.

Conducted by Hiroya Miura, the Bates College Orchestra performs Beethoven’s landmark Symphony No. 3 (“Eroica”) and Richard Strauss’ Serenade for 13 Wind Instruments at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 19, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The concert is open to the public at no cost, but tickets are required and can be reserved by contacting 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

The Beethoven symphony and the Strauss serenade, says Miura, “are full of youthful energy from these two German composers.”

The Beethoven symphony is a milestone in symphonic music, a work marking the transition from the formal strictures of the Classical period to the more emotional, organically unfolding style of the Romantic.

“Eroica,” which Beethoven completed in 1803, was written as he was coming to grips with hearing problems that would culminate in total deafness.

“It was probably the first time in history that a symphony became so intensely personal and dramatic,” Miura says, “and the ‘Eroica’ was by far the longest, and perhaps the most substantial, symphonic work of its time.”

The work makes bold use of brass instruments, especially French horn, “and it’s no surprise that the ‘Eroica’ was one of the most influential works for young Strauss, whose father was an orchestral horn player.

“It’s also no coincidence that this serenade by the hand of 18-year-old Strauss is in the key of E-flat major, the key of the ‘Eroica’ and Strauss’ later work ‘A Hero’s Life,’ ” Miura says. “I hope the audience will enjoy the virtual musical dialogue between young Strauss and Beethoven in these two works.”

Germany’s Auryn Quartet, whose recordings of the complete Beethoven string quartets were called “the set to beat” by a reviewer for Gramophone, returns to Bates College to finish its three-year survey of the Beethoven cycle in performances at 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, Feb. 11-12, and 3 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 13, in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

The ensemble also offers an open rehearsal followed by a reception at 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 12. Tickets for the performances cost $10/$4 and are available at www.batestickets.com. Attendance at the rehearsal is open to the public at no cost, but seating is very limited and must be reserved by calling 207-786-6163.

For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or olinarts@bates.edu.

Founded 30 years ago, the Auryn Quartet consists of violinists Matthias Lingenfelder and Jens Oppermann, violist Stewart Eaton and cellist Andreas Arndt. One of the most sought-after and respected ensembles in the world, the quartet has not changed its personnel over this long period, and continues with its fresh and pioneering approach to all genres of music.

Here are the programs for the Bates concerts:

Feb. 11: string quartets Op. 74, E-flat major (“Harp”); Op. 18, No. 2, G major; and Op. 131, C-sharp minor.

Feb. 12: Op. 18, No. 6, B major; Op. 130, No. 13, B-flat major; and Op. 133, B-flat major (“Grosse Fuge”).

Feb. 13: Op. 18, No. 4, C minor; Op. 135, F major; and Op. 59, No. 2, E minor (“Razumowsky”).

This quartet based in Cologne, Germany, reflects a “European tradition that blends elegance of sound with seamless phrasing and clarity of detail,” in the words of a writer for Cleveland’s Plain Dealer.

Describing the quartet’s recording of the complete Beethoven quartets, a reviewer for Gramophone wrote: “There is no shortage of great and famous Beethoven cycles, but there are no performances such as these. For me, this is now the set to beat.”

The Auryn’s main mentors were the Amadeus Quartet and the Guarneri Quartet, with Claudio Abbado another important influence. The quartet won its first prizes at the London International Competition and the ARD Munich competition, both in 1982, only one year after the group’s inception. The ensemble also won the main prize at the European Broadcasting Competition in Bratislava in 1989.

Recent tours have taken the quartet to Lincoln Center in New York, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall in London, where they performed the complete Beethoven cycle.

The quartet runs its own annual chamber music festival in the Venetian town of Este in Italy (Incontri Internazionali) and does the artistic direction for the Musiktage Mondsee in Austria.

The Auryns have a compelling discography, working exclusively with the Tacet company since 2000. The most recent and ambitious recording project is the edition of all 68 Haydn quartets, which was finished in September 2010.

Learn more at www.aurynquartet.com.

The concert by pianist James Parakilas, violinist Mary Hunter and cellist Steve Witkin is open to the public at no cost. For more information, please contact 207-786-6135 or this olinarts@bates.edu.

Parakilas chairs the Bates music department. A piano student of Robert Miller, John Kirkpatrick and Leonard Seeber, he has given solo and chamber performances throughout Maine, including in the clarinet-violin-piano trio Penumbra and with the dancers Carol Dilley and Jill Eng.

Parakilas has also performed as soloist with the Bates College Orchestra, and coaches chamber music at Bates. He is the editor of the acclaimed social history “Piano Roles: 300 Years of Life with the Piano” (Yale University Press, 2000).

Hunter chairs the music department and coaches chamber musicians at Bowdoin. She studied violin at the Guildhall School of Music in London, and more recently with Rowan Smith and Eva Gruesser. She is a member of the Midcoast Symphony Orchestra.

Witkin is principal cellist with the Colby College Symphony Orchestra and former principal cellist of the Bach Chamber Orchestra of Milwaukee. He plays frequently throughout Maine, and has performed in orchestras and at chamber music recitals in Florida, New York and Italy. He studied with Kermit Moore, David Soyer, Lowell Creitz and George Sopkin. He is an ophthalmologist with Maine Eye Care Associates in Waterville.

The Auyrn Quartet performance, postponed from Saturday, Jan. 30, will take place today, Sunday, Jan. 31, at 3 p.m. in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall at Bates College, 75 Russell St.

Tickets for Saturday’s postponed show will be honored today, Jan. 31.

Tickets are also available at www.batestickets.com, and 100 free tickets for Bates students will be available with I.D. today.

The concert is presented by the Bates Concerts Committee.

Recently celebrating 28 years of continuous membership, this quartet based in Cologne, Germany, reflects a “European tradition that blends elegance of sound with seamless phrasing and clarity of detail,” in the words of a writer for Cleveland’s Plain Dealer.

Having presented the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets in Germany, Italy and Washington, D.C., the quartet continues a three-year Beethoven cycle for Bates, offering two concerts per season.

Describing the quartet’s recording of the complete Beethoven quartets, “Auryn’s Beethoven,” an eight-CD set released by Tacet in 2005, a reviewer for Gramophone wrote: “There is no shortage of great and famous Beethoven cycles, but there are no performances such as these. For me, this is now the set to beat.”

The ensemble has developed into one of the most important quartets of its generation, touring extensively and performing regularly in the major concert halls of Europe, The Middle East, The Americas, Australia and Asia, including London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, the Wiener Konzerthaus in Austria, and New York’s Frick Collection and Weill Recital Hall. Auryn’s Beethoven programs provide selections from each of the composer’s periods within each concert.

The Auryn Quartet series coincides with a season-long effort by renowned pianist and Bates artist in residence Frank Glazer, who resumed his performances of the complete Beethoven sonata cycle at Bates on Jan. 17, with subsequent performances on Feb. 7, Mar. 19, and Apr. 9.

Another string of can’t-miss musical performances at Bates College begins at 8 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 5, as Germany’s Auryn Quartet presents the first in a multiyear series of concerts constituting the complete Beethoven string quartet cycle.

The second concert in that ambitious series takes place at 8 p.m. the next day. Both performances take place in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St.

Two concerts in very different genres are scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 7. At 8 p.m., also in the Olin concert hall, the teenaged musicians of the Neo Jazz Collective perform. Following at 9 p.m. in the Benjamin Mays Center, 95 Russell St., is a show with headliners Barefoot Truth and the Pete and Mike Band.

Finally, at 3 p.m. Sunday in the Olin auditorium, musicians including Bates pianist James Parakilas offer a program of trios by Schubert and Ravel.

Part of the Bates College Concert Series, admission to each of the Auryn Quartet performances is $10 general admission and $4 for students and seniors. Tickets are available at www.batestickets.com.

The other Olin concerts are open to the public at no cost, but tickets are required. For reservations and more information, please call 207-786-6135, visit the concert series Web site or the Olin site, or e-mail olinarts@batesedu.

For ticket information about the Barefoot Truth show, call 207-795-7496.

The 2003-04 Bates College Concert Series opens at 8 p.m. Friday, Oct. 24, with the Zivian-Tomkins Duo, performing Beethoven and Chopin on period fortepiano and cello.

Now in its 20th season, the Bates series has always been aimed at the discerning listener — the music lover seeking that extra edge of excitement, sophistication, fascination. This season won’t disappoint, offering a thoughtful blend of classical music from European and Chinese traditions and cutting-edge jazz.

Friday’s concert will be held in the Olin Arts Center Concert Hall, 75 Russell St. Admission is $8 for the general public and $5 for students and seniors. For reservations or information about the concert series, call 207-786-6135.

Cellist Tanya Tomkins and fortepianist Eric Zivian offer works by Chopin — a set of preludes for solo fortepiano and the Sonata for Piano and Cello in G minor (Op. 65) — and Beethoven’s Sonata in D Major for Piano and Cello (Op. 102, No. 2). The pair has recorded a CD of the Beethoven sonatas.

Based in California’s Bay Area, Tomkins and Zivian use period instruments yet are at ease with music from a variety of eras, including the present. Active in several Bay Area ensembles and series, Zivian is a composer who premiered a work with the Seattle Symphony in 1998. Tomkins, who has played and recorded with a variety of early music ensembles, belongs to the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and Parnassus Avenue Baroque. She also performs on the modern cello and has appeared in Lincoln Center’s Great Performers series.

Following a 2002 Zivian-Tomkins concert of Beethoven and Bach, critic Jonathan Saville of the San Diego Reader wrote that “throughout this exceptional concert, the issue of ‘early music’ or ‘early instruments’ became moot. What one heard was first-rate musicmaking.”

The Bates series continues with Kurt Elling, a singer acclaimed for his skill in setting lyrics to jazz instrumental solos. Boasting a Grammy nomination for each of his five Blue Note recordings, Elling comes to Olin at 8 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 15. Elling is a master of vocalese — the jazz art of setting lyrics to recorded horn solos. Adapting texts by such writers as Rilke, Proust and Kerouac to solos from Wayne Shorter, John Coltrane and others, Elling has breathed new life into this challenging form.

Since 1995, Elling has earned international acclaim as a composer, lyricist and director. He combined Beat poetry and music on stage to celebrate the life of Allen Ginsberg, and honored the city of Chicago with a piece featuring blues singer Buddy Guy, writer Studs Terkel and a 90-voice gospel choir.

But first and foremost, Elling sings. “In an era when bona fide young jazz singers are in perilously short supply,” the Chicago Tribune wrote in 2001, “. . . Elling seems hell-bent on [redefining] what jazz singing is all about.”

The series picks up in 2004 with acclaimed trumpeter Roy Hargrove, who brings an ensemble featuring Italian vocalist Roberta Gambarini to the Bates College Chapel, College Street, on Jan. 17. Closing the series on Jan. 24 is a concert of classical Chinese music by Tian Qing and Zhang Shan.