Musicians of Ma’alwyck will present Under Four Flags, a moving experience blending silent film with music shaped by World War I, in honor of those lost in the conflict. Four performances will be held May 26-30 across New York State.
Musicians of Ma’alwyck bring history to life through provocative musical performances in the Greater Capital Region and beyond. Now entering their 25th Anniversary Season, they have made a significant impact on the local arts scene through hundreds of unique classical music performances and projects.
The film Under Four Flags – representing America, France, Great Britain, and Canada – was shot in the uncertain summer of 1918, when Allied victory was far from assured. A new score by Max Caplan enhances the emotional progression of the film for today’s audience.
The concert opens with a work by Mihail Jora, written while he was recovering in a hospital after being wounded on the Eastern Front. His music is a personal response to the devastation of war.
The major work is Samuel Gardner’s piano quintet, composed after the death of violinist David Hochstein, who was killed on the Western Front in France in October 1918. Deeply heartfelt and moving, the quintet serves as a musical memorial to Hochstein’s life. Gardner, an important violinist and recipient of the first Pulitzer Prize in Music in 1918, was also the grandfather of longtime Musicians of Ma’alwyck board member Eric Weiner.
Under Four Flags is a powerful tribute to remembrance, sacrifice, and the enduring human response to war.
Founded in 2000 by violinist and artistic director Ann-Marie Barker Schwartz, Musicians of Ma’alwyck evolved from performing music that may have been heard in Albany in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to an expanded repertory, including twentieth-century and contemporary works, in addition to commissioning new works from emerging composers.
Under Four Flags concert dates and locations:
May 26 | Saratoga Arts, Saratoga Springs
May 27 | Temple Gates of Heaven, Schenectady
May 28 | Star Theater, Cherry Valley
May 30 | Village Hall, Wyoming
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