Claisical Connections Mark Steinberg, Serena Canin, Misha Amory and Nina Lee Brentano String Quartet links modern composers to past masters. Suzanne Chessler Contributing Writer TRY OUR DELICIOUS NEW DISHES! INCLUDING VIP DUCK AND TRADITIONAL EGG ROLLS. The Mall at Partridge Creek - Clinton Township - 586.263.0860 Fairlane Town Center - Dearborn - 313.429.2030 6 Mile & Haggerty Road - Northville Township - 248.675.0066 Somerset Collection South - Troy - 248.816.8000 pfchangs corn ILLAGE ALAC_ 4170 Orchard Lake Rd. (near Pontia Orchard Lake, MI 48323 (248) 682-34 We wish all our customers a Happy, Healthy & Sweet New Year! eabody's Dining & Spirits 2'18.644.5222 ♦ 34965 WOODWARD i JUST SOUTH OP MAPLE 102 September 22 • 2011 iN S erious music representing ear- lier generations will be linked with serious music represent- ing today's generation in a concert to be performed by the Brentano String Quartet for the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. "Fragments: Connecting Past and Present," part of a year of programs celebrating the 20th anniversary of the quartet, begins 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Seligman Performing Arts Center in Beverly Hills. The group commissioned six contem- porary composers to respond to pieces not completed by Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert and Shostakovich. The com- missioned composers include Charles Wuorinen, Sofia Glubaidulina, John Harbison, Vijay Iyer, Bruce Adolphe and Stephen Hartke. "The non-newly-commissioned piec- es are incomplete in different ways," says violinist Mark Steinberg, 43, who will give a pre-concert talk 6:45-7:30 p.m. "Some are sketches of ideas. Another has complete movements of a piece that has not been finished. "The commissioned composers were inspired by the pieces and knew their pieces were going to be played alongside the earlier pieces. Outside of that and the length of the new works, we didn't give them any parameter." In addition to Steinberg, Brentano members who commissioned compos- ers they've worked with or admired are Serena Canin on violin, Misha Amory on viola and Nina Lee on cello, the only member who joined after the quartet's founding. "Some of these earlier pieces are incredibly moving and beautiful music that can't be programmed [indepen- dently] in any way because they're not complete Steinberg explains. "This pro- gram gives them a context in which they can be heard!' Brentano members, who met through school and various festivals, tour inter- nationally and this season will debut in Israel. "I was in Israel when I was 10," says Steinberg, taken by the grandfather who introduced him to music and suggested he study violin. "I probably knew I wanted to be a professional musician in high school. By the time I was in college, I knew I wanted to be first violinist in a string quartet. I was playing professionally in grad school." Steinberg, who holds degrees from Indiana University and the Juilliard School, has been heard in chamber music festivals in Holland, Germany, Austria and France and participated for four summers in the Marlboro Music Festival. He also has appeared with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and in trio and duo concerts with pianist Mitsuko Uchida. Solo engagements have been with the London Philharmonia, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Kansas City Camerata and the Auckland Philharmonia. "As a violinist, I find the chamber music repertoire extraordinary," says Steinberg, drawn to the flexibility of sound and inflection of his instrument. "It's also compelling to have a conversa- tion in music with other people" The conversation and elements of the "Fragments" concert, he believes, humanizes the composing process. "The audience gets involved with the earlier pieces, and when the pieces stop, listeners are faced with the realization of the actual person writing them:' he explains. "It's like the audience is in the workshop [experiencing] the process and then gets to see what the process is today as well:' The Brentano String Quartet performs 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 1, at the Seligman Performing Arts Center, 22305 W.13 Mile, Beverly Hills. Mark Steinberg gives a pre-concert talk 6:45-7:30 p.m. $25-$75. (248) 855-6070; comehearcmsd.org .