Cherry Street Music will present Beethoven and Beatles, Part 1 on December 16 at 7:30PM at The Allen Center (35 Webster Street, West Newton). Tickets and information are available at the link above.
The concert, part of Cherry Street’s Classics with a Twist season-long focus, explores the frequently noted connections between one of the greatest composers of all time with The Fab Four. The program is curated by Cherry Street’s Artistic Director and renowned cellist Allison Yoshie Eldredge. She will perform Beethoven’s Cello Sonatas nos. 1 and 2 with Max Levinson, piano. The “twist” for this program will be a selection of Beatles songs sung by Grammy-nominated vocalist Donna McElroy, accompanied by Max Levinson.
“Beethoven and the Beatles were THE creative Titans of their genres and time in history, impacting and affecting every composer and band to follow,” explained Eldredge.
“Beethoven and the Beatles are still at the top of my own playlist because I listen to them over and over and can never get enough. Every time I play Beethoven, he teaches me more about the struggles of life through the lens of a historical time, contrasted with a subliminal and spiritual allure lining the struggle! The Beatles also tell our life stories with both truth and with hope, and a silver lining whether it be in the darker rhythm and tonality of ‘Come Together’ or in the beautiful and philosophical ‘Let It Be,’ which for so many of us, evokes a tribalistic love.”
“We’ll be presenting Beethoven and Beatles, Part II in April, with a whole new twist to that connection,” she said.
Recipient of the Andrew Wolf Award, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and first prize in the 1997 Dublin International Piano Competition, Newton resident Max Levinson has appeared as a soloist with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, St. Paul Chamber and Boston Pops orchestras, as well as the St. Louis, Detroit, San Francisco, Baltimore, Oregon, Indianapolis, Colorado, and Utah symphony orchestras. He has performed in chamber music concerts with Pinchas Zukerman, Richard Stoltzman, Tokyo, Vermeer, Mendelssohn, and Borromeo Quartets and has appeared at major music festivals, including the Santa Fe, Marlboro, Tanglewood, and Mostly Mozart. Levinson is on the faculty of The Boston Conservatory at Berklee and The New England Conservatory of Music.
Award-winning vocalist Donna McElroy is a performer, vocalist, and arranger. She arranged and sang on gold and platinum releases by Reba McEntire, Garth Brooks, Amy Grant, BeBe and CeCe Winans, and many others. She received a Grammy nomination for her own pop-gospel album, Bigger World, and won a Dove Award for her contribution to the inspirational compilation album, Songs from the Loft. She has appeared on The Tonight Show and the Grammy Awards, and taught at Berklee College of Music for 24 years.
