Monday, August 3, 2026 • 1 PM

Listening Lounge: Bartok

Michael Gerdes hosts a guided listening series for curious concertgoers who want to expand how they hear music. Each session examines a single work, exploring how a piece is built, what to listen for as it unfolds, and how different performers bring contrasting perspectives to the same notes.

By comparing interpretations and considering changes in performance practice throughout history, we’ll begin to listen to music the way one might taste fine wine: attentively, thoughtfully, and with a growing vocabulary.

Registration Required.

Lecture Topic

Written for the Basle Chamber Orchestra in 1939, Béla Bartók took the baroque concerto grosso as his model for the Divertimento for String Orchestra. It is one of his most approachable scores, despite being full of striking contrasts. Sunny, folk-inspired dance rhythms come together with dark, evocative moments in the inner movements to highlight Bartók’s full compositional prowess.

Bartók’s Divertimento for String Orchestra will be performed on Saturday, August 8.

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