Fin de siècle w/ Carpe Diem String Quartet & Michelle Schumann

“Turn of the century” shouldn’t matter – after all, it’s just one year rolling over into another, happens every 365 days – but it is freighted with meaning. The meaning is malleable, depending on who’s doing the freighting, which is why doomsdayers and futurists and garden-variety optimists all approach the occasion differently. Composers, too, which should make for an interesting compare and contrast at Austin Chamber Music’s Fin de siècle program, featuring Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 6 in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6 (written in 1800), Kevin Puts’ Dark Vigil (1999), and Anton Arensky’s Piano Quintet (1900), performed by Ohio’s Carpe Diem String Quartet and Austin pianist Michelle Schumann. – Kimberley Jones