The fourth season of String Theory at the Hunter continues Thursday with two rarely heard compositions— Erich Wolfgang Korngold's "Suite for Two Violins, Cello and Piano Left Hand" and Leon Kirchner's "Piano Trio No.2."  

The works, which were written 63 years apart, share the lush lyricism of the late romantic era, echoing the shadings of the great Mahler and Strauss, according to Gloria Chien, String Theory artistic director.

Two acclaimed violinists, Sean Lee and Kristopher Tong will be joined by renowned cellist and chamber musician, Rafael Popper-Keizer, hailed by the New York Times as “imaginative and eloquent.” 

Kirchner’s writes of his “Piano Trio II,” a single-movement work written at the request of the Laredo-Robinson-Kalichstein Trio, “I subconsciously reviewed the course that music had taken in the last several decades…my music seemed to recapitulate the past in an effort to empower an alternative future…my fantasy of course.”

Korngold composed this suite for an unusual combination of instruments as a commission by pianist Paul Wittgenstein, who had lost his right arm in the World War I and also commissioned many master works for the piano left hand. Korngold, a prodigy named after Mozart and declared by Mahler “a genius” at age 9, later became known as a film composer in Hollywood, and won two Academy Awards, including one for Errol Flynn’s, “The Adventures of Robin Hood.” 

The evening begins at 6 p.m. as Patrick Castillo, director of Artistic Planning of the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, offers insights into the evening’s program. The concert begins at 6:30 p.m.

String Theory at the Hunter is a chamber music series presented by the Hunter Museum of American Art and Lee University and created by Artistic Director Gloria Chien.  

String Theory at the Hunter brings world-class chamber musicians to Chattanooga to perform in the Hunter Museum lobby. This season’s schedule features six concerts.  

Season tickets are still available by calling the Hunter at 267-0968. To learn more or to purchase individual concert tickets visit http://stringtheorymusic.org/. Concert tickets are $25 for Hunter Museum members, String Theory donors; $10 for students with valid ID; Non-Member Price: $35. (A $5 fee is applied to all tickets sold at the door.)

Upcoming Concerts in the 2012-13 String Theory Season

Thursday, Jan. 17: String Theory proudly welcomes back David Shifrin, Wu Han and David Finckel, revered artists who are the past and present Artistic Directors of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. David Shifrin will be joined in the Jan. 17 concert by audience favorite, the Miro String Quartet, in a program that includes Brahms's beloved Clarinet Quintet.  

Thursday, Feb. 14: Wu Han and David Finckel, along with Philip Setzer, violinist for the Emerson String Quartet, will perform Mendelssohn's Trio in D Minor as well as Dvorak's "Dumky" trio in the Feb. 14, 2013 concert. 

Thursday, March 14: Shmuel Ashkenasi is hailed as a "genuine talent and profoundly gifted" violinst. As first violinist of the Vermeer Quartet, he received five Grammy nominations. Don't miss him in the March 14, 2013 concert.

Thursday, April 11: The season finale on April 11, 2013, will highlight 10 virtuoso musicians from The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the only full-time professional chamber orchestra in the U.S. This program will be tailored and curated by guest speaker, Patrick Castillo, Senior Director of Artistic Planning at The St. Paul Chamber Orchestra.