BETWEEN GENERATIONS
Lembit Beecher
with Erinys Quartet and Friends
Presented by the American Academy in Rome and Mahler & LeWitt Studios, in collaboration with Fondazione Carla Fendi
18:00, 8 July, Chiesa di Sant’Agata, Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi
Estonian-American composer Lembit Beecher presents a world-premiere of a movement from ‘A Book of Falsehoods’, composed during his year-long residency at the American Academy in Rome (AAR) and his recent residency at the Mahler & LeWitt Studios in Spoleto. The concert is performed by acclaimed musicians Marco Venturi (horn), Karen Ouzounian (cello), Sergio Costa (piano), and Erinys Quartet.
Beecher is the current Samuel Barber Rome Prize Winner at the AAR. As a composer, Barber regularly collaborated with Giancarlo Menotti, founder of the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi, and was his long-term partner.
Characterised by their fragile lyricism, propulsive energy, and visceral emotions, Beecher’s compositions thread together fragments of family lore, distantly experienced legends and songs from Estonian folk culture, with explorations of place and experiences of migration.
‘A Book of Falsehoods’ is inspired by the composers mother’s English translation of Jaan Kross’s epic on Estonian history Between Three Plagues. Beecher’s musical interpretation draws on the multi-layered act of translation, questioning the reliability of language and its role in determining displaced identity. Accompanying the premiere are three recent works which further demonstrate Beecher’s fascination with the way personal and collective identities are formed by our engagement with the past, and the way sound transmits histories and memories between generations.
Lembit Beecher An Estonian-American composer and pianist, Beecher’s music has been performed worldwide, including premieres by the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, Opera Philadelphia, and Juilliard Quartet. He has won awards from the Koussevitzky, Fromm, and S&R Foundations and held residencies at Copland House, MacDowell, and Bogliasco. His three operas with playwright Hannah Moscovitch have drawn particular acclaim: Sky on Swings was described by the Wall Street Journal as “a shattering musical and theatrical evocation of what it feels like to have Alzheimer’s disease.”
Erinys Quartet Founded in 2018 at the Sibelius Academy, Erinys Quartet unites musicians with roots in Estonia, Lithuania, Greece, the U.S., and Finland. Winner of the 2025 Trondheim International Chamber Music Competition, they perform across Europe and North America, teach masterclasses, and are currently quartet-in-residence at Indiana University.
Marco Venturi An Italian horn player and professor at the Conservatorio Giulio Briccialdi in Terni, Venturi collaborates with leading orchestras and composers, has recorded film music with Ennio Morricone, and champions contemporary music as part of the Parco della Musica Contemporanea Ensemble.
Karen Ouzounian An acclaimed cellist and composer, Ouzounian has appeared at Carnegie Hall, Konzerthaus Berlin, and Elbphilharmonie. A founding member of the Aizuri Quartet and performer with Silkroad Ensemble, she makes her Boston Symphony Orchestra debut in 2026 as soloist in Kayhan Kalhor’s double concerto “Venus in the Mirror.”
Sergio Costa is an Italian pianist known for his expressive interpretations of diverse works, from Baroque to contemporary. He is the founder of Trio Sheliak and winner of the 2024 Abbiati Prize.