Steven Isserlis, cello, with Connie Shih, piano

Global superstar cellist Steven Isserlis takes the stage with pianist Connie Shih in a brilliant and versatile program suited not only to their prodigious musical talents but their charismatic personalities. From the playful charm and innovation of Beethoven to the drama of Schumann's youthful Sturm und Drang (Storm and Stress), this final program on Chamber Music SF's blockbuster 2027 season, a Beethoven Bicentennial celebration, takes us on an enthralling journey for all who cherish cello and piano. Beethoven's first teacher in Bonn famously predicted that he would grow up to be "a second Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart," and he freely embraced this prophecy. His Variations on a Theme from Mozart's The Magic Flute begins on a bravura note with Beethoven's own instrument, the piano, before bowing to the cello's warm voicing; their discourse then unfolds through a dozen scenarios. Schumann's monumental Violin Sonata No. 2 and the astonishingly imaginative Fantasiestücke feel utterly organic and freshly reincarnated through our artists' rare blend of historical sensitivity and contemporary vision. Beethoven's A-Major Sonata exploits the full range of the cello's sonority and sets it in dashing complement to the piano's lyrical dynamism, bringing this blazing program and season to an exalted close.