Chamber Music Quad Cities: “Between Worlds,” January 18

Sunday, January 18, 3 p.m.

Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Parish Hall, 121 West 12th Street, Davenport IA

Continuing Chamber Music Quad Cities' 2025-26 season at Davenport's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Parish Hall, the ensemble's musical co-directors Gregory Sauer and Thomas Sauer lend their respective cello and piano talents to the January 18 program Between Worlds, the lauded brothers joined for the afternoon's repertoire by acclaimed violinist Timothy Summers.

The three gifted musicians will perform a program that straddles two musical cultures separated by time and place: the musical culture of 19th century Europe, represented by composers Brahms and Fauré, and and the world of American blues music. Young American composer Carlos Simon will be heard twice, first with his jazzy cello/piano piece "Lickety Split," and again with a solo-violin work "Between Worlds."

Lauded for his versatility, cellist Gregory Sauer performs in many different musical arenas. He has appeared in recital at the Old First Concert Series in San Francisco, Vanderbilt University, Rice University, the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, and the Brightmusic Concert Series in Oklahoma City, among many others throughout the U.S. Sauer has performed concertos with orchestras such as the Houston Symphony, the Quad City Symphony, the Columbus (GA) Symphony, the Oklahoma City Philharmonic, and the Missoula Symphony, among many others, and as a member of Trio Solis, he performed in Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall.

Pianist Thomas Sauer is highly sought after as soloist and chamber musician in a wide range of repertoire. Recent appearances include Carnegie Hall, St. John’s College, Oxford, and the Chamber Music Societies of Lincoln Center, Boston, and Philadelphia. With his long-time duo partner Colin Carr, Sauer has appeared at the Wigmore Hall (London), the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (Boston), and Da Camera (Houston), in addition to performing with members of the Juilliard String Quartet at the Library of Congress and numerous times with the Brentano String Quartet.

Violinist Timothy Summers is a member of the first violin section of the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and has performed on violin, viola, and occasionally mandolin with the orchestra at venues across the world. He is co-founder of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival, of which he has been co-director for more than 25 years, and he served as second violinist of the Orpheus String Quartet. He currently teaches violin on the faculty of the Universität der Künste (UdK) Berlin, and has taught violin, orchestral playing, improvisation, and chamber music worldwide. As co-director of the Charlottesville Chamber Music Festival with cellist Raphael Bell, Summers has presented hundreds of concerts focusing on the evolving relationship between European and American music, integrating literature, technology, and improvisation, and assembling star performers from all over the world for weeks of in-depth collaboration.

Chamber Music Quad Cities presents classical concert music at affordable prices in intimate settings. An outgrowth of many years of concert-giving in the Quad Cities by Davenport natives Gregory and Thomas Sauer, CMQC was founded in 1994. Together with pianist Robert Satterlee, the Sauer brothers established Chamber Music Quad Cities as a non-profit, 501(c)3 corporation in that year and began to enlist support from the community that has been consistent to this day. Violinist David Bowlin assumed the artistic direction of CMQC in 2007; upon his departure in the summer of 2017, the Sauer brothers returned as Artistic Co-Directors.

Chamber Music Quad Cities' Between Worlds will take place at Davenport's Trinity Episcopal Cathedral Parish Hall on January 18, admission to the 3 p.m. concert is $20 for adults and $5 for students (student tickets only available at the door), and more information and tickets are available by visiting ChamberMusicQC.org.