Join us on February 21 at the Alexandria History Museum at the Lyceum at 7:30 pm for a delightful evening of chamber music.
Creative paralysis, fixation, and anxiety—states that many composers today address openly—form the psychological core of the two contemporary works on this program. In contrast, the music of Joaquín Turina and Ludwig van Beethoven reflects an earlier artistic culture in which struggle was rarely foregrounded as subject matter, instead emerging indirectly through style, form, and expressive tension. Together, these works trace how composers across eras confront inner resistance, whether by staring it down or transforming it into forward momentum.
Across this program, creative struggle takes markedly different forms. Awad and Hare place psychological blockage and anxiety at the center of their musical narratives, inviting listeners inside the looping thoughts and emotional pressure of the creative mind. Turina responds to artistic tension through refinement and synthesis, while Beethoven channels struggle into forward drive and confrontation. Together, these works reveal that while the experience of inner resistance may be universal, the ways composers choose to confront—or conceal—it are profoundly shaped by their time, context, and artistic aims.
