Galvin Cello Quartet: A Night at the Opera

The Galvin Cello Quartet plays Bates Recital Hall on Saturday, July 25, at 7:30 PM. The evening is titled A Night at the Opera, and the premise is simple: four cellos stand in for an entire opera company, reimagining the drama and passion of some of the world's greatest operas in a chamber setting. It's a program that puts the cello's ability to sing and tell stories front and center, taking music usually meant for a full stage and a massive cast and bringing it down to a single instrument played four ways.

Behind the name are four cellists: Sydney Lee, James Baik, Haddon Kay, and Luiz Fernando Venturelli. They're the ones doing the heavy lifting here, translating operatic arias and ensembles into cello arrangements. If you're not usually one for the opera house, this is a good way to hear that repertoire without the full production around it.

The performance is part of the Austin Chamber Music Center's 30th Annual Summer Festival, which marks three decades of chamber music in Central Texas. The venue is Bates Recital Hall at the University of Texas at Austin, which opened in 1981 as the sister hall to Bass Concert Hall. It seats just under 700, and the room is dominated by a three-story, 24-ton, 5,315-pipe organ that rises behind the stage. Over the decades, it's hosted classical, jazz, and pop acts and serves as the Butler School of Music's recital hall.

So, the Galvin Cello Quartet takes the stage at 7:30 PM on Saturday, July 25, at Bates Recital Hall, 2406 Robert Dedman on the UT Austin campus.