Mark Steinberg, violin & Jonathan Biss, piano

Mark Steinberg and Jonathan Biss play the Perelman Theater at the Kimmel Center on Wednesday, December 16, at 7:30 PM. They're performing Mozart's complete works for violin and keyboard, a program that brings together the composer's sonatas and variations for the two instruments.

The set opens with the Violin Sonata in C Major, K. 296, followed by the Variations in G Minor, K. 360. From there, the program takes a brief detour from the duo: Biss plays the Rondo in A Minor for Solo Piano, K. 511 on his own. The second half returns to the pairing with the Violin Sonata in G Major, K. 379 and the Violin Sonata in E-flat Major, K. 481. The whole evening runs about an hour and 40 minutes, including intermission.

This is the third stop of a four-concert journey spread over two seasons in which the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society is presenting Mozart's complete works for violin and keyboard. Steinberg is a familiar face around here; he leads the Brentano Quartet, a chamber group that makes annual appearances in the PCMS series, and for this recital he'll be playing a 1732 'Tom Taylor' Stradivari with a Tourte bow. Biss is known for what The New Yorker called his "impeccable taste and formidable technique," and in 2020 he published Unquiet: My Life with Beethoven, the first Audible Original by a classical musician. PCMS audiences have consistently sent him off with standing ovations, and critics have described his playing as probing, incisive, and deeply considered.

It's a full evening of Mozart, with the solo piano piece as a brief break in the middle. The concert is at the Perelman Theater, 300 South Broad Street, starting at 7:30 PM.