By Coral Gables Gazette staff

Two of the most enduring piano quintets in the chamber music repertoire will be performed in Coral Gables on Tuesday, April 14, when Friends of Chamber Music of Miami presents the Balourdet Quartet with pianist Asiya Korepanova at the Coral Gables Congregational Church, 3010 De Soto Boulevard.

The 7:30 p.m. concert pairs Dmitri Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet in G minor with Antonín Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A major, Op. 81 — works that stand in sharp contrast of mood and character, yet together form one of the most compelling programs in chamber music.

A young ensemble on the rise

The Balourdet Quartet — violinists Angela Bae and Justin DeFilippis, violist Benjamin Zannoni, and cellist Russell Houston — formed in 2018 at the Taos School of Music in New Mexico, where its founding members developed both their musical identity and a shared artistic sensibility. The ensemble takes its name from chef Antoine Balourdet, whose presence at the festival left a lasting impression on the group’s early formation.

Since then, the quartet has risen quickly. It received the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and now maintains an active international schedule that includes appearances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Kennedy Center, and major chamber music series across the United States.

A pianist with local and musical roots

Korepanova brings a personal connection to the Shostakovich quintet. She studied composition under Albert Leman, a direct disciple of Shostakovich, linking her interpretation to the composer’s own lineage.

Her connection to South Florida is equally direct. She moved to the United States to pursue doctoral studies at the University of Miami, making her return to Coral Gables a homecoming of sorts. In addition to her work as a pianist, Korepanova is active as a composer and interdisciplinary artist and has collaborated previously with the Balourdet Quartet.

Two works, two worlds

Composed in 1940, Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet reflects a moment of tension in the composer’s life, balancing public recognition with private introspection. Its five movements move from the restraint of a Prelude and Fugue into a sharply etched Scherzo, before resolving in a quieter, more contemplative conclusion. The work is often noted for its emotional restraint and structural clarity.

Dvořák’s Piano Quintet in A major, written in 1887, offers a contrasting sensibility. Expansive and lyrical, it reflects a period of creative confidence, with its well-known Dumka movement shifting between reflective passages and bursts of rhythmic energy. The work remains one of the most frequently performed chamber pieces for its warmth and immediacy.

Presented together, the two compositions demand both precision and range from performers, moving from inward reflection to outward expression within a single program.