First Baptist Church of Medford opens its fall concert season with the Quartett Giocosa presenting “From the Simple to the Sublime,” which will examine the importance of folk music to Romantic composers and how folk influences changed the landscape of their work.  Included will be Dvorak’s Quartet #12 Op. 96 (“American”) and Borodin’s Quartet #2 as well as some Tchaikovsky and folk tunes.

Giocosa means “joy,” and Quartett Giocosa lives up to their name and reputation by bringing exuberance, passion, and vibrancy to the stage with every performance. Formed in 2017, Quartett Giocosa consists of Heather Goodchild Wade, violin; Irina Fainkichen, violin; Irina Naryshkova, viola; and Elizabeth Schultze, cello. Members have played with musicians such as Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Mstislav Rostropovich, Anne Sophie Mutter, Mark O’Connor, Wynton Marsalis and Sarah Vaughan. They have worked under the leadership of conductors Christoph Eschenbach, Michael Tilson Thomas, Jane Glover, Lorin Maazel, Seiji Ozawa and Jung-Ho Pak, and have played with the Bergen Philharmonic, the Royal Danish Orchestra, the Atlanta and Oklahoma Symphonies, and the the Boston Lyric and Chicago Opera Companies.

Free admission; suggested donation $22.