Lecture-Concert Series to feature American String Quartet, Wednesday, Oct. 10
JONESBORO – The 2012-13 Lecture-Concert Series at Arkansas State University will feature a concert by the American String Quartet on Wednesday, Oct. 10, announced Dr. Tim Crist, chair of the Lecture-Concert Committee.
The concert will be at 7:30 p.m. in Riceland Hall of Fowler Center, 201 Olympic Dr. Admission is free to all Lecture-Concert Series events.
Internationally recognized as one of the world’s foremost quartets, the American String Quartet is celebrating its 37th season in 2012–2013. Formed in 1974 when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the American String Quartet was launched by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in the same year.
Members of the quartet are Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, violin; Daniel Avshalomov, viola; and Wolfram Koessel, cello.
“To have the American String Quartet perform at Arkansas State University is a wonderful opportunity for our students,” commented Guy Harrison, the strings instructor in the Department of Music at A-State. “Exposing our string students to such an advanced level of technical and musical mastery is vital to their growth as musicians and performers. This experience also provides an insight into one of the many professional possibilities that exist for our young musicians.”
The Quartet’s innovative programming and creative approach to education has resulted in notable residencies throughout the country. The Quartet continues as quartet in residence at the Manhattan School of Music (1984– present) and the Aspen Music Festival (1974–present).
Following summer residencies at China’s Great Wall International Music Academy and at Colorado’s Aspen Music Festival, the Quartet’s 2012–2013 season includes performances in 11 states.
Critically acclaimed for its presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartok and Mozart, the American also champions contemporary music. The Quartet has commissioned and premiered works by distinguished composers Claus Adam, Richard Danielpour, Kenneth Fuchs, Tobias Picker and George Tsontakis.
To celebrate its 35th anniversary, the Quartet recorded an ambitious CD, Schubert’s Echo, released in August 2010 by NSS Music. The program invites the listener to appreciate the influence of Schubert on two masterworks of early 20th-century Vienna.
The Quartet also has recorded on the Albany, CRI, MusicMasters, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch and RCA labels. Originally released by MusicMasters and again in 2008 by Nimbus Records, the Quartet’s recordings of the complete Mozart string quartets on a matched set of Stradivarius instruments are widely held to set the standard for this repertoire.
The Lecture-Concert Series serves Arkansas State University and the surrounding communities by bringing notable guest speakers and performers of diverse backgrounds and wide appeal to the ASU campus, according to Dr. Crist.
Many of the Lecture-Concert Series events include additional campus activities as well as community outreach projects. For more information, contact Dr. Crist, tcrist@astate.edu, (870) 972���2094.
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