Program: (subject to change)

• Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet
• George Walker: String Quartet #1 “Lyric”
• Dvorak: String Quartet #14, in A-flat Major, Op. 105, B 193

The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire and contemporary, non-standard works alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Interlochen Arts Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Quartet-in-Residence.

Telegraph Quartet website

Program: (subject to change)

• The Complete Brahms Piano Trios
• Piano Trio No. 2 in C Major, Op. 87
• Piano Trio No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 101
• Piano Trio No. 1 in B Major, Op. 8

Hailing from opposite corners of the globe, Merz Trio’s members can only agree on two things: (1) how to pronounce the word ‘Merz’ in a faux German accent, and (2) that shopping for concert clothes should be classified as a form of torture. The Trio met in the middle of a snow storm in NYC in December 2016; hilariously – and gloriously – we now spend the majority of our lives together, rehearsing, traveling and arguing: usually over music and whether Australian English is better than American English. Together, we’ve walked onto stages around the world and are humbled to have been recognized as Winners of the Naumburg, Concert Artists Guild, Fischoff, and Chesapeake Competitions.

Merz Trio website

Program: (subject to change)

• Beethoven: String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2
• Elizabeth Maconchy: String Quartet No. 3
• Johannes Brahms: Piano Quintet in F minor, Op. 34

The Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Now enjoying their 21st year together, this tight-knit ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music. The New Yorker claims, “The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” 

Soyeon Kate Lee was the first prize winner of the 2010 Naumburg International Piano Competition and the 2004 Concert Artist Guild International Competition, Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee has been lauded by the New York Times as a pianist with “a huge, richly varied sound, a lively imagination and a firm sense of style,” and by the Washington Post for her “stunning command of the keyboard.”

Jupiter String Quartet website
Soyeon Kate Lee website

Program: (subject to change)

• JOSEPH HAYDN: Quartet op. 76, #5, in D Major
• BENJAMIN BRITTEN: Quartet No. 2, in C major
• RHIANNON GIDDENS: At the Purchaser’s Option
• BEETHOVEN: Quartet No. 9, in C major “Razumovsky” op. 59, #3

The Ulysses Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad), as well as their “avid enthusiasm … [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (The Buffalo News).

Founded in the summer of 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. They were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. Ulysses garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition.

Ulysses Quartet website

Program: (subject to change)

• Grieg: Andante con moto
• Amanda Maier: Trio in E-flat major
• Schubert: Piano Trio in E-flat major, Op. 100

The Lysander Piano Trio has been praised by The Strad for its “incredible ensemble, passionate playing, articulate and imaginative ideas and wide palette of colors” and by The Washington Post for “an uncommon degree of heart-on-the-sleeve emotional frankness” and “vivid engagement carried by soaring, ripely Romantic playing.” The group has developed a reputation for exciting programming, finding creative ways to connect well-known masterworks with pieces by lesser-known and underrepresented composers, discovering common threads across cultures and times. The Trio’s debut recording After A Dream (CAG Records) was acclaimed by The New York Times for its “polished and spirited interpretations.” Its most recent album, Mirrors, featuring world-premiere recordings of six works the ensemble has commissioned or premiered, was released in early 2021 by First Hand Records.

Lysander Piano Trio website

Program: (subject to change)

Kleine Kammermusik is dedicated to reviving the wealth of Baroque chamber music for winds and continuo. With paired oboes and recorders, and a supportive continuo group of bassoon, cello, viola da gamba, and keyboard, the group comprises a versatile blend of instruments suited to music from a wide range of contexts, from vivid outdoor celebrations and military fanfares to intimate chamber gatherings. Through innovative programming and imaginative use of space they create fresh and entertaining events with a distinctively historic flavor.

Kleine Kammermusik takes its name from a chamber ensemble at the Dresden court in the early 18th century. It is also the name of a collection of pieces by Telemann that he dedicated to four oboists. Intimate in nature and flexible in instrumentation, these pieces embody our approach to sharing music in creative ways that are both colorful and conversational.

Kleine Kammermusik website

A limited number of tickets are available ONLY through the Virginia Arts Festival website: vafest.org.

7:30 pm at the Robin Hixon Theater, Clay and Jay Barr Education Center, Virginia Arts Festival Building, 440 Bank Street, Norfolk

The Emerson String Quartet has maintained its status as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles for more than four decades. The Quartet has made more than 30 acclaimed recordings, and has been honored with nine GRAMMYs® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year” award. They have worked with some of today’s most esteemed composers to premiere new works, and have partnered with soloists such as Renée Fleming, Barbara Hannigan, Evgeny Kissin, Emanuel Ax, and Yefim Bronfman, to name a few.

PROGRAM
BEETHOVEN String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 #2
BEETHOVEN String Quartet in Bb major, op. 130 with Grosse Fuge, Op. 133

Emerson String Quartet website

Program: (subject to change)

• Joaquin Turina: Trio in b minor, Op. 76
• Dmitri Shostakovich: Trio No. 2 in e minor, Op. 67
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Trio No. 1 in g minor “Elégiaque”
• Sergei Rachmaninoff: Vocalise
• Gaspar Cassadó: Trio in C major

Now entering their second decade, the United States-based Hermitage Piano Trio has solidified its place as one of the world’s leading piano trios, garnering multiple GRAMMY® Award nominations and receiving both audience and press accolades for their performances that The Washington Post singled out for “such power and sweeping passion that it left you nearly out of breath.”

Hermitage Piano Trio website

Program: (subject to change)

• Haydn: String Quartet Op. 33 No. 2 “The Joke”
• Walker: String Quartet No. 1
• Mendelssohn: String Quartet No. 5 Op. 44 No. 3

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the GRAMMY® nominated Dover Quartet has followed a “practically meteoric” (Strings) trajectory to become one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world. In addition to its faculty role as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Artosphere, and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its prestigious honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.

Dover Quartet website