Program:

• HAYDN: String Quartet in F minor, Op.20, No.5
• BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No.11 in F minor, Op.95 (‘Serioso’)
• BRAHMS: Piano Quartet No.1 in G minor, Op.25

All Feldman tickets sold out.  Limited Tickets may be available at vafest.org.

About the Miami String Quartet

Sunday, September 13, 2015 at 3pm:

Join us for a free one hour concert of light classical music at the Chrysler Museum of Art

at Chrysler Museum of Art Kaufman Theater

The Lark Quartet continues to delight audiences with its energy, passionate commitment and artistry since its inception in 1985. The Lark has performed in many of the world’s great cultural centers including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, The Library of Congress, London’s Wigmore Hall, L’Opéra de la Bastille in Paris, and appeared at international festivals including Lockenhaus, the Schleswig-Holstein Festival, Mostly Mozart, Istanbul Festival, Wolftrap and the Beethoven Festival in Moscow. Promising to deliver “a performance of grace, proportion and burnished brilliance” (The Washington Post), The Lark Quartet offers audiences new insights into the art of chamber music through programs that begin with the ensemble virtuosity of the western tradition and continue into recent music from Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East, all while regularly sharing the stage with dynamic collaborators.

The Lark has a distinguished tradition of working closely with the country’s most celebrated composers and commissioning new works, many of which have become mainstays of the chamber music repertoire. This history includes works such as Billy in the Darbiesby William Bolcom for Stephen Salters, baritone, and Lark; Scenes from the Poet’s Dreamsby Jennifer Higdon for Lark and Gary Graffman, piano; Quartet no. 1 Musica celestis and Quartet no. 2 Musica instrumentalis (winning the 1997 Pulitzer Prize) by Aaron Jay Kernis; Piano Quintet by Paul Moravec for Lark and Jeremy Denk, Quartet no. 2 In Memoriam and Piano Quintet no. 2, by Peter Schickele; Early That Summer by Julia Wolfe; Viaggio in Italia by Giovanni Sollima; Intarsio by Glen Velez and Big Time by Nico Muhly (commissioned by the Central Vermont Chamber Music Festival) for Lark and Yousif Sheronick, percussion.  Throughout the 2013-14 season, the Quartet continues to build on its commitment to providing free concerts of great music presented with intelligence and vitality through its series Lark About Town. These family concerts, free to all and open to the public, will be held throughout the city of New York, Westchester and New Jersey.

With a discography comprising more than a dozen CDs, the Lark has recorded for the Decca/Argo, Arabesque, Bridge, ERI, Endeavor, Koch, Point and New World labels. Lark Quartet: Composing Americawill be released on Bridge Records in the 2013-14 season and comprises works by Adams, Bolcom, Moravec and Copland. WQXR of New York said of the quartet’s 2013 release of An Exaltation of Larks: Music of Jennifer Higdon on Bridge Records: “the strings soar as a single entity” and chose it as Album of the Week upon its release in March of 2013. The Lark served as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst from 2004-08 and has performed and taught as part of residencies across the United States. The Lark Quartet members, Deborah Buck and Basia Danilow, violins, Kathryn Lockwood, viola and Caroline Stinson, cello, all live in the New York City area with their families.

at Saint Patrick Catholic School

Program

• Mozart:  Trio in C Major, K. 548
• Beethoven:  Trio in c minor, Op. 1, #3
• Debussy:  “La Mer” (arr. Sally Beamish)

Whenever this trio plays, drop everything and go hear them!” ailed the Boston Globe on the occasion of The Boston Trio’s Tanglewood debut at Ozawa Hall. Since their formation in 1997, the Trio has quickly become one of today’s most exciting chamber ensembles. Acclaimed for their superb sense of ensemble and wondrous balance, these virtuosic and profound musicians are committed to creating exceptional and daring performances of standard and contemporary repertoire around the country and abroad.

Violinist Irina Muresanu, cellist Astrid Schween, and pianist Heng-Jin Park each have distinguished careers as soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and have appeared with major orchestras and premier chamber music festivals throughout the United States and Europe.  Cellist Ms. Schween, who made her debut as soloist with the New York Philharmonic under Zubin Mehta, enjoys a varied conert career as a solist and chamber artist.  She has been soloist with major orchestras in Canada, US, and in Europe.  Ms. Muresanu, who has appeared as soloist with the Boston Philharmonic, the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande, and other top international orchestras, is the recipient of top prizes at the Montreal International Competition and the Queen Elizabeth Violin Competition. Pianist Heng-Jin Park, who made her solo debut with the Boston Pops at the age of 15, is the founding member of the Boston Trio and founder and artistic director of Halcyon Music Festival.

Recent highlights for the Boston Trio include performances at UCLA, Detroit Pro Musica, University of Arkansas, Maui Classical Music Festival, Sanibel Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Hall, Merkin Hall, Virtuosi Concerts in Winnipeg, Redwoods Arts Council, performances of Beethoven’s Triple Concerto with the Boston Classical Orchestra, and nationally televised performance at Belgrade Music Festival at Kolarac Foundation Hall in Serbia.

The Boston Trio has been invited to perform on numerous prestigious music series including the Bank of America Celebrity Series, Seiji Ozawa Hall in Tanglewood, Chamber Music Society of Utica, Gualala Arts Chamber Music Series, ‘First Monday’ series at NEC, Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine, Harvard Musical Association, Concerts at the Point, Kalliroscope Gallery concerts, Brigham Young University, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Howland Chamber Music Circle as well as many other venues.  The Boston Trio has collaborated with such artists as the Borromeo Quartet and Bill T. Jones Dance Company and has been frequent guests on Boston’s WGBH Radio and NPR.

The Trio has coached chamber music at the Tanglewood Institute of Music and served as Ensemble-in-Residence at the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in Cambridge from 1997 to 2004. The Boston Trio is the Ensemble-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory Preparatory School. The Trio is committed to bringing chamber music to a broader audience through outreach activities at public schools and assisted living centers.  The individual members serve on the faculties of the New England Conservatory, the Boston Conservatory, Harvard University, University of Massachusetts, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and are in demand as master class teachers throughout the United States, Asia and Europe.

at Chrysler Museum of Art Kaufman Theater

Program

• Mozart: Piano Quartet in g minor, k. 478
• Bridge:  Phantasy Piano Quartet (1911)
• Brahms:  Piano Quartet in A Major

Innovation joins tradition as the Amara Piano Quartet rises anew from the brilliant history that defined its predecessor, the Ames Piano Quartet. The ensemble chose the name “Amara” to send a message that is new yet classic, that combines a sense of mystery and timelessness with a beautiful sound. It is a name that, in the great literature and languages of the past, had associations with mythic paradise, with immortality and the eternal, and with something beloved. Like the new name suggests, the quartet will continue to perform for its audiences the immortal, beloved music of the past while it looks also to commission new compositions to become the masterpieces of the future.

For the Amara Piano Quartet, the 2012 season is a time to build upon a history of over 30 years of concerts by the previous Ames Piano Quartet as cellist George Work and violist Jonathan Sturm welcome violinist Boro Martinic-Jercic and pianist Mei-Hsuan Huang to the ensemble following an international search. Audiences across America continue to greet the APQ’s diverse programming blend enthusiasm, and to comment upon the eloquent, symphonic sound the ensemble delivers from the stage. The Washington Post aptly described the piano quartet as “one of the most heavenly combinations of instruments around,” and reviews of concerts and CDs include praise such as: “the four generated nearly limitless excitement… arching lyricism, poetic eloquence, and great accuracy,” and “one of the best chamber music recordings of the century.”

Now with individual members drawn from orchestral concertmasters, competition winners, outstanding teachers, and with over 100 years of combined experience brought to their performances, the Amara Piano Quartet is poised to become a name recognized world-wide in the circles of chamber music excellence. The new quartet continues a long tradition as an ensemble that has toured to critical acclaim throughout the United States, giving concerts in cities like New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Denver, San Diego, Washington D.C. During the 2013-14 season, the Amaras have engagements to perform in Canada, Virginia, Ohio and Iowa, and have plans to continue the former quartet’s notable tours to Mexico, Cuba, Europe, South Africa, and the Far East.

The Amara Piano Quartet is in residence at Iowa State University and its members, all present ISU Music faculty, include (left to right) George Work, cellist; Mei-Hsuan Huang, pianist; Jonathan Sturm, violist, and Boro Martinic, violinist. Since its original formation in 1976 as the Ames Piano Quartet, the ensemble has released fourteen compact discs, including ten for the Dorian/Sono Luminus label, and four for the Albany label, all of which have received national and international critical acclaim. The Amara Piano Quartet plans to continue this recording legacy along with commissions that bring new masterpieces to the piano quartet literature.

at Saint Patrick Catholic School

Program

• Tchaikovsky:  Andante Cantabile
• Borodin:  Nocturne
• Weinberg:  Notturno
• Weinberg:  Scherzo
• Tishchenko:  1^st Quartet
• Shostakovich:  Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73

The Quatuor Danel was founded in 1991 and has been at the forefront of the international music scene ever since, with important concert performances worldwide and a row of groundbreaking CD recordings winning many important international awards.

The quartet is famous for their bold, concentrated interpretations of the string quartet cycles of Haydn, Beethoven, Schubert, Shostakovich, and Weinberg. Their lively and fresh vision on the traditional quartet repertoire has delivered them subsequent praise from public and press. The other part of their force lies in the collaboration with major contemporary composers such as Rihm, Lachenmann, Gubaidulina, Dusapin Jörg Widmann and Bruno Mantovani.

Russian composers have a special place in the Quatuor Danel’s repertoire. They have championed all string quartets by Shostakovich and recorded the complete cycle for Fuga Libera in 2005. This box-set was recently re-issued and still counts as one of the benchmark interpretations of Shostakovich’ quartets. Over the past three years the Quatuor Danel has recorded the almost unknown quartet oeuvre of Mieczyslaw Weinberg, the neglected contemporary of Shostakovich, for CD-label CPO. The quartet will continue to break a lance for this breathtakingly beautiful repertoire coming seasons.

At the very heart of the Quatuor Danel’s work lies their ambassadorship for young musicians in general and string quartets in particular. Teaching and master classes are a fundamental part of their activities. The quartet has been artist-in-residence at the University of Manchester since 2005, working closely with the students, but also with musicologists Barry Cooper and David Fanning.

The quartet’s current concert diary will take them to the major concert halls in Brussels, Amsterdam, Moscow, Paris, London, Madrid, Vienna, Berlin, Milano, Beijing, Taipei, Tokyo and New York, but they are also comfortable when playing in lesser known intimite venues. Quatuor Danel is a regular guest at festivals such as Kuhmo, Cork, Schleswig-Holstein, Alpen Festival, Bregenz, Montpellier, Enescu Festival (Bucharest), Ars Musica and Musica Mundi.

Upcoming recording projects of the Quatuor Danel will consist of the three Tchaikovsky quartets, Piano Quintet by Franck and a longer term project with all string quartets by Haydn and late Beethoven.

at Chrysler Museum of Art Kaufman Theater

Program

• Schubert:  Notturno in E-flat Major, Op. 148, D. 897
• Brahms:  Piano Trio No. 3 in c minor, Op. 101
• Tchaikovsky:  Trio in a minor, Op. 50

Descending from the great Russian musical tradition, the Hermitage Piano Trio is distinguished by its exuberant musicality, interpretative range, and sumptuous sound. Following a recent performance, The Washington Post raved “three of Russia’s most spectacular young soloists… turned in a performance of such power and sweeping passion that it left you nearly out of breath.”  The Trio has performed to tremendous acclaim for audiences in Los Angeles, New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., and elsewhere.

A rarity in the chamber music world, three musicians who are noted soloists in their own right make up this elite trio.  In a career already spanning forty-five countries on five continents, violinist Misha Keylin is attracting particular attention with his world-premiere CD series of the seven Henri Vieuxtemps violin concertos, released by Naxos.  These recordings have already sold over 120,000 copies worldwide and garnered numerous press accolades and awards (such as “Critic’s Choice” by The New York Times, Gramophone and The Strad). Hailed as “a brilliant cellist” by the legendary Mstislav Rostropovich, Sergey Antonov went on to prove his mentor’s proclamation when he became one of the youngest cellists ever awarded the gold medal at the world’s premier musical contest, the quadrennial International Tchaikovsky Competition.  Antonov’s entry into this elite stratum of sought-after classical artists has already placed him on stages at world-renowned venues from Russia’s Great Hall at the Moscow Conservatory to Suntory Hall in Tokyo.  A passionate interpreter of his native Russian repertoire, pianist Ilya Kazantsev has been hailed by The Washington Post as “virtually flawless”.   He has performed as recitalist and soloist with orchestra extensively in Russia and the United States, as well as appearing in Germany, Japan, Italy, France, Canada, Ukraine, Belarus and Slovenia. 

The Trio excels at performing an enormous range of music and has a wide repertoire from Shostakovich, Arensky, and Tchaikovsky to Haydn, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Brahms.  In the 2013-14 season, the Trio is embarking on a major project in recognition of the 140th anniversary of Rachmaninoff’s birth.   Based in the United States, the members of the Hermitage Piano Trio have taught at the Eastman School of Music, Boston University, Oberlin College, and the Tanglewood Music Center, and have recorded for the Mariinsky Label, Naxos, Marquis Records, and ALM Records.  Cellist Sergey Antonov is the artistic director of the concert series for the Chamber Music Foundation of New England.