“As long as there are such musicians, humanity can hope …” the Times writes about the 9 Grammy Emerson String Quartet. Named after the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, the famous figure, after almost half a century of impressive course with many distinctions, leaves the international scene in 2023 touring in the United States and Europe, but its members do not retire artistically. , as they will continue to give solo recitals and teach new music groups.
The first stop of the Emerson String Quartet’s European tour is the Athens Concert Hall, before their concerts in Madrid, Florence, Pisa, Milan and London. Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer (violin), Lawrence Datton (viola) and Paul Watkins (cello) will perform two of the most masterpieces in the chamber music repertoire on Tuesday, March 8 at 20:30 in Christos Lambra Hall.
This is the last String Quartet by Ludwig van Beethoven and the Quartet “Death and Daughter” by Franz Schubert, a cornerstone of the work for this particular combination of musical instruments. In fact, the award-winning American ensemble had made its 1988 debut for the Deutsche Grammophon with this great work by Schubert.
The performance of the Emerson String Quartet at the Athens Concert Hall is part of the “Great Performers” cycle.
A few words about the projects
The String Quartet no. 14, in two parts, work 131 by Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), composition of 1826, is one of the last chamber music works written by the great composer, but he was not happy to see it in print. as he was overcome by the serious health problems that afflicted him at that time.
Franz Schubert (1797-1828) composed the String Quartet No. 14, in D minor, D.810, “Death and Daughter” in 1824. However, the work was only published in 1831, three years after his death. . It is one of the most representative examples of Schubert’s last compositional period, which thrilled audiences and critics alike and influenced many later composers.
Emerson String Quartet
The Emerson String Quartet was founded in 1976 in New York and has been on the world music scene for more than four decades. With more than 30 great recordings, the ensemble has received nine Grammys (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophones, Avery Fisher and the Ensemble of the Year from Musical America magazine. Constantly present in contemporary music, the Quartet often presents works by contemporary composers for the first time and collaborates with leading soloists: Rene Fleming, Barbara Hannigan, Gevgeny Kissin, Emanuel Ax, Gefim Bronfa
The Quartet’s appearances for the period 2021-2022 include: the premiere of Andre Preven’s “Penelope” at Carnegie Hall in New York, with soprano Rene Fleming, actress Uma Thurman and pianist Simon Dinner and Steiner Steiner Washington’s tour of America’s largest concert halls and reappearance at the Louisville Chamber Music Association completing Beethoven’s Spring 2020 cycle; Center), where he will present the complete cycle of Shostakovich works.
The Quartet’s rich discography includes all of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bartok, Webern, and Shostakovich string quartets, as well as CDs of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Dvorak. In 2018 Deutsche Grammophon released a collection with all the recordings of the ensemble; in October 2020, Pentatone Label released a cd with three strings for Schumann strings by, while last year, in collaboration with Gevgeny Kissin, released by Deutsche Grammophon the live recording of the Emerson String Quartet concert at Carnegie Hall, in 2018.
From the first bands that adopted the successive change emerging among its members, it always had a dense program of performances, but also educational action, as a Quartet in residence at Stony Brook University. Since 2013, the cello position has been filled by the distinguished soloist Paul Watkins – also an award-winning conductor, with a passion for chamber music.
In the spring of 2016, New York State University awarded the Honorary Doctorate to Philip Setger and Lawrence Dutton, and the Honorary Doctorate to Eugene Drucker and Paul Watkins. The members of the Quartet have received honorary doctorates from Middlebury Colleges, Worcester, Bard as well as from the University of Hartford. In January 2015, the Quartet won the Richard J. Award. Bogomolny, the highest award in America for chamber music bands.
Ticket prices: from 8 to 40 euros
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