October 25, 2005

UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Music Academy of the West present the classical brilliance of the Emerson String Quartet at Abravanel Hall

Summary Facts:

• Emerson String Quartet
• The Emerson is lauded as one of the world’s hottest chamber ensembles
• The quartet has won six Grammy Awards and the Avery Fisher Prize
• Co-presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Music Academy of the West
• Friday, December 9 / 8 pm
• Abravanel Hall, Music Academy of the West
• General public: $50 / UCSB students: $25
• Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535

Acclaimed for its dazzling artistry and technical mastery, the Emerson String Quartet, one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles, will play a recital on Friday, December 9 at 8 pm at Abravanel Hall, Music Academy of the West, 1070 Fairway Road, Montecito. This exceptional recital, co-presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Music Academy of the West, will feature a program of Beethoven Quartet in F minor, op. 95, Shostakovich #10 and Beethoven Quartet in E-flat, op. 127. Lauded globally as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm, the Emerson has amassed an impressive list of achievements: a dazzling series of recordings exclusively documented by Deutsche Grammophon since 1987; six Grammy Awards including two unprecedented honors for Best Classical Album; three Gramophone Magazine Awards; being named the 18th recipient of the 2004 Avery Fisher Prize—a first for a chamber ensemble; and performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven, Bartók and Shostakovich quartets in major concert halls throughout the world. Time magazine hails the group as “America’s greatest quartet.”

Formed in the bicentennial year of the United States, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. Dedicated to the performance of classical repertoire, the Emerson String Quartet also has a strong commitment to the commissioning and performance of 20th- and 21st-century music. Important commissions and premieres include compositions by Andre Prévin, Joan Tower, Edgar Meyer and Ned Rorem.

In the summer of 2005, the Quartet continued its exploration of Dmitri Shostakovich, with multiple performances of The Noise of Time in both Paris and Moscow with Simon McBurney’s theatre ensemble Complicité. Through experiences performing as part of theater events, the Quartet became intrigued with the idea of standing while performing and began to experiment with this style in chamber music appearances. The two violinists and the violist of the Emerson now stand for all performances; the cellist plays on a small podium. In April and May 2006, the Emerson performs the complete Shostakovich string quartet cycle for Great Performers at Lincoln Center as part of A Creative Path, the Music of Dmitri Shostakovich. In January 2006, Deutsche Grammophon releases a disc of Nielsen, Sibelius and Grieg.

In addition to its active performance schedule in the major concert halls of North America, the Quartet tours Europe extensively. In 2005-2006, the Quartet continues its relationship with the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., its 26th sold-out season there. Since the fall of 2002, the Emerson has been Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University, coaching chamber music, giving master classes and providing instrumental instruction.

Throughout its 27-year history, the Emerson String Quartet has garnered an international reputation for groundbreaking chamber music projects and correlated recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. In 1988, the Quartet attracted national attention with the presentation of the six Bartók quartets in a single evening for its Carnegie Hall debut. The Emerson’s subsequent release of the cycle received the 1989 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Chamber Music Performance and Gramophone Magazine’s 1989 Record of the Year Award—the first time in the history of each award that a chamber music ensemble had ever received the top prize.

In March 1997, the Quartet released a seven-disc boxed set of the complete Beethoven quartets and organized a series of performances over two seasons at New York’s Lincoln Center entitled “Beethoven and the Twentieth Century,” a total of eight concerts that paired two Beethoven quartets with a twentieth-century composition. Initial reviews of this series were so strong that the remaining performances were completely sold-out, and the recording earned a Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Album.

In 2000, the Emerson performed the complete Shostakovich quartets in a critically acclaimed five-concert series presented at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, as well as at Wigmore Hall and the Barbican Centre in London. The series culminated with The Noise of Time, a theatrical presentation directed by Simon McBurney featuring the Quartet and Complicité that explored the haunted life of Shostakovich through his 15th String Quartet. The theatrical nature of Shostakovich’s music and its powerful effect on audiences led the Emerson to record the Shostakovich Quartets live at the Aspen Music Festival. The disc won the 2000 Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album and Best Chamber Music Performance and Gramophone Magazine’s 2000 Record of the Year Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

The Emerson String Quartet is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and the Music Academy of the West and sponsored by KCBX Public Radio and the Montecito Inn. Tickets are $50 for the general public and $25 for UCSB students who must show valid ID at ticket purchase and the evening of the show.

For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.

Editor: For photos, please call
George Yatchisin at (805) 893-3494.