Friday November 10, 2006
Tokyo String Quartet
Friday, Nov. 10, 2006 / 8:00 p.m. / Kenan Auditorium.
Reserved Seating: $35 General Public; $20 Student/child
For Tickets & Information: Call the Kenan Auditorium Box Office Mon.-Fri., 10am-6pm at 910.962.3500 or 800.732.3643.
The Wilmington Concert Association pressents the Tokyo String Quartet featuring Martin Beaver, violin; Kikuei Ikeda, violin; Kazuhide Isomura, viola; and Clive Greensmith, cello.
ABOUT THE ENSEMBLE
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded more than 30 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet -- Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)--has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record.
Performing well over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String Quartet has a devoted international following that includes not only the major capitals of the world but also reaches all four corners, from Australia to Estonia to Scandinavia and the Far East.
This season the Tokyo String Quartet continues its residency at New York's 92nd Street Y by offering three programs in recognition of the 250th anniversary of Mozart's birth. The Tokyo celebrates with a series of concerts featuring some of the composer's most transcendent works for small ensembles - his last three string quartets written in 1789 and 1790. Distinguished European and American musicians join the Tokyo String Quartet in works for larger ensembles, including pieces showcasing clarinet, oboe, piano and viola.
The Tokyo is widely recognized worldwide as an ensemble that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm. Over the course of the 2005-06 season, the ensemble will perform three new commissions by leading composers Lera Auerbach, Jennifer Higdon and Peter Sculthorpe. The world premiere of the Sculthorpe string quartet, the Tasmanian composer's 16th, will take place in Melbourne and will receive repeat performances in cities across Australia this November; the Higdon premiere will be presented by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music in March; and on tour this spring in Spain, the Tokyo will give the world premiere of The Seven Last Words by Lera Auerbach. The quartet spends several weeks of each year on tour overseas. With several planned this season, the quartet will travel extensively through Europe, with stops in Belgium, Estonia, Germany, Great Britain, Holland, Italy, Sweden and Austria.
In 2004, the quartet performed the world premiere of a work by Joan Panetti in Pasadena as part of the centennial celebration of the Coleman Chamber Music Association. The Tokyo also participated in Carnegie Hall's "Making Music: Joan Tower" program at Weill Recital Hall. Highlights of recent seasons included a performance with pianist Alicia de Larrocha at Carnegie Hall, and an ambitious project that included performances of the complete string quartets and other chamber works of Brahms interspersed with four new pieces commissioned by the quartet. The premiere of each new piece took place in the native country of its composer: Joan Tower (United States), José Luis Turina (Spain), Fabio Vacchi (Italy) and Hikaru Hayashi (Japan). The complete series was presented by the Tisch Center for the Arts at the 92nd Street Y in New York and at the Auditorio Nacional de Musica in Madrid.
The members of the Tokyo String Quartet have served on the faculty of the Yale School of Music since 1976 as quartet-in-residence. Deeply committed to teaching young string quartets, they devote a considerable amount of time at Yale during the academic year and at the prestigious Norfolk Chamber Music Festival in the summer. They also regularly participate in master classes throughout North America, Europe and the Far East.
The Tokyo String Quartet has released more than 30 landmark recordings on BMG/RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel-EMI, CBS Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon and Vox Cum Laude, including the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók. The quartet's recordings of Brahms, Debussy, Dvorák, Haydn, Mozart, Ravel and Schubert have earned such honors as the Grand Prix du Disque Montreux, "Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year" awards from both Stereo Review and Gramophone magazines, and seven Grammy nominations. Last season, their Mozart album on the Biddulph label received
wide international acclaim. The success of the Tokyo's recent disc of the Brahms Clarinet Quintet on harmonia mundi usa led to a multi-record project with the label, where the group has begun recording the complete Beethoven String Quartets. The first in this series released this past winter, offering the three middle "Razumovsky" quartets. The Tokyo continues its recording momentum with harmonia mundi this fall with the release of a new disc featuring works by Dvorak and Smetana.
The Tokyo String Quartet has been featured on numerous television programs including "Sesame Street," "CBS Sunday Morning," PBS's "Great Performances," "CNN This Morning," and a national television broadcast from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, as well as on the soundtrack for the Sidney Lumet film "Critical Care" starring Kyra Sedgwick and James Spader.
The quartet performs on "The Paganini Quartet," a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolň Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been loaned to the ensemble by the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995, when they were purchased from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tokyo String Quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. Instilled with a deep commitment to chamber music, the original members of what would become the Tokyo String Quartet eventually came to America for further study with Robert Mann, Raphael Hillyer and Claus Adam. Soon after its creation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets.
Brought to you by Kenan Auditorium.
