Chiara Quartet
presented by Asheville Chamber Music Series
March 05, 2010
Friday, March 5, 2010 at 8pm
Unitarian Universalist | Church of Asheville
1 Edwin Place (at Charlotte St.)
Asheville, NC
Program Information:
Haydn's Quartet in C Major, Op. 74, No. 1
Robert Sirota's Triptych
Beethoven's Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
Tickets: $35 at 828.658.2562
Information: www.main.nc.us/ashevillechambermusic/about_us.html
**Plus Classical in a Club: Beethoven in Bars**
Sponsored by the Asheville Chamber Music Series
Thursday, March 4, 2010 at 9:30pm | Lexington Avenue Brewery (The LAB) | 39 N. Lexington Ave.
Tickets: $10 at 828.252.0212 (standing room only) | Information: www.lexavebrew.com
"truly breathtaking" – The Washington Post
Chiara Quartet online: www.chiaraquartet.com
Asheville, NC— At 8pm on Friday, March 5, 2010 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville the Chiara Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Julie Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello) will perform as part of the Asheville Chamber Music Series (1 Edwin Place). The concert will include Haydn's Quartet in C Major, Op. 74, No. 1; Robert Sirota's Triptych; and Beethoven's Quartet in A minor, Op. 132.
In addition, the Asheville Chamber Music Series will sponsor a special appearance by the Chiara Quartet in one of the ensemble's signature classical-in-a-club concerts at 9:30pm on Thursday, March 4, 2010 at the brand new and chic Lexington Avenue Brewery (39 N. Lexington), a.k.a. The LAB. The concert, entitled "Beethoven in Bars," will feature excerpts from Beethoven's string quartets as well as selections from today's hottest young, next-generation composers. In keeping with their commitment to bring classical music to uncommon places and to new audiences, the Chiara devotes a portion of its performance season to concerts in non-classical venues like this one at The LAB. They have performed previously at Galapagos Art Space in New York, The Tractor Tavern in Seattle, Avant Garden in Houston, and the Hideout in Chicago, among many others.
During the March 5 concert, the Chiara will perform Robert Sirota's Triptych, which commemorates the victims of September 11.The Chiara Quartet premiered it on September 26, 2002, at Trinity Church on Wall Street, one of the churches on the periphery of Ground Zero. The Beethoven quartet that the Chiara will play on March 5, Quartet in A minor, Op. 132, was written in the latter part of Beethoven's life after he recovered from a serious illness. The piece is considered a one of his greatest achievements. Haydn's Quartet in C Major, Op 74, No. 1 was composed in 1793, also later in that composer's life, and was first performed in London for the composer's large following there.
Playing "Chamber Music in Any Chamber," the Chiara Quartet reaches from the concert hall into clubs, bars and galleries, expanding the places to hear live classical music while returning chamber music to its roots in intimate spaces. Described by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer as "vastly talented, vastly resourceful, and vastly committed to the music of their time," the Chiara is also continually finding new meaning within pieces from the well-established quartet canon. Their performances have been described as "luminous," "searing," (New York Times) "soulful," "biting," and possessing a "potent collective force" (Strings Magazine).
The 2009-2010 season is the first year of the Chiara Quartet's two-year Beethoven cycle, during which they will perform all of Beethoven's string quartets at Harvard University where they are the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence; in Northampton, MA as part of the Music in Deerfield Series; and at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, where they have been in residence since 2005.
During each concert, the Chiara offers a work from the early, middle, and late periods of Beethoven's life. "The energy, intensity, and intimacy of the string quartet life are encapsulated in these sixteen works. As performers, we relish the challenges Beethoven gives us while rehearsing, the joys of connection in performance … the never-ending work to be done," said Rebecca Fischer. "Our repertoire is endowed with great works, however, no other composer wrote so often, so well, and so differently for this medium during key phases in his life."
More about the Chiara String Quartet: The Chiara Quartet are Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University, in addition to their ongoing artist residency at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Awarded the Guarneri Quartet Residency Award for artistic excellence by Chamber Music America, the Quartet's other honors include a top prize at the Paolo Borciani International Competition, winning the Astral Artistic Services National Audition, and winning First Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
Alongside performances in major concert halls such as Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, and Harris Hall at the Aspen Music Festival, the Chiara devotes a portion of its performance season to concerts in non-classical venues including Galapagos Art Space in New York, The Tractor Tavern in Seattle, Avant Garden in Houston, and the Hideout in Chicago, among many others. Recent highlights of the Chiara Quartet's international performances include the American Academy in Rome, a critically-acclaimed eight-city tour of Sweden with clarinetist Håkan Rosengren, and a performance of Steve Reich's Different Trains in Munich at the storied Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität.
Recent collaborators of the Chiara Quartet include Joel Krosnick, Roger Tapping, Todd Palmer, Simone Dinnerstein, Norman Fischer, and Paul Katz, as well as members of the Orion, Ying, Cavani, and Pacifica Quartets. The ensemble has premiered works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Jefferson Friedman, Michael Wittgraf, Randall Snyder, and Nico Muhly, among others.
The Chiara discography includes the Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets with Håkan Rosengren for SMS Classical, and the world premiere recordings of Robert Sirota's Triptych and Gabriela Lena Frank's Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout for the Quartet's own New Voice Singles label. In 2007 the Chiara recorded Jefferson Friedman's Second and Third Quartets, and they are currently at work recording the complete string quartets of Brahms for SMS Classical.
The Chiara trained and taught at The Juilliard School, mentoring for two years with the Juilliard Quartet, as recipients of the Lisa Arnhold Quartet Residency from 2003-2005.
More information about the Chiara Quartet can be found online at www.chiaraquartet.net, on MySpace at www.myspace.com/chiarastringquartet, and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chiarastringquartet.
