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ASQ at Juilliard for the Lower String Seminar
Just off-stage from an invigorating and wild reception to our Brahms Piano Quintet with Joyce Yang in the Engleman Recital Hall, the ASQ made a dash from CUNY-Baruch last Thursday to forge our way north to Juilliard in a rather wet rush-hour for Toby Appel’s Lower String Seminar (LSS). Happily we picked up a recently… Continue Reading
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Zak Grafilo on his Brahms Transcriptions
Early in 2008, the ASQ was in the midst making plans to do a Brahms chamber music series at Baruch College in New York City where we would perform the three String Quartets, the two Viola Quintets, the two String Sextets, as well as the Piano and Clarinet Quintets. The repertoire was wonderful and it… Continue Reading
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Francis Kuttner Guestblog: Egger on Bartok ala ASQ
Listening to one’s instrument in a concert performance is a highlight for any maker. Getting to hear four of them in a rocking rendition of quartets 1,2 and 3 of Bela Bartok is even better. Last evening’s performance at the exquisite Engelmann Recital Hall had me reminiscing over the 25 years its been since I… Continue Reading
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ASQ Goes to NYC!
A short blog, or “shblog’ about the ASQ in NYC this week. Monday we begin our spring residency week at Baruch College. It is great to be get back twice a year and connect with the marvelous students, faculty and our friends in the fabulous Baruch Performing Arts Center (BPAC). The interdisciplinary sessions include classes… Continue Reading
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UCSF Chancellor’s Concert Series at Mission Bay
Tomorrow the ASQ heads to the Genentech Hall at the University of California, San Francisco’s Mission Bay Campus for the Chancellor’s Concert Series. About the UCSF Chancellor’s Concert Series at Mission Bay: Classical music lives on in this series dedicated to favorites works by classical composers such as Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schumann and others. You’ll… Continue Reading
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Berkeley Chamber Performances
Tomorrow (April 17, 2012), the ASQ will perform in the Berkeley Chamber Performances series at the gorgeous Berkeley City Club — known as Julia Morgan’s “Little Castle.” About Berkeley Chamber Performances: “Berkeley Chamber Performances is committed to presenting intimate chamber music concerts to the East Bay community. We program a diverse range of musical styles… Continue Reading
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World Premiere of Cindy Cox’s Patagón Tonight!
Just about to head up to Sonoma county for this evening’s World Premiere of Cindy Cox’s new quartet Patagón, we’re all looking forward to sharing this exciting event with Santa Rosa Junior College’s SOLD OUT house. I had a chance to discuss the process on “Curtain Call with Charles Sepos” to be broadcast live today… Continue Reading
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In Friendship – César Cano: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings, Op. 74
In Friendship One of the most fertile conjunctions in the history of music has been the combination of the smooth sonority of the clarinet and the resonant sound of stringed instruments — that fusion of quite different textures and sounds has produced great music in completely different eras. And that combination of sonorities has at… Continue Reading
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One last look-back at the London International String Quartet Competition
Saturday’s marathon at Wigmore found the six semifinalists going toe to toe with Beethoven. What was inescapable was the admirably polished and refined niveau that prevailed. Much hair-splitting was required to distinguish between the virtues and quirks of many of the interpretations. For the most part the execution was scarily good. Divided into two programs… Continue Reading
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Guestblog: Composer Cindy Cox talks about her new string quartet “Patagón”
Tomorrow will be an exciting day for me — I’ll get my first chance to hear my new string quartet, Patagón, premiered by the Alexander String Quartet. The quartet and I go way back — they performed and recorded my first quartet, Columba aspexit, sixteen years ago — hard for me to believe! We had… Continue Reading
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The London String Quartet Competition Finalists Are Announced
This was a glorious day for lovers of the string quartet. Six almost world class ensembles gave distinctly different performances of some I’d the finest literature for the medium in possibly the best hall in the world. Each group rose to the occasion and the audiences met the performers more than halfway, as indeed they… Continue Reading
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Sandy Says it’s Heating Up at the London International String Quartet Competition
The early spring heat wave may be breaking at last but the heat is only ramping up yet hotter for the competitors at the LISQC as the weekend bears down. The last of the preliminaries were completed today with fine performances by Switzerland’s Gemeaux Quartet, the American Attacca Quartet, the UK’s Piatti Quartet, Denmark’s Nightingale… Continue Reading