Released: February 17, 2012
Lincoln, Neb. - The Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Hye Yung Julie Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello) will perform on Wednesday, March 7 at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall as part of the celebrated Hixson-Lied Concert Series presented by the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's School of Music.
This will be the final concert of the season, and the program includes Schubert's String Quartet in C Minor, "Quartettsatz;" Bartok's String Quartet No. 3; the Nebraska premiere of Huang Ruo's "Calligraffiti;" and Haydn's String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5.
Tickets are $20 general, $10 seniors and $5 students and are available at the Lied Center Box Office, (402) 472-4747, or at the door.
The Chiara Quartet commissioned Huang Ruo's "Calligraffiti" as part of their innovative Creator/Curator program. For this program, the composers are asked to create new works for string quartet, then curate musical programs to surround these new pieces. "Calligraffiti," which is a fusion of the words "calligraphy" and "graffiti," is meant to reflect the composition's autobiographical nature. Huang Ruo grew up in China and moved to New York City as a young adult, so Chinese calligraphy and urban graffiti are among the visual images that have influenced him.
The concert will begin with Austrian composer Schubert's String Quartet No. 12 in C Minor, "Quartettsatz." Composed in 1820 it is the first movement of the Twelfth String Quartet that Schubert never completed. Bartok's String Quartet No. 3, written in 1926, is the shortest of his six string quartets. Concluding the program is Haydn's String Quartet in D Major, Op. 76, No. 5. Composed between 1796 and 1797, this piece is oftentimes nicknamed Largo because the second movement with that tempo dominates the quartet both in length and character.
Renowned for bringing fresh excitement to traditional string quartet repertoire as well as for creating thoroughly insightful interpretations of new music, the Chiara String Quartet captivates and enthralls its audiences throughout the country. Over its first decade, the Chiara has established itself as among America's most respected ensembles, lauded for its "highly virtuosic, edge-of-the-seat playing" (The Boston Globe). Most recently, composer Jefferson Friedman's String Quartet No. 3, part of the Chiara String Quartet's "Jefferson Friedman: Quartets" album released last April on New Amsterdam Records, was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Contemporary Classical Composition category.
Huang Ruo's "Calligraffiti" has been made possible by the Chamber Music America Commissioning Program, with funding generously provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the Aaron Copland Fund for Music, and the Chamber Music America Endowment Fund.
About the Quartet
The Chiara Quartet has been artists-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2005. In the summer, they are in residence at Greenwood Music Camp, as well as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Chamber Music Institute. 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.
The Chiara String Quartet serves as Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University, where it recently completed a complete cycle of the Beethoven quartets. The Chiara's 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. Awarded the Guarneri Quartet Residency Award for artistic excellence by Chamber Music America and the Adventurous Programming Award of Contemporary Music by ASCAP-Chamber Music America for the 2010-2011 season, the Chiara Quartet has also been the recipient of grants from Meet The Composer, the Aaron Copland Foundation and the Amphion Foundation.
For more information on the Chiara Quartet, visit www.chiaraquartet.net or find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/chiarastringquartet.
Chiara Quartet in new partnership with Matt Talbot Kitchen: The Chiara String Quartet has partnered with the Matt Talbot Kitchen (2121 N. 27th St. in Lincoln) for a series of events entitled "Music for Hope Concert Series Featuring the Chiara String Quartet." Its next concert will be on Wednesday, March 28 at 6 p.m. Performances take place after dinnertime and will be for the poor and homeless clients of Matt Talbot and other agencies serving the poor in Lancaster County. Although the concerts are not open to the general public, the Chiara Quartet appreciates the opportunity to share music with clients of Matt Talbot in an unconventional venue, bringing the joys of music to the community. For more information about Matt Talbot Kitchen, visit www.mtkserves.org. (Media including photographers and television crews are welcome at this event with advance notice. Please contact Christina Jensen PR at (646) 536-7864 if you plan to attend or for more information.)