1. Pavel Haas Quartet
Sergei Prokofiev
Quartet No.1 in B Minor, Opus 50
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet in F minor, Opus 95 “Serioso”
Béla Bartók
Quartet No.5 Sz.102
After a three year absence, we are pleased to welcome back the Pavel Haas Quartet. Of the great younger quartets today, they are the only ones that continue the Czech tradition. In 2011, the group won the prestigious Recording of the Year award from Gramophone Magazine. The programme features mature works from three composers and will highlight the ensemble’s heightened ability to communicate with each other, with audience-pleasing energy.
2. Dover Quartet
Antonín Dvořák
Quartet in F Major, Opus 96 “American”
Alban Berg
String Quartet, Opus 3 (1910)
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet in F Major, Opus 59 No.1
Please join us in welcoming The Dover Quartet – dubbed as the young American string quartet of the moment by the New Yorker – to our stage for the first time!
The Dover Quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, becoming one of the most in-demand classical ensembles in the world. In 2013-14, the Quartet became the first ever Quartet-in-Residence for the venerated Curtis Institute of Music, and are now Quartet-in-Residence at Northwestern University in Chicago. During the 2014-15 season, the Dover Quartet performed more than 100 concerts throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe.
Members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic. Furthermore, the Quartet is dedicated to sharing their music with underserved communities and is an active member of Music for Food, an initiative to help musicians fight hunger in their home communities.
“Confident, sinewy playing of distinctive sound and ample nuance…brilliantly done…terrific quartet.” –National Post
“These young musicians play with remarkable attentiveness and an astonishingly even tone, as if they were four limbs of one instrument.” –Montreal Gazette
“…the Dover Quartet players have it in them to become the next Guarneri String Quartet — they’re that good. Expert musicianship, razor-sharp ensemble, deep musical feeling and a palpable commitment to communication made their performances satisfying on many levels.” –Chicago Tribune (October 9, 2015)
3. Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano trio in D major, Opus 70 No.1
Anton Arensky
Piano trio No.1 in D minor, Opus 32
Sergei Rachmaninoff
Trio élégiaque No.1 in G minor (1892)
Johannes Brahms
Piano trio in C Major, Opus 87
We are pleased to welcome the Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch for their North American premiere. Please join us to hear their great precision and glorious sound!
Audiences have greeted Trio Shaham Erez Wallfisch with great enthusiasm, starting immediately after the musicians formed the trio in 2009. Shaham and Raphael Wallfisch played chamber music together at the 2009 Pablo Casals Prades Festival, where they recognised an immediate musical synergy. Arnon Erez joined them for concerts later that year and the trio was established.
Hagai Shaham has performed as a soloist with many major orchestras, including the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, and the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra. He and Erez have enjoyed international success as a violin-piano duo, as well as winning first prize at the 1990 ARD International Music Competition in Munich.
Arnon Erez is one of Israel’s leading pianists and an outstanding chamber musician. He has won several international competitions and has performed in major festivals and concert halls around the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Musikverein, Vienna, new Auditorium du Louvre, and London’s Wigmore Hall.
Raphael Wallfisch was born in London into a family of distinguished musicians, his mother the cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and his father the pianist Peter Wallfisch. At 24, he had already won the Gaspar Cassado International Cello Competition in Florence. Since then he has enjoyed an international career as a soloist and is one of the most recorded classical artists in the world.
“… utterly moving… The musicians know, with minute precision, how to guard the boundary between the intimacy of chamber music and the sweeping grandeur of a large-scale concert, only achievable by artists whose capacities and experience are on an equally high level.” –Fonoforum
4. Han, Finckel, Setzer Trio
Ludwig van Beethoven
Piano trio in C Major, Opus 1 No.2
Dmitri Shostakovich
Piano trio No.2 in E minor, Opus 67
Antonín Dvořák
Piano trio in C minor, Opus 90 “Dumky”
Cellist David Finckel, violinist Philip Setzer, and pianist Wu Han make as fine a piano trio as the world knows. Given their résumés, this is no surprise: Finckel spent more than thirty years with the famed Emerson String Quartet; Setzer is a founding and continuing member of the Emerson Quartet; and Han has an outstanding career as an orchestral soloist and chamber player, as well as a close recording and touring relationship with Finckel. So, it will be no surprise that we’re bringing this trio back for a fourth performance.
5. Emerson String Quartet
Franz Joseph Haydn
Quartet in C Major, Opus 76 No.3 “Emperor”
Béla Bartók
Quartet No.4 Sz.91 (1928)
Antonin Dvořák
Quartet in F major, Opus 96 “American”
Formed in 1976 and based in New York City, the Emerson String Quartet has been our top returning ensemble because of their precise communication that only performers of such longevity achieve. Remarkably, each returning concert retains a vitality and freshness that continues to excite our long-standing audience members. From the elegant charm of Haydn, to the intense compression of Bartók, this performance offers an aural roller coaster with its range of experiences. The Emerson’s accolades include nine Grammy Awards and three Gramophone Awards —an unprecedented honour for a chamber music group.
6. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet for piano and strings in E flat Major, Opus 16
Ernst von Dohnányi
Serenade for violin, viola and cello in C Major, Opus 10
Antonín Dvořák
Quartet for piano and strings in E flat Major, Opus 87
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is a multi-generational and international selection of expert chamber musicians, an evolving repertory company that presents concerts of chamber music. This exciting iteration is comprised of Gilles Vonsattel, piano; Arnaud Sussmann, violin; Paul Neubauer, viola; Paul Watkins, cello, also current cellist for the Emerson String Quartet. From the classicism of early Beethoven to the mature romanticism of Dvořák, this will be an evening of enchanting musicality.
7. Szymanowski Quartet
Wacław of Szamotuły
Four Polish Renaissance Chorales
Franz Joseph Haydn
Quartet in E flat major, Opus 33, No. 2 “The Joke”
Grazyna Bacewicz
String Quartet No. 4
Antonín Dvořák
Quartet in A flat, Opus 105
Since their first appearance with us in 2008, we have experienced spirited music-making by this dynamic quartet comprised of two Polish and two Ukrainian musicians. “Their intonation and blend are impeccable. It was hard not to fall in love with the Szymanowski Quartet…All professionals perform with intensity, but playing from the heart is another matter” –New York Times. This concert programme exclusively features music by Polish and Bohemian composers, highlighting particular national sounds from the quartet’s home and the neighbouring tradition.
8. Mandelring Quartett
Franz Joseph Haydn
Quartet in D Major, Opus 71 No.2
Berthhold Goldschmidt
Quartet No.2 (1936)
Johannes Brahms
Quartet in C minor, Opus 51 No.1
For their eighth time, the Mandelring Quartett will grace our stage. Comprised of three Schmidt siblings – two violinists and a cellist – and their close friend, violist Roland Glass, they will perform music from three distinct periods by Haydn, Brahms and Goldschmidt, themed together through shared lyricism. Over the last few years, the Mandelring Quartett have transformed to become one of the top quartets in the world.
Read their feature in the Vancouver Sun!
9. Takács String Quartet
Franz Joseph Haydn
Quartet in G minor, Opus 74 No.3 “Rider”
Dmitri Shostakovich
Quartet No.3 in F major, Opus 73
Ludwig van Beethoven
Quartet in C Major, Opus 59 No.3
In 2012, Gramophone announced that the Takács was the only string quartet to be inducted into its first Hall of Fame and they are one of our constant favourites. Their irresistible blend of virtuosic technique and engaging personality offers a window into the Hungarian quartet tradition. This programme includes a mature work by the father of string quartets, a middle Beethoven quartet, and a seminal post WWII work by Shostakovich, moving elegantly past the tenuous relationship with all things Soviet.
10. Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (String Sextet)
Richard Strauss
Sextet for strings from Capriccio, Opus 85
Antonín Dvořák
Sextet in A major for strings, Opus 48
Johannes Brahms
Sextet No.2 in G major for strings, Opus 36
We are excited to offer again an opportunity to hear an ensemble that is larger than the usual quartet, offering more complexity and texture to the audience experience. This sextet from the CMS is a wonderfully eclectic group of prestigious string players, including: Ani Kavafian and Erin Keefe on violin, Yura Lee and Matthew Lipman on viola, and David Finckel and Nicholas Canellakis on cello. This ravishingly Romantic afternoon features all three works filled with lyrical melodies and warm emotions.
