Hartt School Presents Brentano String Quartet, 2/17

The Hartt School, the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford, is pleased to present Brentano String Quartet for the third concert in the 2010-2011 Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series on Thursday evening, February 17, 2011, at 7:30 PM, in Millard Auditorium, University of Hartford, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford, CT 06117. Individual concert tickets are $30 and Series subscriptions are $100, with discounts on individual tickets and subscriptions for seniors, educators, University of Hartford alumni, students and groups.

The Brentano String Quartet is widely hailed as one of the most exciting quartets to appear in many years. Making headlines with its imaginative programming and dazzling virtuosity, the Quartet features Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violin; Misha Amory, viola; and Nina Lee, cello.

The Brentano String Quartet will interact with Hartt students throughout the day during master classes and also at a post-concert reception, which is open to all concert attendees.

A special pre-concert dinner precedes the performance and begins at 6:00 PM in the University's 1877 Club. Patrons may purchase Series subscriptions or individual tickets to the performances and/or the pre-concert dinners. Dinner tickets are $39 each. To purchase Series subscriptions or individual tickets, or to get additional information, please call the University of Hartford Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587. To purchase tickets online, please visit www.hartford.edu/hartt.

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. "Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding," raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols its "luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism;" the Philadelphia Inquirer praises its "seemingly infallible instincts for finding the center of gravity in every phrase and musical gesture;" and the Times (London) opines, "the Brentanos are a magnificent string quartet...This was wonderful, selfless music-making." Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award; and in 1996 the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center invited them to be the inaugural members of Chamber Music Society Two, a program which was to become a coveted distinction for chamber groups and individuals. The Quartet had its first European tour in 1997, and was honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. That debut recital was at London's Wigmore Hall, and the Quartet has continued its warm relationship with Wigmore, appearing there regularly and serving as the hall's Quartet-in-residence in the 2000-01 season.

In recent seasons the Quartet has traveled widely, appearing all over the United States and Canada, in Europe, Japan and Australia. It has performed in the world's most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The Quartet has participated in summer festivals such as Aspen, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Edinburgh Festival, the Kuhmo Festival in Finland, the Taos School of Music and the Caramoor Festival.

In addition to performing the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet has a strong interest in both very old and very new music. It has performed many musical works pre-dating the string quartet as a medium, among them Madrigals of Gesualdo, Fantasias of Purcell and secular vocal works of Josquin. Also, the Quartet has worked closely with some of the most important composers of our time, among them Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe and György Kurtág. The Quartet has commissioned works from Wuorinen, Adolphe, Mackey, David Horne and Gabriela Frank. The Quartet celebrated its tenth anniversary in 2002 by commissioning ten composers to write companion pieces for selections from Bach's Art of Fugue, the result of which was an electrifying and wide-ranging single concert program. The Quartet has also worked with the celebrated poet Mark Strand, commissioning poetry from him to accompany works of Haydn and Webern. Visit www.brentanoquartet.com for more information.

The Richard P. Garmany Chamber Music Series for 2010-2011 also includes performances by the New York Woodwind Quintet on April 7, 2011. The Garmany Series, which quickly has established itself as the region's premier showcase for visiting chamber music artists, is made possible in part by a grant from the Richard P. Garmany Fund at the Hartford Foundation for Public Giving.

New York Woodwind Quintet - Thursday, April 7, 2011
Celebrating its 60th year, the New York Woodwind Quintet is one of chamber music's most honored and venerable ensembles. Each of the Quintet's members is an established artist in his or her own right and the group's bassoonist, Marc Goldberg, is a long-time member of the Hartt faculty. "For more than half a century, this group has defined great wind playing..." - The New Yorker

"These are among the most celebrated chamber music ensembles in the world today," says Steve Metcalf, artistic director of the Garmany Series. "We're thrilled that the Garmany Fund is making it possible for us to bring these artists to our campus and to our community."

For more information about The Hartt School, visit www.hartford.edu/hartt. For more information about the Hartford Foundation, visit www.hfpg.org or call 860-548-1888.

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