The Chamber Music Society of Detroit Will Present Vera Quartet with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu

The Chamber Music Society of Detroit will present the multi award-winning young Vera Quartet with pianist Meng-Chieh Liu in three Detroit area concerts: 7:30 PM Friday, March 13 at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial, Saturday, March 14 at Canton's Village Theater at Cherry Hills, and 3 PM Sunday, March 15 at Oakland University's Varner Recital Hall in Rochester Hills. The program includes one of Beethoven's early string quartets, the Quartet in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4; String Quartet No. 4 ("Silent Temple") by University of Michigan composer Bright Sheng; and Franck's Piano Quintet in F minor.

Tickets for all three concerts are priced at $30 for adults, $25 for seniors, $10 for students and $45 for premium seating, and are available by phone at 313-335-3350 or online at www.CMSDetroit.org.

Grand Prize winner of both the 2017 Plowman and Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competitions, the Vera Quartet is the String Quartet-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music. The quartet also won Second Prize at the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition in Ann Arbor and the St. Lawrence Award at the 2018 Wigmore Hall String Quartet Competition. Previously Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Indiana's Jacobs School of Music, the ensemble has held several other prestigious residencies internationally, including at the Beethovenhaus in Bonn, Verbier Festival Academy, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and the Rockport, Aspen, and Norfolk chamber music festivals, and was selected by NPR's "Performance Today" as a Young Artist in Residence. The Vera Quartet shares the uniquely democratic dynamic of a string quartet with diverse audiences, both within and beyond the concert hall.

A recipient of a 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Meng-Chieh Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student, when he substituted for André Watts at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with three hours' notice. His acclaimed performance was followed by a recital at the Kennedy Center, among other highly praised appearances.

He has gone on to appear with orchestras under conductors Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel, and Alan Gilbert, among others. A dedicated chamber musician, he has collaborated with Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Buswell, Bernard Greenhouse, David Soyer, Wendy Warner, and the Borromeo and St. Lawrence string quartets. He was artistic director of Chicago Chamber Musicians from 2011 to 2014; and has also collaborated with artists in other disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project. Mr. Liu has been a member of the Curtis Institute of Music faculty since 1993 and also serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

Concert Details:

Friday, March 13, 2028, 7:30 PM, Grosse Pointe War Memorial,

32 Lake Shore Dr, Grosse Pointe Farms, MI

Saturday, March 14, 2020, 7:30 PM, Village Theater at Cherry Hill,

50400 Cherry Hill Rd, Canton, MI

Sunday, March 15, 2020, 3:00 PM, Varner Recital Hall at Oakland University,

371 Varner Drive, Rochester Hills, MI

Curtis on Tour: Vera Quartet with Meng-Chieh Liu, piano

Beethoven: Quartet No. 4 In C minor, Op. 18, No. 4

Bright Sheng: String Quartet No. 4 ("Silent Temple")

Franck: Piano Quintet in F minor

Tickets at 313-335-3300 or www.cmsdetroit.org

Curtis on Tour is the Nina von Maltzahn global touring initiative of the Curtis Institute of Music.