Jupiter String Quartet to Perform Two Concerts Presented by Bowdoin International Music Festival

The internationally acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet, winner of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, will be presented in concert by the Bowdoin International Music Festival at Studzinski Recital Hall (12 Campus Road S.) for two performances on Monday, July 18 and Monday, August 1, 2022. Both of Jupiter Quartet's performances, as well as all the concerts taking place during the season, will be livestreamed at no charge.

On Monday, July 18, 2022 at 7:30pm Jupiter Quartet will perform with the Ying Quartet, presenting a concert program that includes Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's String Quintet No. 4 in G Minor, K. 516, Eternal Breath by Dan Visconti, and Antonín Dvořák's Sextet for Strings in A Major, Op. 48.

The Jupiter Quartet has a well-established relationship with both the Bowdoin International Music Festival and the Ying Quartet, with whom the Jupiter has previously performed at the festival several times. This year, the melodic richness shared between the groups bolsters the energy and liveliness of Mozart's String Quintet, emboldens the ethereal tonality of the densely layered harmonies in Dan Visconti's Eternal Breath, and strengthens the emotional impact of Dvořák's expressively diverse Sextet for Strings in A Major.

On Monday, August 1, 2022 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter Quartet will perform a second concert featuring String Quartet No. 1 in D Major, Op. 11 by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, String Quartet No. 2 by Eleanor Alberga, and Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67 by Amy Beach, for which pianist and Bowdoin Festival faculty member, Ran Dank, will join the Jupiter Quartet.

Jamaican-born, British composer Eleanor Alberga's second string quartet from 1994 is intricate and rhythmically charged. Tchaikovsky composed his String Quartet No. 1 in D Major in February 1871, with the piece premiering in Moscow the following month. The slower second movement, Andante cantabile, is known for its particularly expressive musicality - so much so that following a performance of the movement by the Zoellner Quartet during their 1916-1917 season, Helen Keller reportedly said in a letter to the quartet, "sight is given the blind, and deaf ears hear sweet, strange sounds." Composed in 1907, Beach's three movement Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor unfurls with a subtle display of warmth and expression over its first two movements. Gradually, as the strings unite with bold, tightly knit harmonies near the end of the second movement, the music is guided toward decidedly more forthright displays of vibrance in the final movement, via dynamic swells, a faster tempo, and bustling melodic passages.

About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg's older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg's husband, Liz's brother-in-law). Now enjoying their 20th year together, this tight-knit ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music.

The quartet has performed in some of the world's finest halls, including New York City's Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London's Wigmore Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.'s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria's Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul's Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Music at Menlo, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.

Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's Chamber Music Two.

The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti's Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn's Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov's Last Round. The quartet's discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.

The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four. For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.

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