Omer Quartet Announced at The Center For The Arts

String quartet the Omer Quartet will perform a livestream concert at 2 p.m. on Sunday, November 15, 2020 as part of the 2020-2021 Recital Series season.

Tickets for this event are free and available via registration. This event will be exclusive to Center for the Arts subscribers and donors, as well as the Pepperdine community. For more information on how to become a subscriber or donor, please visit arts.pepperdine.edu/support/guild. More information about the Omer Quartet is available at omerquartet.com.

The Center for the Arts remains committed to bringing an innovative, unique, entertaining, and diverse program of exceptional performances and museum exhibitions to audiences during this time. For ways to engage with the arts at Pepperdine, view the digital resources available at arts.pepperdine.edu/visit/digital-resources.htm.

The group's program includes Caroline Shaw's Blueprint, Aaron Jay Kernis' String Quartet No. 1 "Musical Celestis," and Antonín Leopold Dvořák's String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 "American." The Omer Quartet is comprised of Alex Cox (cello), Jinsun Hong (viola), Erica Tursi (violin), and Mason Yu (violin).

Renowned for its "fearless renderings" (New York Times) of the standard quartet repertoire and compelling performances of works by today's composers, the Omer Quartet burst onto the scene with top prizes at Borciani, Trondheim, and Bordeaux in Europe all in one year, having already captured the Fischoff National Competition Grand Prize. The quartet was awarded First Prize in the 2017 Young Concert Artists (YCA) International Auditions and debuted at Carnegie's Weill Recital Hall.

At the YCA Auditions, the Omer Quartet received four special Performance Prizes: the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize in New York at Rockefeller University, the Tryon (NC) Concert Association Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize, and the Hayden's Ferry Chamber Music Series Prize. It has also received Top Prize at the 2017 Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, the Grand Prize and Gold Medal at the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Second Prize at the 2017 Trondheim International Competition in Norway.

Frequent collaborations have made Omer Quartet one of the most versatile quartets in the industry, sharing the stage with David Krakauer, Ricardo Morales, Clive Greensmith, and YCA accordionist Hanzhi Wang, among others. The quartet relishes programming works written by living composers, including those written by Caroline Shaw, Gabriella Smith, and YCA composer Chris Rogerson.

Its ongoing commitment to community engagement includes the inauguration of a Music for Food concert series from 2017-2019 in the metro-DC/Maryland area to support local hunger relief. Their combined efforts in Maryland created over 10,000 meals and involved collaborations with violist and founder of Music for Food, Kim Kashkashian, cellist Paul Katz, and other University of Maryland faculty. Previous grant projects include a Boston Foundation award to sponsor performances in venues such as homeless shelters and drug rehabilitation centers in areas of Boston.

After completing a graduate residency at the New England Conservatory, and in the final stretches of a doctoral degree from the University of Maryland, Omer Quartet currently serves as Visiting Fellows at Yale School of Music.

The word "Omer" is a period of seven weeks in the Jewish calendar between Passover and Shavuot during which prayers centered around self-reflection, improvement of personality, and inner growth invite the possibility of affecting external results and potential. The Omer Quartet's members hope to bring the spirit of this quest for self-development to everything they do, from music-making to connecting with their audiences.

The Lisa Smith Wengler Center for the Arts at Pepperdine University provides high-quality activities for over 50,000 people from over 1,000 zip codes annually through performances, rehearsals, museum exhibitions, and master classes. Located on Pepperdine's breathtaking Malibu campus overlooking the Pacific, the Center serves as a hub for the arts, uniquely linking professional guest artists with Pepperdine students as well as patrons from surrounding Southern California communities. Facilities include the 450-seat Smothers Theatre, the 118-seat Raitt Recital Hall, the "black box" Helen E. Lindhurst Theatre, and the Frederick R. Weisman Museum of Art.

The Center for the Arts remains committed to bringing an innovative, unique, entertaining, and diverse program of exceptional performances and museum exhibitions to audiences during this time. For ways to engage with the arts at Pepperdine, view the digital resources available at arts.pepperdine.edu/visit/digital-resources.htm.