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Tokyo String Quartet with Sabine Meyer, clarinet Martin Beaver, violin Thursday, October 16, 8pm |
—Los Angeles Times
“With Sabine Meyer, it was impossible to tell where technical brilliance left off and musical perfection began: in the end, it didn’t matter.”
—Chicago Tribune
Program
HAYDN: Quartet in G Major, Op. 76, No. 1
BEETHOVEN: Quartet in G Major, Op. 18, No. 2, Compliments
BRAHMS: Clarinet Quintet in B minor, Op. 115
About This Performance
For more than three decades, the Tokyo String Quartet has distinguished itself through collaborations with top soloists, and Sabine Meyer unquestionably fits the bill. Thanks to Meyer, the clarinet has taken its rightful place as an important modern solo and chamber instrument. The Tokyo Quartet celebrates its 40th anniversary in 2009 with more than 40 recordings and countless accolades to its credit. Don’t miss this rare opportunity to hear a clarinet quintet masterwork performed by top international artists.
Artist Biography
The Tokyo String Quartet has captivated audiences and critics alike since it was founded more than 30 years ago. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet—Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda (violins), Kazuhide Isomura (viola) and Clive Greensmith (cello)—has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the Tokyo String Quartet has a devoted international following that includes the major capitals of the world and extends to all four corners, from Australia to Estonia to Scandinavia and the Far East.
Marking the 5th year of its official residency at New York’s 92nd St. Y this season, the Tokyo Quartet kicks off an ambitious three-year cycle performing Beethoven’s 16 string quartets. Beginning with the Op. 18 quartets, the Tokyo will be joined at each of the three New York concerts by distinguished pianists performing key Beethoven piano sonatas and chamber works from the same period.
Across the U.S., internationally renowned violinist Midori invites the quartet to a week-long residency at the University of Southern California. Arizona State University hosts the quartet in three separate residencies, and the ensemble returns to the Cleveland Institute of Music to teach and perform at the Chamber Music Festival.
Traveling extensively overseas each year, the Tokyo will tour cities this fall and spring in Germany, Switzerland, Great Britain, Italy, Spain, Luxembourg, Belgium and The Netherlands, appearing as well in venues in Warsaw and Istanbul. In late spring and summer, they will tour Australia and Mexico. In the Far East, they perform in Tokyo, Osaka, Nagoya and Kawasaki City, and return to the Toho Gakuen Graduate School of Music in Toyama for the annual string-quartet seminar. In July they will be teaching and performing at the Pacific Music Festival in Sapporo.
Deeply committed to coaching young string quartets, the quartet devotes much of the summer to the prestigious Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, having served on the faculty of the Yale School of Music as quartet-in-residence since 1976. This year, the Tokyo Quartet was also invited to attend the La Jolla SummerFest 2008, and will participate in the Ravinia Festival in 2009.
The Tokyo String Quartet has released more than 40 landmark recordings on BMG/RCA Victor Red Seal, Angel-EMI, CBS Masterworks, Deutsche Grammophon and Vox Cum Laude, including the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók. The quartet's recordings of Brahms, Debussy, Dvorák, Haydn, Mozart, Ravel and Schubert have earned such honors as the Grand Prix du Disque Montreux, "Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year" awards from both Stereo Review and Gramophone magazines and seven Grammy nominations.
Following the highly praised recordings of Beethoven's Op. 59 and Op. 18 string quartets on the Harmonia Mundi label, the ensemble in an ongoing collaboration will release Beethoven's Op. 74 and Op. 95 quartets with Harmonia Mundi this winter. The late quartets, which follow next season, will complete the entire cycle. This year will also see the release of a disc featuring works by Dvorák and Smetana.
The Tokyo String Quartet has been featured on numerous television programs, including Sesame Street, CBS Sunday Morning, PBS's Great Performances, CNN This Morning and a national television broadcast from the Corcoran Gallery of Art, as well as on the soundtrack for the Sidney Lumet film Critical Care, starring Kyra Sedgwick and James Spader.
The ensemble performs on the “Paganini Quartet”, a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso Niccolò Paganini, who acquired and played them during the 19th century. The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble from the Nippon Music Foundation since 1995, when they were purchased from the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C.
Officially formed in 1969 at the Juilliard School of Music, the Tokyo String Quartet traces its origins to the Toho School of Music in Tokyo, where the founding members were profoundly influenced by Professor Hideo Saito. Instilled with a deep commitment to chamber music, the original members of what would become the Tokyo String Quartet eventually came to America for further study with Robert Mann, Raphael Hillyer and Claus Adam. Soon after its formation, the quartet won First Prize at the Coleman Competition, the Munich Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. An exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon firmly established it as one of the world's leading quartets.
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