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Ensō String Quartet with
Soprano Rosa Lamoreaux
Sunday, January 27, 2008 at 3 p.m.
NAS Auditorium
2100 C Street, NW
Washington, DC
Free. Photo ID required.
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Lauded for stellar and diverse qualities, among them “lyricism” (The Strad) and “crisp, incisive playing…with just the right quotient of sass” (The Ann Arbor News), the Ensō String Quartet has earned its place in the ensemble world with high profile engagements, residencies and a new recording, all underscored by impressive competition successes.
Highlights of the Ensō Quartet’s 2007-2008 season include New York’s Schneider Concerts; Da Camera of Houston; the Institute for Advanced Studies at Princeton University; the National Academy of Sciences (DC); Mendelssohn Performing Arts Center (Rockford, IL); Bowling Green University’s Contemporary Art Festival; Laguna Beach Music Festival; Candlelight Concerts in Baltimore (with pianist Joel Fan); South Bay Chamber Concerts (CA), UCLA’s Clark Memorial Library, and the Chamber Music Societies of Charleston (WV), San Antonio and Tulsa, as well as a return engagement at the Cerritos Performing Arts Center, collaborating again with Rob Kapilow for his “What Makes it Great” series.
The ensemble’s 2005 debut recording on Naxos, featuring all six of Ignaz Pleyel’s Op. 2 quartets on two CD’s, has garnered rave reviews. The Strad hailed the release as “an auspicious start to the Ensō String Quartet’s recording career,” and The Gramophone praised the quartet’s “…lively and intelligent engagement with the music.” Upcoming projects with Naxos are the piano quintets of Dohnányi and all three string quartets of Ginastera.
Previous seasons have brought the ensemble coast to coast for performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series, Merkin Concert Hall, The Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Da Camera of Houston, Chicago’s Dame Myra Hess series (including a live simulcast on WFMT radio), Ravinia’s “Rising Stars” series, Market Square Concerts, Chautauqua Institution, Great Lakes Music Festival and the La Jolla SummerFest. Internationally, the quartet has performed in Panama, Costa Rica, Canada, England, France, Australia and New Zealand.
In summer of 2007, the ensemble returns for the second year as Quartet-in-Residence at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, and they also have a week-long residency at Interlochen. From 2004-2007, the quartet’s members were Lecturers in String Quartet at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music working closely with the faculty and student composers. The Ensō String Quartet is committed to nurturing new generations of musicians and enjoys ongoing residencies with Young Audiences of New York and Houston, Connecticut’s Music For Youth and in education programs presented by the Houston Friends of Music, Da Camera of Houston and the Houston-based new music organization Musiqa.
The Ensō String Quartet received multiple honors at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, including the Pièce de concert prize for the group’s interpretation of a new work, and claimed victories at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.
The Ensō String Quartet has been featured in the American Ensembles column of Chamber Music magazine, and its performances have been broadcast on Saint Paul Sunday and WQXR-FM’s McGraw-Hill Young Artists Showcase. as well as PBS, Chicago’s WFMT, Wisconsin Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Houston’s KUHF, Australia’s ABC Classic FM, Radio New Zealand and Canada’s CBC radio.
The quartet formed in 1999 at Yale University and completed graduate residencies at Northern Illinois University with the Vermeer Quartet and at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. The name Ensō is derived from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things: perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the endless circle of life and the fullness of the spirit.
The Ensō Quartet will be joined by soprano Rosa Lamoreaux at this performance. Lamoreaux is known for her flawless sense of style, incandescent presence, “a wonderfully rich timbre and an amazingly flexible voice” (Washington Post). She has been hailed for her versatile musicianship, her radiant, engaging, and effortless singing, the diversity of her repertoire, and her many fine recordings. An award-winning vocalist with a busy international career, Lamoreaux is sought after for her beautifully styled readings of repertoire from Hildegard to Shostakovich.
Performers:
Richard Belcher, cello
John Marcus, violin
Maureen Nelson, violin
Melissa Reardon, viola
Rosa Lamoreaux, soprano
Program:
Haydn Op.20 #1 in E flat
Ginastera Quartet #3 with soprano Rosa Lamoreaux
Dvorak String Quartet in E flat, op. 51
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