FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC OF MIAMI, INC.
 1428 Brickell Avenue, Penthouse
Miami, Florida 33131
Phone: (305) 372-2975
Fax: (305) 381-8734

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Julian H. Kreeger
(305) 372-2975

THE ACCLAIMED EMERSON STRING QUARTET RETURNS TO MIAMI
TO PERFORM ON FRIDAY JANUARY 21, 2005

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - January 10, 2005 - Celebrate the New Year with the Emerson String Quartet when Friends of Chamber Music presents the renowned chamber ensemble on Friday evening, January 21, 2005 at 8 PM at Gusman Concert Hall on the campus of the University of Miami. The Quartet will perform two masterpieces of the chamber music literature written in 1826: Beethoven’s Quartet in c-sharp minor, Op. 131 and Schubert’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 161, D. 887. 

Single tickets to this and all remaining FOCM concerts are $30. Pro-rata season subscriptions are available. Please call (305) 372 – 2975 for tickets and further information.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

The Emerson String Quartet - Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer (Violins);

Lawrence Dutton (Viola) and David Finckel (Cello) – has earned its reputation as the pre-eminent American quartet through its brilliant artistry, technical mastery and insightful and inventive programming. The Quartet is also known for innovation, dating from its beginning when the decision was made that Messrs. Drucker and Setzer would alternate in the position of first violin, lending an unusually egalitarian and vital dynamic to the ensemble. 

Throughout its 27-year history, the Emerson String Quartet has garnered an international reputation for pioneering chamber music projects and correlated recordings for Deutsche Grammophon. This season, the Quartet presents a four-concert series in London and at Carnegie Hall’s new Zankel Hall entitled “A Vision of Mendelssohn.” The series explores the complete Mendelssohn quartets, juxtaposed with works by Bach, Beethoven, Schumann and Schubert. 

In conjunction with this series, Deutsche Grammophon will release the quartet’s recording of the complete Mendelssohn quartets in February 2005. The set includes a groundbreaking recording of Mendelssohn’s famous Octet, in which the Emerson performs all eight parts. This was accomplished using a sophisticated digital format specifically designed for the project by the Quartet’s long-time recording engineer.

Prior major projects have included performance of the six Bartók quartets in a single evening for the Quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut. The Emerson’s subsequent release of the cycle received the 1989 Grammy Awards for “Best Classical Album” and “Best Chamber Music Performance” and Gramophone Magazine’s 1989 “Record of the Year Award” – the first time that a chamber music ensemble had ever won theses top prizes.

In March 1997, the Quartet released a seven-disc boxed set of the complete Beethoven quartets and organized a series of eight concerts over two seasons at Lincoln Center entitled “Beethoven and the Twentieth Century,” that paired two Beethoven quartets with a twentieth-century composition. Initial reviews of this series were so strong that the remaining performances were completely sold-out, and the disc earned a Grammy Award for “Best Chamber Music Album.”

In 2000, the Emerson performed the complete Shostakovich quartets in a critically acclaimed five-concert series presented in New York and London, culminating in “The Noise of Time.” This multimedia, theatrical presentation directed by Simon McBurney explores the haunted life of Dmitri Shostakovich through film, choreography, taped readings and a live performance of his 15th String Quartet. Subsequently, the Emerson recorded live the complete Shostakovich Quartets during three summers of performances at the Aspen Music Festival. The disc won the 2000 Grammy Awards for “Best Classical Album” and “Best Chamber Music Performance” and Gramophone Magazine’s 2000 “Record of the Year” Award for “Best Chamber Music Performance.” 

The Emerson String Quartet is hailed worldwide as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm. A strong commitment to the commissioning and performance of new music has led to new compositions by prominent contemporary composers, including Andre Prévin, Joan Tower, Ellen Taaffe Zwillich, Edgar Meyer, Ned Rorem, John Harbison, Gunther Schuller and Mario Davidovsky.

Dedicated to a wide range of chamber music literature, the ensemble has collaborated with its colleagues the Guarneri String Quartet and the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, as well as solo artists such as Emanuel Ax, Misha Dichter, Leon Fleisher, the Thomas Hampson, Lynn Harrell, Barbara Bonney, Barbara Hendricks, Menahem Pressler, Mstislav Rostropovich, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman and the late Isaac Stern and Oscar Shumsky.

In addition to its active performance schedule in the major concert halls of North America, the Quartet frequently tours Europe. This season is the Quartet’s 26th sold-out series at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. The Emerson is Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University and resides each summer at the Aspen Music Festival.

The Emerson String Quartet has garnered an impressive collection of awards, including an unpredecented six Grammy Awards. In March 2004 the Quartet was the recipient of the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize – another first for a chamber ensemble. The quartet has been featured in The New York Times Magazine, USA Today, Elle, Bon Appetit, Gramophone, The Strad, and Strings. Television appearances include PBS's NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, WNET’s City Arts, WLIW’s Metroguide, and A&E’s Biography of Beethoven and Breakfast with the Arts. The ensemble has been the subject of two award-winning films: the nationally televised WETA-TV production of “In Residence at the Renwick” and “Making Music: The Emerson String Quartet,” which won first place for music at the National Education Film Festival in 1985.

Formed in the bicentennial year of the United States, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The Quartet has performed numerous benefit concerts for causes ranging from nuclear disarmament to the fight against AIDS, world hunger and children's diseases. In 2000, the group was selected as Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year.” The Quartet members were honored by the Governor of Connecticut for their outstanding cultural contributions to the state, and in 1994 received the University Medal for Distinguished Service from the University of Hartford. In 1995, each member was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Middlebury College in Vermont. They have also received a Smithson Award from the Smithsonian Institution.

To commemorate its 25th-anniversary season, the Quartet compiled a book entitled “Converging Lines.” Written in the members’ own words, the book contains never-before-published text, graphics and photos from the Emerson’s private archives. The Quartet is based in New York City.

Critical Acclaim for the Emerson String Quartet:

  • “America’s greatest quartet.” - Time Magazine

  • "The Emerson has the traditional string-quartet virtues; each player is a strongly characterized individual, but the ensemble is temperamentally as well as sonically in balance. The four minds play upon each other, and upon the work, in perfect harmony; the players are in tune in all senses of the phrase." - The New Yorker

  • "The Emerson give us playing of exceptional technical accomplishment and an unusually wide expressive range. They continually offer new insights into some endlessly enthralling music. Do hear them." - Gramophone

ABOUT FRIENDS OF CHAMBER MUSIC

Friends of Chamber Music of Miami, Inc. (FOCM) is dedicated to the presentation of chamber music as performed by the world's greatest chamber ensembles. Its mission is two-fold: to preserve the art of chamber music performance by showcasing the most exemplary artists working in the medium; and to build appreciative audiences for the art form among people of all ages. FOCM also offers outstanding educational opportunities for South Florida's advanced music students. 

For nearly half a century, FOCM has presented the world's greatest chamber ensembles. Such internationally acclaimed performers as the Budapest, Juilliard, Guarneri, Emerson and Cleveland Quartets and the Beaux Arts and Kalichstein Laredo Robinson Trios have all been frequent visitors of the series. concerts are given at the acoustically superb Gusman Concert Hall at the University of Miami with an occasional concert at the Lincoln Theatre on Miami Beach. FOCM is a non-profit corporation formed in 1955 and is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

Remaining concerts of the 2004-2005 season:

Tue., Feb. 1, 2005 - Stephen Hough
Thu., Feb. 24, 2005 - Kremlin Chamber Orchestra
Wed., Mar. 2, 2005 - Musicians from Marlboro
Thu., Mar. 17, 2005 - Musicians from Ravinia's Steans Institute 
Thu., May 5, 2005 - The Jerusalem Quartet
TBA - Ken Noda and Friends

FOCM is a not--for-profit corporation formed in 1955 and is tax exempt under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.

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