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Press Releases
Avalon String Quartet: Winter Concert
CHICAGO - January 12, 2010 - Avalon String Quartet, one of the country's leading chamber music ensembles, presents the winter engagement of its 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series, celebrating the Russian influence on classical music, featuring special guest artist Yehuda Hanani (cello). The concert will take place at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria Street, Chicago, on Wednesday, February 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Celebrating its 15th anniversary season in 2009-2010, Avalon is known for its bold musicality and passionate intensity, and has established an international reputation for itself as an exciting and dynamic quartet of young musicians. The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series is presented by the School of Music at Northern Illinois University, where the Avalon String Quartet has proudly maintained a residency since 2007.
"For the winter program, we found that music inspired by Russia and Russian artists gave us a strong thematic unifier, creating an accessible through-line to these three different yet powerful pieces," said Dr. Paul Bauer, Director of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University. "Yehuda Hanani is known throughout the world for his magnificent and subtle musicianship and we're delighted to be able to once again add his talents to the Quartet for this program."
Avalon will explore the sounds of Russia through classical music, including: Anton Arensky's String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor op. 35 for Viola, Violin and Two Celli, with its rich and memorable melodies; Beethoven's String Quartet No. 2 op. 59 Rasumovsky, which was written for a Russian count and incorporates Russian folk melodies; and Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 in F Major op. 92, a unique blend of folk music and classical form.
Yehuda Hanani (cello) is known for his charismatic playing and profound interpretations throughout Europe, North and South America, the Orient and his native Israel. He has performed with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and Seoul Symphony among others. Hanani has also collaborated with prominent fellow musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Aaron Copland, Christoph Eschenbach, Itzhak Perlman and members of the Emerson, Vermeer, Muir, Julliard, Lark, Colorado, and Cleveland Quartets and the Cuarteto Latino Americano. A champion of contemporary and rarely played cello repertoire, he has had composers write music specifically for him, including a recent premiere of a work by Osvaldo Golijov with soprano Dawn Upshaw, and commissions by Lera Auerbach, John Musto, Bernard Rands and Kenji Bunch. Hanani is currently Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and presents master classes internationally in conjunction with concert tours.
Avalon String Quartet is made up of Blaise Magniere (violin), Marie Wang (violin), Anthony Devroye (viola) and Cheng Hou-Lee (cello). Formed in 1995 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Avalon String Quartet came to the fore after participating in Isaac Stern's Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1997. As a result, Stern invited the Avalon Quartet to perform in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem and in March 2000 presented the ensemble's Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall. The Quartet made its New York debut on the Alexander Schneider Series at the New School in 1998. The quartet won First Prize, the Channel Classics Prize, and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival Prize at the 1999 Concert Artists Guild Competition, which led to the critically acclaimed recording Dawn To Dusk. In 2000 the quartet won top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich, Germany.
The Avalon String Quartet is in residence at Northern Illinois University, a position formerly occupied for 38 years by the distinguished Vermeer Quartet. As a part of its residency, the Quartet performs four programs annually in DeKalb and Chicago, and the members teach individual studios and coach chamber music at the school. This follows previous residencies by the Quartet at the Juilliard School and at Indiana University South Bend.
Blaise Magniere, born in France, earned his Bachelor of Music at McGill University in Montreal, his Master of Music from Cleveland Institute of Music, and an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School. Magniere holds the Richard O. Ryan Endowed Chair in Violin at NIU.
Marie Wang, born of Chinese parents in Canada, earned her Lucentiate Diploma and Bachelor of Music from McGill University, her Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University, and an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School.
Anthony Devroye was born in Belgium and raised in the U.S. His Bachelor of Arts in Biological Science from Columbia University was complemented by viola studies in the Juilliard School, and he earned a diploma in viola from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Cheng-Hou Lee is a native of Taiwan who moved to the U.S. while in high school. His Bachelor and Master of Music degrees are from the Juilliard School and his Master of Chamber Music is from the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. He has completed doctoral studies and is ABD at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Tickets for Avalon String Quartet's winter engagement of the Chicago Concert Series are $25, $10 for students and seniors with a valid ID. Tickets may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com (search "Avalon Quartet") or by calling the toll-free 24/7 hotline at 1-800-838-3006.
The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series will conclude in the spring when Avalon will be joined by Anthony McGill (clarinet), presenting a program that includes a new composition by Harold Meltzer (winner of the 2008 Barlow Prize in String Quartet Composition); Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet in B op. 115, an evocative work full of yearning and wistfulness, ripe with structural rigor; and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major No. 127, a work of complex contrasts, representative of Beethoven's late stylistic period. The spring concert will take place on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 4 p.m.
The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series is Avalon's third season of classical music performances in Chicago, and each concert will take at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Merit School of Music.
The Northern Illinois University School of Music offers a B.M. degree with a variety of areas of study, a B.A. degree, an M.M. degree with a full complement of majors, and the Performer's Certificate. There are also individualized degree programs for graduate and undergraduate students interested in nontraditional courses of study. The enrollment of more than 400 undergraduate and graduate music majors places the NIU School of Music among the larger music schools (top 10%) n the country. Students participate in award-winning instrumental and vocal ensembles and many also take part in a number of world music performance activities. The school's ensembles include choirs, orchestra, concert and marching bands, instrumental and vocal jazz ensembles, early music ensemble, percussion ensemble, steelbands, Javanese and Balinese gamelans, tabla, West African drumming, Chinese percussion, various chamber music ensembles, and more.
For more information, please visit www.avalonquartet.com or www.niu.edu/music.
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Celebrating its 15th anniversary season in 2009-2010, Avalon is known for its bold musicality and passionate intensity, and has established an international reputation for itself as an exciting and dynamic quartet of young musicians. The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series is presented by the School of Music at Northern Illinois University, where the Avalon String Quartet has proudly maintained a residency since 2007.
"For the winter program, we found that music inspired by Russia and Russian artists gave us a strong thematic unifier, creating an accessible through-line to these three different yet powerful pieces," said Dr. Paul Bauer, Director of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University. "Yehuda Hanani is known throughout the world for his magnificent and subtle musicianship and we're delighted to be able to once again add his talents to the Quartet for this program."
Avalon will explore the sounds of Russia through classical music, including: Anton Arensky's String Quartet No. 2 in A Minor op. 35 for Viola, Violin and Two Celli, with its rich and memorable melodies; Beethoven's String Quartet No. 2 op. 59 Rasumovsky, which was written for a Russian count and incorporates Russian folk melodies; and Sergei Prokofiev's String Quartet No. 2 in F Major op. 92, a unique blend of folk music and classical form.
Yehuda Hanani (cello) is known for his charismatic playing and profound interpretations throughout Europe, North and South America, the Orient and his native Israel. He has performed with orchestras such as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra, Baltimore Symphony, St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Berlin Radio Orchestra, Israel Philharmonic, BBC Welsh Symphony, Buenos Aires Philharmonic, Hong Kong Symphony, Jerusalem Symphony, Lithuanian Chamber Orchestra, and Seoul Symphony among others. Hanani has also collaborated with prominent fellow musicians, including Leon Fleisher, Aaron Copland, Christoph Eschenbach, Itzhak Perlman and members of the Emerson, Vermeer, Muir, Julliard, Lark, Colorado, and Cleveland Quartets and the Cuarteto Latino Americano. A champion of contemporary and rarely played cello repertoire, he has had composers write music specifically for him, including a recent premiere of a work by Osvaldo Golijov with soprano Dawn Upshaw, and commissions by Lera Auerbach, John Musto, Bernard Rands and Kenji Bunch. Hanani is currently Professor of Cello at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and presents master classes internationally in conjunction with concert tours.
Avalon String Quartet is made up of Blaise Magniere (violin), Marie Wang (violin), Anthony Devroye (viola) and Cheng Hou-Lee (cello). Formed in 1995 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Avalon String Quartet came to the fore after participating in Isaac Stern's Chamber Music Workshop at Carnegie Hall in 1997. As a result, Stern invited the Avalon Quartet to perform in the Isaac Stern Chamber Music Encounters in Jerusalem and in March 2000 presented the ensemble's Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall. The Quartet made its New York debut on the Alexander Schneider Series at the New School in 1998. The quartet won First Prize, the Channel Classics Prize, and the Rockport Chamber Music Festival Prize at the 1999 Concert Artists Guild Competition, which led to the critically acclaimed recording Dawn To Dusk. In 2000 the quartet won top prize at the ARD Competition in Munich, Germany.
The Avalon String Quartet is in residence at Northern Illinois University, a position formerly occupied for 38 years by the distinguished Vermeer Quartet. As a part of its residency, the Quartet performs four programs annually in DeKalb and Chicago, and the members teach individual studios and coach chamber music at the school. This follows previous residencies by the Quartet at the Juilliard School and at Indiana University South Bend.
Blaise Magniere, born in France, earned his Bachelor of Music at McGill University in Montreal, his Master of Music from Cleveland Institute of Music, and an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School. Magniere holds the Richard O. Ryan Endowed Chair in Violin at NIU.
Marie Wang, born of Chinese parents in Canada, earned her Lucentiate Diploma and Bachelor of Music from McGill University, her Master of Music degree from Northern Illinois University, and an Artist Diploma from the Juilliard School.
Anthony Devroye was born in Belgium and raised in the U.S. His Bachelor of Arts in Biological Science from Columbia University was complemented by viola studies in the Juilliard School, and he earned a diploma in viola from the Curtis Institute of Music.
Cheng-Hou Lee is a native of Taiwan who moved to the U.S. while in high school. His Bachelor and Master of Music degrees are from the Juilliard School and his Master of Chamber Music is from the Rice University Shepherd School of Music. He has completed doctoral studies and is ABD at the New England Conservatory of Music.
Tickets for Avalon String Quartet's winter engagement of the Chicago Concert Series are $25, $10 for students and seniors with a valid ID. Tickets may be purchased online at www.brownpapertickets.com (search "Avalon Quartet") or by calling the toll-free 24/7 hotline at 1-800-838-3006.
The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series will conclude in the spring when Avalon will be joined by Anthony McGill (clarinet), presenting a program that includes a new composition by Harold Meltzer (winner of the 2008 Barlow Prize in String Quartet Composition); Johannes Brahms' Clarinet Quintet in B op. 115, an evocative work full of yearning and wistfulness, ripe with structural rigor; and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major No. 127, a work of complex contrasts, representative of Beethoven's late stylistic period. The spring concert will take place on Sunday, April 18, 2010 at 4 p.m.
The 2009-2010 Chicago Concert Series is Avalon's third season of classical music performances in Chicago, and each concert will take at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Merit School of Music.
The Northern Illinois University School of Music offers a B.M. degree with a variety of areas of study, a B.A. degree, an M.M. degree with a full complement of majors, and the Performer's Certificate. There are also individualized degree programs for graduate and undergraduate students interested in nontraditional courses of study. The enrollment of more than 400 undergraduate and graduate music majors places the NIU School of Music among the larger music schools (top 10%) n the country. Students participate in award-winning instrumental and vocal ensembles and many also take part in a number of world music performance activities. The school's ensembles include choirs, orchestra, concert and marching bands, instrumental and vocal jazz ensembles, early music ensemble, percussion ensemble, steelbands, Javanese and Balinese gamelans, tabla, West African drumming, Chinese percussion, various chamber music ensembles, and more.
For more information, please visit www.avalonquartet.com or www.niu.edu/music.
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