Industry News
Avalon String Quartet Presents 'Opening Night at the Opera'
CHICAGO – August 25, 2010 – Avalon String Quartet, one of the country’s leading chamber music ensembles, presents the fall engagement of its 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series, titled Opening Night at the Opera, where it will be joined by special guest artist Roger Chase (viola). The Avalon’s 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series explores different intersections of the string quartet and the human voice, and each of the three concerts in the series examines this relationship from a different perspective. The Opening Night at the Opera concert will take place at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Joy Faith Knapp Music Center at Merit School of Music, 38 S. Peoria Street, Chicago, on Thursday, September 23, 2010 at 7:30 p.m.
Celebrating its 16th anniversary season in 2010-2011, the Avalon String Quartet 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 2010-2011 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.
“This season offers an impressive range of works as well as a roster of extremely talented guest artists including Roger Chase and Julia Bentley,” says Dr. Paul Bauer, Director of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University. “Each demonstrates immense skill and we are thrilled to have them participate in the Chicago Concert Series.”
About Opening Night at the Opera: The program for the Avalon’s fall concert will open with Giacomo Puccini’s single, dark-hued Crisantemi, an elegy for string quartet. Following will be Benjamin Britten’s Three Divertimenti with its three characteristic movements: a march, a waltz and a burlesque. The program continues with Giuseppe Verdi’s only surviving chamber music work of his collection, String Quartet in E minor. The Opening Night at the Opera concert will conclude with Mozart’s decorative String Quintet in C Major, featuring guest violist Roger Chase.
“Looking at the composers featured in this concert, one could be forgiven for momentarily thinking he might be looking at a Lyric Opera brochure,” said Avalon musician Anthony Devroye. “Puccini and Verdi are thought of immediately for their operas – their quartet writing feels like an intimate scene lifted from the stage. With more than a dozen operas on diverse libretti to his name, Benjamin Britten was responsible for reviving an English operatic tradition that had lay dormant for over a century. While Mozart excelled in any genre, a distinctly operatic drama and lyricism infuses all of his writing – the slow movement of this quintet could easily be a coloratura aria.”
About Avalon String Quartet: The Avalon String Quartet is made up of Blaise Magnière (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.
Dedicated educators, members of the Quartet have taught at the Interlochen Quartet Institute, the Green Lake Music Camp in Wisconsin, the Britten-Pears School in England and the Juilliard School. The Quartet is also dedicated to outreach in various communities, including working with the Center for Abused Children in Hartford and also with the Music for Youth Organization that works with the Bridgeport and Trumbull School Systems.
Blaise Magnière, 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. Magnière 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. About the Guest Artist: Born in London, violist Roger Chase studied at the Royal College of Music with Bernard Shore and in Canada with Steven Staryk, also working for a short time with the legendary Lionel Tertis, whose famed Montagnana viola he now plays. He made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1979, and in 1987 appeared as a soloist at a Promenade Concert at The Royal Albert Hall in London. He has since played as a soloist or chamber musician in major cities throughout the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Middle East, India, most of Eastern and all of Western Europe, and Scandinavia. Chase has been a member of many ensembles including the Nash Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta, the Esterhazy Baryton Trio, the Quartet of London, Hausmusik of London, and the London Chamber Orchestra. He has been invited to play as principal violist with every major British orchestra and many others in North America and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He currently teaches at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Ticket and Season Information: Tickets for Avalon String Quartet can be purchased as single tickets for $25, or a three-concert subscription for $60. Student and senior discount tickets are available for $10 with a valid ID. Tickets are on sale now online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling the 24/7 Ticket Hotline 1-800-838-3006.
The Chicago Concert Series continues in Winter of 2011 with Viennese Song, where the Avalon Quartet will be joined by Julia Bentley (mezzo-soprano) as she performs the emotionally complex Lyric Suite by Alban Berg. The concert will also include Franz Schubert’s dramatic String Quartet in D minor, or more commonly known as “Death and the Maiden,” that is considered to be a pillar of the chamber music repertoire. The Viennese Song concert will take place on February 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
The 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series will conclude in the Spring with American Voices. For this concert, the Avalon will perform Harold Meltzer’s New Work for String Quartet, Steve Reich’s novel “speech melody” work, Different Trains, and Quintet for Piano and Strings by Amy Beach. The American Voices concert will take place on April 27, 2011 at 4 p.m.
The 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series is the Avalon’s fourth season of classical music performances in Chicago, and each concert will take at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Joy Faith Knapp Music Center at Merit School of Music.
About the NIU 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. 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, steel bands, 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. # # #
Celebrating its 16th anniversary season in 2010-2011, the Avalon String Quartet 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 2010-2011 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.
“This season offers an impressive range of works as well as a roster of extremely talented guest artists including Roger Chase and Julia Bentley,” says Dr. Paul Bauer, Director of the School of Music at Northern Illinois University. “Each demonstrates immense skill and we are thrilled to have them participate in the Chicago Concert Series.”
About Opening Night at the Opera: The program for the Avalon’s fall concert will open with Giacomo Puccini’s single, dark-hued Crisantemi, an elegy for string quartet. Following will be Benjamin Britten’s Three Divertimenti with its three characteristic movements: a march, a waltz and a burlesque. The program continues with Giuseppe Verdi’s only surviving chamber music work of his collection, String Quartet in E minor. The Opening Night at the Opera concert will conclude with Mozart’s decorative String Quintet in C Major, featuring guest violist Roger Chase.
“Looking at the composers featured in this concert, one could be forgiven for momentarily thinking he might be looking at a Lyric Opera brochure,” said Avalon musician Anthony Devroye. “Puccini and Verdi are thought of immediately for their operas – their quartet writing feels like an intimate scene lifted from the stage. With more than a dozen operas on diverse libretti to his name, Benjamin Britten was responsible for reviving an English operatic tradition that had lay dormant for over a century. While Mozart excelled in any genre, a distinctly operatic drama and lyricism infuses all of his writing – the slow movement of this quintet could easily be a coloratura aria.”
About Avalon String Quartet: The Avalon String Quartet is made up of Blaise Magnière (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.
Dedicated educators, members of the Quartet have taught at the Interlochen Quartet Institute, the Green Lake Music Camp in Wisconsin, the Britten-Pears School in England and the Juilliard School. The Quartet is also dedicated to outreach in various communities, including working with the Center for Abused Children in Hartford and also with the Music for Youth Organization that works with the Bridgeport and Trumbull School Systems.
Blaise Magnière, 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. Magnière 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. About the Guest Artist: Born in London, violist Roger Chase studied at the Royal College of Music with Bernard Shore and in Canada with Steven Staryk, also working for a short time with the legendary Lionel Tertis, whose famed Montagnana viola he now plays. He made his debut with the English Chamber Orchestra in 1979, and in 1987 appeared as a soloist at a Promenade Concert at The Royal Albert Hall in London. He has since played as a soloist or chamber musician in major cities throughout the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Japan, the Middle East, India, most of Eastern and all of Western Europe, and Scandinavia. Chase has been a member of many ensembles including the Nash Ensemble, the London Sinfonietta, the Esterhazy Baryton Trio, the Quartet of London, Hausmusik of London, and the London Chamber Orchestra. He has been invited to play as principal violist with every major British orchestra and many others in North America and Europe, including the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra. He currently teaches at Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University in Chicago.
Ticket and Season Information: Tickets for Avalon String Quartet can be purchased as single tickets for $25, or a three-concert subscription for $60. Student and senior discount tickets are available for $10 with a valid ID. Tickets are on sale now online at www.brownpapertickets.com or by calling the 24/7 Ticket Hotline 1-800-838-3006.
The Chicago Concert Series continues in Winter of 2011 with Viennese Song, where the Avalon Quartet will be joined by Julia Bentley (mezzo-soprano) as she performs the emotionally complex Lyric Suite by Alban Berg. The concert will also include Franz Schubert’s dramatic String Quartet in D minor, or more commonly known as “Death and the Maiden,” that is considered to be a pillar of the chamber music repertoire. The Viennese Song concert will take place on February 10, 2011 at 7:30 p.m.
The 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series will conclude in the Spring with American Voices. For this concert, the Avalon will perform Harold Meltzer’s New Work for String Quartet, Steve Reich’s novel “speech melody” work, Different Trains, and Quintet for Piano and Strings by Amy Beach. The American Voices concert will take place on April 27, 2011 at 4 p.m.
The 2010-2011 Chicago Concert Series is the Avalon’s fourth season of classical music performances in Chicago, and each concert will take at the Anne and Howard Gottlieb Hall of the Joy Faith Knapp Music Center at Merit School of Music.
About the NIU 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. 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, steel bands, 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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