Madison String Quartet Makes European Debut at Vienna's Arnold Schoenberg Center

MADISON STRING QUARTET PERFORMS AT

ARNOLD SCHOENBERG CENTER IN VIENNA, AUSTRIA

Quartet celebrates twentieth anniversary

with first European tour including concerts in both Austria and Germany

November 30, 2018 – In celebration of its twentieth anniversary, the Madison String Quartet makes its European debut with concerts in both German and Austria, including a performance at the Arnold Schoenberg Center in Vienna, Austria on Monday, January 14, 2019. The program includes Arnold Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte, Op. 41 (1942), the world premiere of Venezuelan composer Icli Zitella's The Survivor, Miguel Del Aquila's La Vida es Sueño (Life is a Dream) and Samuel Barber's Dover Beach for baritone and string quartet.

Two very highly political pieces form the center of this program. Written under the “moral duty of intelligentsia to take a stand against tyranny”, Arnold Schoenberg's Ode to Napoleon Buonaparte was both the result of a commission from the League of Composers (now a part of the International Society for Contemporary Music) and the composer's reaction to President Roosevelt's “day of infamy” radio broadcast after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. As he was living in Europe at the time, Schoenberg chose the texts of Lord Byron as the poet's writings of the struggle for Greek independence aligned with Schoenberg's solidarity with European struggles against the policies and actions of Nazi Germany.

Icli Zitella has composed concert, chamber, orchestral, electronic and incidental music that has been performed by artists across both North and South America. Before coming to the United States, where he studied at the Manhattan School of Music, Mr. Zitella was a violinist with the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela and served as professor of music theory at Escuela de Musica Mozarteum Caracas.  Finding inspiration in Schoenberg's A Survivor from Warsaw (1948), Zitella wrote The Survivor to chronical the rise and perpetuation in power of two decades of the totalitarian regime in Venezuela known as the "Bolivarian Revolution".  Incorporating quotations from the Venezuelan national anthem, the military song "Patria, patria querida" (which was sung by the late Lieutenant-Colonel Hugo Chávez, leader of the Bolivarian Revolution), political songs, and Venezuelan popular and folk music, The Survivor is a poignant musical portrait of the Bolivarian Revolution and its devastating effect on the nation of Venezuela and its citizens.   

Also included in the program is Miguel de Aguila's Life is a Dream.    

The Madison String Quartet produced the world premiere recording of this work which was inspired by Calderón de la Barca’s play La vida es sueño and includes recitations of de la Barca's poetry.

ABOUT THE PERFORMERS

Praised for its energetic performances and inventive programming, the Madison String Quartet (Evelyn Estava and Rebecca Harris-Lee, violins; Michael Avagliano, viola and Gerall Heiser, cello) “has carved a niche out for themselves by exploring Hispanic literature from both sides of the Atlantic” (Paul Somers, Classical New Jersey), presenting performances that are “well-balanced, expressive, homogeneous in sound, unanimous in spirit” (Edith Eisler, New York Concert Review). Quartet-in-residence at the Kenai Peninsula Summer Festival (Alaska) from 2008-2016, the Madison String Quartet has been presented in venues including New York's Carnegie Hall and the Museum of the City of New York. As interdisciplinary collaborators, the Quartet presented the world premiere of Ray Luedeke's theatre piece In Kharms' Way and worked with New York-based poet Kate Light on Einstein's Mozart, a performance including poems intertwining the life and works of the two men.

The Quartet recently released a second CD recording focusing on the works of New Jersey composer David Rimelis. Its 2004 recording, “Life is a Dream”, included the world premiere recording of Miguel del Aguila's work by the same name and was received with rave reviews.

Vienna-based American baritone Steven Scheshareg and Israeli pianist Itay Goren join the Madison String Quartet in these performances. Equally at home in the genres of opera, concert music, early music and musical theatre, Steven Scheshareg has performed to critical acclaim in venues including Vienna's Konzerthaus, the Musikveren Vienna, Brucknerhaus Wien, Stephaniensaal Graz, New York's Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Hamburg Musikhalle and the Munich Gasteig.

His playing described as an “evocative journey from shimmering excitement to calm contemplation (Classical New Jersey) Israeli-born pianist Itay Goren performs extensively in recital, chamber music and as soloist with orchestras in both the New York metropolitan area and abroad.  Mr. Goren is also the founder of the Open Door Concert Series, a series of six free live performances of classical music held at the York Room of the Birth Mansion at New Jersey's Ramapo College.

The Madison String Quartet performs at the Arnold Schoenberg Center, Schwarzenbergplatz 6, Zaunergasse 1-3, Vienna (Austria) on Monday, January 14, 2019 at 7:30pm. For registration, tickets and more information, please visit the Arnold Schoenberg Center website at www.schoenberg.at. For more information on the Madison String Quartet, please visit www.madisonstringquartet.com.