(Falls Village, CT) For the 91st summer in a row, Music Mountain is once more the favorite place to be at on Sunday afternoons for chamber music fans. The big difference this year is that there is no commute, since the venue at Music Mountain remains closed due to COVID-19. Instead, music lovers worldwide can enjoy Live From Music Mountain from the comfort of their living room by simply visiting the Music Mountain website, musicmountain.org. Live From Music Mountain includes conversations with leading artists, musical excerpts, and more. Music Mountain invites the public to submit questions for the artists in advance or in real time.

This Sunday, Live From Music Mountain presents the Ulysses String Quartet, praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad) and “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (Buffalo News).

The Ulysses Quartet will join remotely, in observance of physical distancing guidelines, to share their recent recordings of Beethoven’s Song of Thanksgiving (third movement of Beethoven’s String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132), Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major (third movement), Janácek String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters” (fourth movement), and selections from individual recitals the members of the quartet have performed in the time of COVID-19.

The Ulysses Quartet offered a spectacular fall concert at Music Mountain last year and were slated to perform their Music Mountain debut concert this summer. Music Mountain takes great pride in mentoring talented young string quartets. Thirty-one years ago, the Shanghai Quartet performed at Music Mountain for the first time at Isaac Stern’s recommendation, and continued to return every year for 30 years, performing a glorious Beethoven string quartet cycle in 2018. The Ulysses Quartet has been very active in the time of COVID-19, and the conversation on Sunday promises to be inspiring, as well as an opportunity to learn about the many ways in which artists continue to share their passion for music with audiences today. 

Live From Music Mountain is supported by Herrington’s and Northwest Corner Gives, a COVID-19 Rapid Response Fund made possible by the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation from anonymous and discretionary Community Foundation funds, including the Draper Foundation Fund, Khurshed Bhumgara Fund, Marion Wm. & Alice Edwards Fund, The Echo Valley Foundation Fund, Keroden Endowed Fund, Edward W. Diskavich Fund, Lucia Tuttle Fritz Fund, Nolin Selby Fund, and the Miriam Mason Cable Trust Fund; through the Melville Charitable Trust, through generous gifts from community members, and in partnership with Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation.

Live From Music Mountain starts at 3 pm ET on Sunday, June 21, 2020, at musicmountain.org, on YouTube and on Facebook Live. Questions can be submitted in advance via email to info@musicmountain.org.  

About Ulysses Quartet

The Ulysses String Quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty,” and “gentle blanket of colour,” (The Strad) as well as “avid enthusiasm ... [with] chops to back up their passion” and a “vibrant sonority” (San Diego Story).

Founded in summer 2015, the group won first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition and the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Ulysses also finished first in the American Prize and won second prize at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in 2017. The quartet garnered a career development grant in the 2016 Banff International String Quartet Competition and were winners of the Vietnam International Music Competition last August.

Consisting of Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt on violin, Colin Brookes on viola and Grace Ho on cello, the Ulysses Quartet were appointed Lisa Arnhold Fellows of the Juilliard School.

Hailing from Canada, the United States and Taiwan, the Ulysses String Quartet has performed in such prestigious halls such as the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, and the Taiwan National Recital Hall. Recent performance highlights have included appearances at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and La Jolla Music Society Summerfest, debuts at Premiere Performances Hong Kong, the Vietnam Connection Festival and Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, performances at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Bargemusic and Eastman School of Music, a quartet residency for the Zukerman Young Artist Program, and returns to Jordan Hall and the Vietnam Connection Festival.

For the last three years, Ulysses was in residence at the Louis Moreau Institute in New Orleans, working with the composer Morris Rosenzweig. As a special project, the group will record the quartets of composer Joseph Summer at Mechanics Hall in Worcester, Massachusetts, over the next several years.

Upcoming performances include “Inside Chamber Music” with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Sprague Hall in New Haven, Connecticut, Cecilia Concerts in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the Idyllwild Festival in California, Quogue Chamber Music on Long Island, N.Y., Emory University in Atlanta, Dumbarton Concerts in Washington, DC, and Alice Tully Hall in New York.

The group’s name pays homage to Homer’s hero Odysseus and his 10-year voyage home. Additionally, the quartet’s members live in close proximity to the resting place of former U.S. President Ulysses S. Grant in Upper Manhattan. The Ulysses String Quartet believes intensely in the power of music to inspire, enlighten and bring people together. The quartet is committed to sharing this passion by increasing access to and appreciation for classical music while enhancing audience engagement. To this end, the quartet offers interactive programs and workshops for all ages that serve to demystify the traditional repertoire while introducing audiences to exciting new works. Their programs frequently enable participants to learn about the inner workings of a string quartet, and to explore the connections between classical music and our world today.

The members of Ulysses hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Manhattan School of Music, New England Conservatory and Yale University. The musicians perform on instruments and bows graciously on loan from the Canada Council of the Arts Instrument Bank and the Maestro Foundation.

About Music Mountain

Music Mountain’s mission is the performance and teaching of the string quartet literature. While this mission remains vibrant in Music Mountain’s world-class Chamber Music Concert Series and Music Mountain Academy, it has expanded over the years with the addition of its popular Twilight Jazz Concert Series and new education and community programs.

Since 1930, generations of music lovers have come to Music Mountain for an exceptional concert experience and audiences continue to praise the outstanding quality and consistency of the events at Music Mountain, the exceptional acoustics of air-conditioned Gordon Hall, and the beauty and peaceful serenity of Music Mountain’s mountaintop grounds. While The New Yorker has described Music Mountain as “the summer shrine of the string quartet,” recent concertgoers see Music Mountain as “a peaceful green oasis” and highlight its “amazing venue, ambience, and experience.”

Music Mountain, a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization, began as the unique vision of Jacques Gordon, Chicago Symphony concertmaster from 1921 to 1930 and the founding first violinist of the Gordon String Quartet, one of the leading quartets of its time. The buildings at Music Mountain form a well-designed campus in the Colonial Revival style. They were built by Sears, Roebuck & Company’s prefabricated housing division and are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Today, artistic director Oskar Espina-Ruiz and Music Mountain’s dedicated board of directors steer Music Mountain through a period of continued growth, record-breaking attendance, campus improvements, and the expansion of its education and community programming.

Music Mountain is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, Connecticut State Department of Economic and Community Development Office of the Arts, the Peter N. Krysa Fund of Berkshire Taconic Community Foundation, and two funds of the Northwest Connecticut Community Foundation, Inc., the Khurshed Bhumgara Fund and the Lucia Tuttle Fritz Fund.

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Music Mountain, 225 Music Mountain Road, Falls Village, CT 06031