Feb. 2: Shriver Hall Concert Series Presents the Dover Quartet & Pianist Inon Barnatan at Shriver Hall

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mallory McFarland | Morahan Arts and Media
mallory@morahanartsandmedia.com | 646-378-9386

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SHRIVER HALL CONCERT SERIES PRESENTS
THE GRAMMY-NOMINATED DOVER QUARTET
WITH PIANIST INON BARNATAN
ON SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 2 AT SHRIVER HALL

Program Features Baltimore Premiere of Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s
Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs), a SHCS Co-commission

Shriver Hall Concert Series Additionally Presents
Violinist Wei Zhu, Winner of the 2024 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition,
on Saturday, February 8, 2025 as Part of its Free Discovery Series

The Dover Quartet is "excellent and fast-rising." –The New York Times

“compelling interpretive insight and elegant pianism” –BBC Music about Inon Barnatan

www.ShriverConcerts.org

Baltimore, MD (December 16, 2024) — Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) — Baltimore’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists — welcomes back the Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet joined by the celebrated pianist Inon Barnatan on Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 5:30 pm. Michelle Cann was originally scheduled to perform with the Dover Quartet but needed to withdraw due to a scheduling conflict, and Barnatan graciously stepped in.

Together, the Quartet and Barnatan present one of the pinnacles of the chamber music repertoire: Dvorák’s colorful, folk-inflected quintet, while expansive sounds from a diverse trio of American composers – Jessie Montgomery, Pura Fé, and Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate – open the program.

The performance features the Baltimore premiere of Chickasaw classical composer Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate’s Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs), also a SHCS co-commission. Written for the Dover Quartet, the new work is a kind of sequel to Tate’s 2013 string quartet Pisachi, a set of six “epitomes” designed to accompany a touring exhibition of images of southwestern Native American communities and landscapes. The imagery of his Woodland Songs, however, is rooted in a different soil and culture.

“Chickasaw families are divided into matriarchal lineal clans, much like many cultures around the world,” the composer remarks. “Our clans are named after animals and my family is from the Raccoon Clan, or Shawi' Iksa'. We are also originally from the eastern woodlands of America and our songs and legends reflect many woodland animals. For this string quartet composition, I enjoyed creating a five-character suite about our woodland animal cousins, whom I adore. My compositions typically express Native culture through a highly dramatic and theatric lens, and this work is meant to amply the wonderful personalities of each animal. There are many occurrences and abstractions of our woodland animal songs throughout this suite and the work is dedicated to my son, Heloha (Thunder) Tate.”

“The program celebrates, illuminates, and expands the already robust connections between many American voices, including Jazz, Bluegrass, Indigenous American music, and Western Classical music,” remarks Dover Quartet cellist Camden Shaw. “Dvorak's most famous works, the "New World" Symphony and the "American" Quartet amongst them, were directly inspired by the music he heard and studied while living in Iowa, and included very obviously the music of Indigenous peoples and African Americans. Ulali, a vocal trio of Indigenous women, wrote incredible music combining traditional styles of their ancestors with harmonic styles heavily influenced by Western Classical music and Jazz; Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tate studied composition in the tradition of Western Classical music but draws heavily on the styles and traditions of his Chickasaw roots; and Jessie Montgomery's already iconic "strum" expounds on Bluegrass styles within the architecture and dialect of contemporary composition.

“When you put it all together,” Shaw concludes, “you get a celebration of our connection to one another, and the complex and beautiful tapestry of voices in North America.”

Hailed as “the next Guarneri Quartet” by the Chicago Tribune, the renowned Dover Quartet – which last appeared on the SHCS Subscription Series in 2023 – is one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. The two-time GRAMMY-nominated Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music and holds additional residencies at Northwestern University and the Artosphere festival.

“I’ve known the Dover Quartet for many years, but we’ve only had the chance to play together a handful of times,” shares Inon Barnatan, “and each time has been such a delight. They’re truly one of the finest quartets in the country, and their musicality, energy, and deep commitment to every piece they play make collaborating with them something I’m really looking forward to. I’ve performed in Baltimore before with the symphony and was scheduled to play a recital at Shriver Hall in 2020 – but the pandemic put those plans on hold. In May 2020, I streamed a solo recital from my home for Shriver Hall audiences, and while I was grateful to share music in that way, I’ve been eagerly waiting for the chance to finally perform in the hall and connect with the Shriver audience in person.”

Pianist Inon Barnatan is equally celebrated as a soloist, curator, and collaborator. As a soloist, Barnatan is a regular performer with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. He was the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic from 2014-17, is currently Music Director of La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in California, and performs this season with the Boston, Israel, and Tokyo symphonies among others.

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ free Discovery Series continues with violinist Wei Zhu, winner of the 2024 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition, on Saturday, February 8, 2025 at 3:00 pm at the Baltimore Museum of Art. Wei Zhu has already performed at Beijing’s National Centre for Performing Arts, the Seoul Arts Center, and New York’s Carnegie Hall, as well as touring with the Sejong Soloists. He is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University with Vadim Gluzman.

“I am thrilled to perform as part of the prestigious Shriver Hall Concert Series’ Discovery Series at the Baltimore Museum of Art,” shares Wei Zhu. “The museum’s inspiring surroundings provide a perfect backdrop for a program that explores the depth and versatility of the violin repertoire, from timeless classics to intimate discoveries. I look forward to sharing these stories and emotions with Baltimore’s vibrant audience and creating a meaningful connection through music.”

Up next at Shriver Hall, the celebrated English tenor Ian Bostridge makes a triumphant return to Shriver Hall with English pianist Julius Drake on Sunday, March 9, 2025, at 5:30 pm. The two will perform a program featuring Shakespeare and Donne texts.

SHCS’s free Discovery Series concludes on Saturday, March 29, 2025, at 3:00 pm at UMBC’s Linehan Concert Hall with the Ivalas Quartet. The protégés of the Takács Quartet – who recently performed on the 2023-24 season at Shriver Hall – bring a program inspired by new images from the James Webb Telescope.

Shriver Hall Concert Series’ season is made possible through generous support from the Maryland State Arts Council, Baltimore County Commission for Arts & Sciences, and Baltimore Office of Promotion and the Arts.

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Concert Information
Dover Quartet and Inon Barnatan, piano 
Sunday, February 2, 2025, at 5:30 pm
Shriver Hall | 3400 N. Charles Street | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: $46 Single Tickets and $10 Students
Link: shriverconcerts.org/dovercann 

JESSIE MONTGOMERY: Strum for String Quartet
PURA FÉ: Rattle Songs (arr. Tate)
JEROD IMPICHCHAACHAAHA’ TATE: Abokkoli' Taloowa' (Woodland Songs)
     (Baltimore premiere, SHCS co-commission*)
ANTONÍN DVORÁK: Quintet for Piano and Strings in A major, Op. 81 
A Pre-Concert Conversation will take place at 4:30 pm in Shriver Hall before the concert.
The Mity Clarke Gann Concert
The David & Barbara Rodbell Kornblatt Commissioning Fund

*Co-commissioned by Shriver Hall Concert Series, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, Cal Performances, Carnegie Hall, Chamber Music Houston, Chamber Music Northwest, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Chamber Music Society of Fort Worth, Curtis Institute of Music, Friends of Chamber Music (Denver), Kingston Chamber Music Festival, and Northwestern University.

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Discovery Series: Wei Zhu, Winner of the 2024 Yale Gordon Concerto Competition
Saturday, February 8, 2025, at 3:00 pm
Baltimore Museum of Art | 10 Art Museum Drive | Baltimore, MD 21218
Tickets: Free, RSVP required
Link: https://www.shriverconcerts.org/yalegordon 

Program to be announced.

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About Dover Quartet
Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The Dover Quartet is the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music and holds additional residencies at Northwestern University and the Artosphere festival. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its honors include the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award.

The Dover Quartet’s 2023-24 season includes a North American tour with Leif Ove Andsnes, performances with Haochen Zhang and David Shifrin, and a tour to Europe and Israel. Recent collaborators include Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnaton, Ray Chen, the Escher String Quartet, Bridget Kibbey, Anthony McGill, Edgar Meyer, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Davóne Tines. The quartet recently premiered Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir, and works by Mason Bates, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.

The Dover Quartet’s GRAMMY-nominated recordings include its highly acclaimed three-volume recording, Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Cedille Records), which was hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad), and The Schumann Quartets (Azica Records).

The Dover Quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach?by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber. The Dover Quartet proudly endorses Thomastik-Infeld strings.

About Inon Barnatan
“One of the most admired pianists of his generation” (New York Times), Inon Barnatan has received universal acclaim for his “uncommon sensitivity” (The New Yorker), “impeccable musicality and phrasing” (Le Figaro), and his stature as “a true poet of the keyboard: refined, searching, unfailingly communicative” (The Evening Standard). A multifaceted musician, Barnatan is equally celebrated as soloist, curator, and collaborator. 

As a soloist, Barnatan is a regular performer with many of the world’s foremost orchestras and conductors. He was the inaugural Artist-in-Association of the New York Philharmonic from 2014-17 and has played with the BBC Symphony for the BBC Proms, the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl, the symphony orchestras of Chicago, Cleveland, Boston and most major orchestras in the US, as well as the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, Tokyo Metropolitan Orchestra Symphony and the London, Helsinki, Hong Kong, and Royal Stockholm Philharmonics. 

Barnatan's 2024-25 season highlights include performances with major orchestras worldwide. He opens the season with a gala performance at the San Diego Symphony, and performs with the New Jersey Symphony, Pasadena Symphony, Boston Symphony, Tokyo Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Israel Symphony, and Atlanta Symphony. Additionally, he continues his collaboration with cellist Alisa Weilerstein, with performances at Stanford Live and Celebrity Series of Boston, and will perform alongside James Ehnes at Wigmore Hall. Barnatan and Weilerstein’s highly anticipated album of Brahms' Cello Sonatas was released by Pentatone in November 2024.

Equally at home as a curator and chamber musician, Barnatan is Music Director of La Jolla Music Society Summerfest in California, one of leading music festivals in the country. He regularly collaborates with world-class partners such as Renée Fleming and Alisa Weilerstein, and plays at major chamber music festivals including, Seattle, Santa Fe, and Spoleto USA. Barnatan was a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) from 2006 to 2009 and continues to perform with CMS in New York and on tour. 

Born in Tel Aviv in 1979, Inon Barnatan started playing the piano at the age of three, when his parents discovered his perfect pitch, and made his orchestral debut at eleven. His musical education connects him to some of the 20th century’s most illustrious pianists and teachers: he studied first with Professor Victor Derevianko, a student of the Russian master Heinrich Neuhaus, before moving to London in 1997 to study at the Royal Academy of Music with Christopher Elton and Maria Curcio, a student of the legendary Artur Schnabel. The late Leon Fleisher was also an influential teacher and mentor. For more information, visit www.inonbarnatan.com.

About Wei Zhu
Violinist Wei Zhu began to study violin at an early age. When he was thirteen, Wei was accepted into the school affiliated with the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing. In 2015, Wei was admitted to The Juilliard School, where he studied with Hyo Kang and Adele Anthony to pursue a Bachelor of Music degree.

Wei entered Yale School of Music in 2019 for his Master of Music degree, followed by a Master of Musical Arts Degree with Augustin Hadelich in 2021. He was the recipient of the Broadus Erle prize for outstanding violinists at Yale. In 2022, Wei was accepted to the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University to continue his study for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree with Vadim Gluzman.

Throughout his academic and professional career, Wei has attended masterclasses with renowned musicians like Pinchas Zukerman and Noah Bendix-Balgley. He has collaborated with notable artists such as Frank Huang, Philip Quint, and Lera Auerbach on tour. Wei has performed in prestigious venues across Asia and the United States, including the National Centre for the Performing Arts in Beijing, the Seoul Arts Center, Lotte Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, and David Geffen Hall at Lincoln Center. He has rich experience in ensemble playing, having served as concertmaster for the New Juilliard Ensemble and toured with the esteemed Sejong Soloists in Korea.

About Shriver Hall Concert Series
Since 1966, Shriver Hall Concert Series (SHCS) has been “Baltimore’s finest importer of classical music talent” (The Baltimore Sun) and the area’s premier presenter of chamber music ensembles and solo recitalists with a mission to craft performances and educational programs at the highest level of excellence. A 5-time recipient of Baltimore Magazine’s distinction “Best Classical Music” in its annual “Best of Baltimore” issue, the coveted subscription series features many of the world’s most renowned soloists and ensembles, presented in The Johns Hopkins University’s Shriver Hall.

Founded in 1966 by Dr. Ernest Bueding, a pharmacologist at Johns Hopkins University, and a group of similarly dedicated music enthusiasts, SHCS set out to make an important contribution to the vitality of an already vibrant city. When flutist Jean-Pierre Rampal walked onto the stage of Shriver Hall for the first concert, more than 1,100 people witnessed the launch of what is now recognized as a remarkable success story: Shriver Hall Concert Series. In the succeeding years, SHCS has presented hundreds of acclaimed and emerging international artists in classical chamber music and recitals and a legacy of important debuts and premieres. In addition, SHCS collaborates with local schools and subsidizes hundreds of student tickets each season.

The list of artists presented by SHCS is remarkable—Radu Lupu, Murray Perahia, Ewa Podlés, Maurizio Pollini, Jacqueline du Pré, Mstislav Rostropovich, Jordi Savall, András Schiff, Rudolf Serkin, Janos Starker, Daniil Trifonov, Lynn Harrell, Emmanuel Ax, Alban Berg Quartet, Guarneri Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Cleveland Quartet, and Quartetto Italiano, among many others. SHCS also has a history of championing important musicians early in their careers, including Richard Goode, Hilary Hahn, Hélène Grimaud, Dawn Upshaw, Lang Lang, and the Emerson String Quartet. Commissioned composers include Timo Andres, Sebastian Currier, Jonathan Leshnoff, James Lee III, Han Lash, Caroline Shaw, and Nina C. Young.

Designed specifically for the community, SHCS offers the Discovery Series, a series of free concerts presented in venues throughout the region focused on artists emerging on the national and international scene. Artists featured include Narek Hakhnazaryan, Colin Currie, Xavier Foley, Eric Lu, and the Dover Quartet. SHCS also offers the annual Spring Lecture Series, a series of free talks focused on annual topics related to the intersection of music and society and a variety of student programs.

For more information, visit www.shriverconcerts.org.

Photo of Dover Quartet by Roy Cox; photo of Inon Barnatan by Marco Borggreve

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