Pianist Gilbert Kalish joins the Juilliard String Quartet on Monday, February 25 at 8PM in The Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Quintets by Elliott Carter and Ralph Shapey and Quartets by Haydn and Verdi are featured in Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital
The Juilliard String Quartet, which celebrated its 60th anniversary last season, is joined by guest artist, pianist Gilbert Kalish, on Monday, February 25, 2008 at 8 PM in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater performing quintets by Ralph Shapey and Elliott Carter as part of their concert on the School’s Daniel Saidenberg Faculty Recital Series. Celebrating American composer Elliott Carter’s centenary year, they play his Quintet for Piano and Strings (1997), as well as Ralph Shapey’s 1946-47 Piano Quintet. The Quartet also performs Haydn’s Quartet for Strings, Op. 76, No. 6 and Verdi’s Quartet in E Minor, Op. 68. Members of Juilliard String Quartet are violinists Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes, violist Samuel Rhodes, and cellist Joel Krosnick.
With their affinity for his music and their many recordings of his works, the Juilliard String Quartet’s concert complements Juilliard’s 24th annual FOCUS! festival, All About Elliott, taking place this month featuring a wide array of Mr. Carter’s music as part of Carter’s centenary year. Carter’s Quintet for Piano and String Quartet was composed during the summer of 1997 for pianist Ursula Oppens and the Arditti Quartet, commissioned for them by the Library of Congress for Carter’s 90th birthday party at the Library. Of the quintet, Mr. Carter noted: “The work is one movement of many changing characters and contrasts. The moods and materials of the piano are contrasted with those of the string quartet, which, itself, is a combination of four different strands that maintain somewhat independent existences, played by the four strings.”
The Juilliard String Quartet has been committed to Ralph Shapey’s music throughout their careers, both as an ensemble and as individuals. Mr. Shapey had received numerous awards and commissions during his lifetime, including being inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters and the American Academy of Arts and Science. After his passing in 2002, it was revealed that he left behind an unanticipated legacy - two posthumous pieces: a clarinet quintet (2 for 5; Concerto Grosso) that the Juilliard String Quartet and Charles Neidich performed at their October 22, 2007 Juilliard recital; and the piano quintet which they will perform on this concert.
FREE tickets are required for the February 25 recital and will be available beginning February 11 at the Juilliard Box Office, located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza. Box Office hours are Monday through Friday, from 11 AM - 6 PM. For further information, call (212) 769-7406 or visit www.juilliard.edu. To get to the Box Office, go to West 65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue and take the escalator/elevator up to the plaza level.
Celebrated for performances of works by composers as diverse as Beethoven, Schubert, Bartók and Carter, the Juilliard String Quartet has long been recognized as the quintessential American string quartet. As quartet-in-residence at New York City's Juilliard School, the Juilliard String Quartet is widely admired for a seminal influence on aspiring string players around the world. The Quartet continues to play an important role in the formation of new American ensembles, and was instrumental in the formation of the Alexander, American, Concord, Emerson, La Salle, New World, Mendelssohn, Tokyo, Brentano, Lark, St. Lawrence, and Colorado string quartets.
In the 2007-08 season, the Juilliard String Quartet offers special programming in recognition of Elliott Carter’s 100th birthday – a composer with whom they’ve had a long and remarkable collaboration. As ardent advocates of Carter’s complex and visionary string quartets, the Juilliard’s landmark recording of Quartets Nos. 1 - 4 was released by Sony in 1991. This season they perform his String Quartet No. 2 and partake in celebrations of his work at the Ravinia Festival. The Juilliard String Quartet plans a Carter World Premiere – a 5th quartet being added to the canon – at Juilliard on April 29, 2008. They also tour to California, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Hampshire, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Washington D.C. Abroad, the Juilliard Quartet embarks on another extensive tour across Europe with stops in the Netherlands and Paris, and returns to Japan for the Miyazaki Festival.
The ensemble has been associated with Sony Classical and its predecessors since 1949. In celebration of the Quartet's 50th anniversary, Sony issued seven CDs containing previously unreleased material as well as notable performances from the Quartet's award-winning discography. With more than 100 releases, the ensemble is one of the most widely recorded string quartets of our time; Juilliard String Quartet recordings of the complete Beethoven quartets, the complete Schoenberg quartets, and the Debussy and Ravel string quartets all have received Grammy Awards.
Pianist Gilbert Kalish is head of the performance faculty at SUNY-Stony Brook. Through his activities as performer and educator, he has become a major figure in American music making. A native New Yorker, Mr. Kalish studied with Leonard Shure, Julius Hereford and Isabelle Vengerova. He is a frequent guest artist with many of the world's most distinguished chamber ensembles. He was a founding member of the Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, a pioneering new music group that flourished during the 1960's and '70's. He is noted for his partnerships with other artists, including cellists Timothy Eddy and Joel Krosnick, soprano Dawn Upshaw, and, perhaps most memorably, his thirty-year collaboration with mezzo-soprano Jan DeGaetani. In addition to teaching at Stony Brook, he has also served on the faculties of the Tanglewood Music Center, the Banff Centre and the Steans Institute at Ravinia. Mr. Kalish's discography of some 100 recordings encompasses classical repertory, 20th-century masterworks and new compositions. In 1995 the University of Chicago presented him with the Paul Fromm Award for distinguished service to the music of our time.
The Juilliard School presents more than 700 dance, drama, and music events annually. During ongoing renovations, a full calendar of performances is scheduled. For a complete listing of events, as well as construction updates, go to www.juilliard.edu.
2007-08 DANIEL SAIDENBERG FACULTY RECITAL SERIES AT JUILLIARD
Tickets available at the Juilliard Box Office, 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, NYC
Box Office hours: Monday – Friday, 11 AM – 6 PM, (212) 769-7406
Monday, February 25, 8:00 PM
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Free tickets available beginning 2/11 at the Juilliard Box Office.
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET RECITAL
Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes, Violins;
Samuel Rhodes, Viola; Joel Krosnick, Cello
Gilbert Kalish, Pianist
HAYDN: Quartet for Strings, Op. 76, No. 6
SHAPEY: Piano Quintet (1946-47)
CARTER: Quintet for Piano and Strings (1997)
VERDI: Quartet in E Minor, Op. 68
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Tuesday, April 29, 8:00 PM
Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Free tickets available beginning 4/15 at the Juilliard Box Office
JUILLIARD STRING QUARTET RECITAL
Joel Smirnoff and Ronald Copes, Violins;
Samuel Rhodes, Viola; Joel Krosnick, Cello
Charles Neidich, Clarinet
CARTER: Quintet for Clarinet and Strings – world premiere
Other works to be announced