March 24, 2003 Contact: Li-Ling Wang

Avalon String Quartet to give the first complete performance
of Augusta Read Thomas’ Sun Threads
whose individual movements - Eagle at Sunrise, Invocations, Fugitive Star, and Rise Chanting -
were singly commissioned for and premiered by the Ying, Miami, Avalon, and Alexander quartets
The Avalon to present the entire piece on April 30

Program also features Stravinsky’s Three Pieces and
Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131

Juilliard’s annual Lisa Arnhold Memorial Concert presents the Avalon String Quartet in an evening of chamber music Wednesday, April 30 at 8 PM in Alice Tully Hall. The Avalon String Quartet, now in its second year as Juilliard’s graduate quartet-in-residence, gives the first complete performance of Augusta Read Thomas’ Sun Threads, whose individual movements - Eagle at Sunrise, Invocations, Fugitive Star, and Rise Chanting - were singly commissioned by the Koussevitzky Foundation, the Santa Fe and Caramoor international music festivals, and the Krannert Center; Each movement was premiered by a particular ensemble: the Ying, Miami, Avalon, and Alexander string quartets. The Avalon String Quartet presents the entire piece on April 30. The program also features Stravinsky’s Three Pieces and Beethoven’s String Quartet in C-sharp Minor, Op. 131.

FREE tickets are required and are available at the Juilliard Box Office starting April 16. The Box Office, located at 60 Lincoln Center Plaza, is open Monday - Friday, 11 AM - 6 PM. For more information, please call (212) 769-7406, or visit Juilliard’s web site at www.juilliard.edu.

Photo by Peter Schaaf Click on photo for a larger version and to download a high resolution image

The Avalon String Quartet, whose members are violinists Blaise Magnière and Marie Wang, violist Che-Yen Chen, and cellist Sumire Kudo, was the first-prize winner of the 1999 Concert Artists Guild Competition. The Quartet began its graduate-level residency program at Juilliard in September 2001 and has been re-appointed for the 2002-03 season. Named Lisa Arnhold Fellows, all members of the Avalon String Quartet receive free tuition and stipend, assist the Juilliard String Quartet, participate in the annual Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, coach other Juilliard student ensembles, and receive coachings from the Juilliard String Quartet. The School is deeply grateful to the Arnhold family for its generous commitment to string quartet studies at Juilliard. Previous graduate quartets-in-residence include the Essex, Miró, St. Lawrence, Shanghai, and Whitman string quartets.

Performing in concert halls and venues worldwide, the Avalon String Quartet made its Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall in 1997, and since then has performed in the Alexander Schneider Series at The New School, the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Boston’s Garner Museum Series, the Chicago Chamber Music Society, the Cleveland Museum of Art Concert Series, the M.I.T. Concert Series in Boston, and the Stanford University Lively Arts Series. In the 2000-01 season, the Avalon String Quartet made its Alice Tully Hall debut with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and also performed in New York at the 92^nd Street Y, the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, and Merkin Concert Hall. The ensemble recently made its European debut at the ARD Kammermusikfest at the Schloss Elmau. Other engagements have included the Quartet’s debuts at Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival and the Library of Congress, as well as its Canadian debut at the Music Toronto concert series.