Emerson Quartet to perform at Shepherd School

Emerson Quartet to perform at Shepherd School

Acclaimed for its insightful performances, brilliant artistry and technical mastery, the Emerson String Quartet will perform Jan. 29 at the Shepherd School of Music. Members of the Rice community can enjoy one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles in a performance sponsored by the Houston Friends of Music.

The performance will be at 8 p.m. in Stude Concert Hall, Alice Pratt Brown Hall. Admission (reserved seating) is $28-$46. Tickets are available by calling 713-348-5400.

Formed in 1976, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. Based in New York City, the quartet has amassed an impressive list of achievements and is lauded globally as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm.

The 2002-2003 season illustrates the quartet’s penchant for innovative programming and commitment to teaching. The quartet performed a pair of concerts at Carnegie Hall exploring relationships between instrumental music and narrative. Repertoire for these concerts featured a world premiere by Andre Prévin. The quartet also gave the premiere of a Joan Tower commission as part of Bard’s Virtuosi International String Quartet Festival in spring 2003.

The ensemble’s busy touring schedule across much of North America has included concerts in Toronto, Vancouver, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Baltimore, Pittsburgh and Seattle. In Europe, the group has performed in major cities, including Vienna, Paris, Amsterdam and London.

For the 24th consecutive season, the group performed at the Smithsonian in Washington. This past summer, audiences enjoyed its programs of Beethoven and Bartók at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Aspen and Caramoor.

The Emerson Quartet has received six Grammy Awards: two for its Shostakovich cycle, two for its Bartók cycle, one for American Originals and one for the complete quartets of Beethoven. Among the group’s extensive recordings are works by Schubert, Schumann, Dvorák, Prokofiev, Webern, Edgar Meyer and Ned Rorem.