Writing from the Newark, NJ airport as we await our plane's arrival; due to some serious thunderstorms in the area this afternoon our plane was diverted to Philadelphia, so our return to San Francisco has been delayed a couple of hours.
This week's tour feels like a great success. We participated for the first time in the Vivace! International Music Festival at the Pennsylvania Academy of Music in Lancaster, PA, coaching student ensembles from across the U.S., Hungary and China and performing a heavy-hitting program of Mendelssohn's Quartet Op.13 and Schubert's Quartettsatz and Death & the Maiden in the Academy's beautiful new Steinman Hall.
The following day we drove back up to Jersey where we performed the same program for a virtually sold-out crowd (just over 800 people) in Princeton University's Richardson Auditorium on their Summer Concerts Series. On both concerts we were happy to oblige with an encore of a movement from Benjamin Lees' 5th Quartet, one of three (#s 1, 5 and 6) featured on the new Naxos disc that will be released in July.
If you're interested, check out our recently updated myspace page; languishing for a couple of years without a refresh, as Facebook and now Twitter have been taking up so much of people's attention, we've just gone through and replenished the content there to try and match the rest of our web-presence...
Well, the sky seems to be clearing; hopefully our plane will soon be on its way here from its Philly - oops! announcement just came over the PA system that in fact it diverted to Baltimore instead... - pit-stop and we'll find ourselves back in SF before, well, by midnight if we're lucky... Here's hoping your own travels run more smoothly this summer!
Thanks for reading,
The Cypress String Quartet
Cypress Tweets
Friday, June 26, 2009
Sunday, June 07, 2009
Montalvo Arts Center Recap, and looking ahead...
Just got back to San Francisco from Saratoga where this afternoon we performed music by Haydn, Mendelssohn, Schubert and finally Beethoven's last Quartet, Op.135 during the course of the 8th of 8 Salon Concerts at the Montalvo Arts Center to an overflow crowd of about 100 people in the intimate Main Hall of the historic Villa.
Next up, catch us at Old St. Mary's Church this Tuesday June 9th on the Noontime Concerts series there. We'll be performing Schubert's Quartettsatz and Mendelssohn's Quartet Op.13 in the hour-long concert. Read about the series here.
Finally, for those of you reading this from the East Coast, or anywhere within an easy drive of Lancaster, PA - we're coming your way later this month, to teach and perform at the Vivace! International Music Festival taking place at the Pennsylvania Music Academy's beautiful new factilities in Lancaster. The Festival's concert schedule is here.
Next up, catch us at Old St. Mary's Church this Tuesday June 9th on the Noontime Concerts series there. We'll be performing Schubert's Quartettsatz and Mendelssohn's Quartet Op.13 in the hour-long concert. Read about the series here.
Finally, for those of you reading this from the East Coast, or anywhere within an easy drive of Lancaster, PA - we're coming your way later this month, to teach and perform at the Vivace! International Music Festival taking place at the Pennsylvania Music Academy's beautiful new factilities in Lancaster. The Festival's concert schedule is here.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
2009 Updates!
Welcome back to the Cypress Quartet blog!
Almost halfway through 2009, we have a lot to report - thanks for checking in!
This season has taken us to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. where we performed the World Premiere of Kevin Puts' Lento assai on instruments from the Library's Cremonese Instruments collection; to Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus for our Cal Performances debut; to Herbst Theatre in San Francisco for the West Coast premiere of Lento assai... Those are just a few highlights, without even mentioning our awesome south Florida tour, our string of successful Inspired by America concerts, and our fantastic residencies at Lebanon Valley College, Chamber Music Monterey Bay, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Chamber Music Tulsa, and the Montalvo Arts Center.
Click here to view our calendar for more of what's next...
We have just received in the mail the first of three commissions for the 2009-2010 season: new works by composers Joseph Landers (Heritage Concerts, Montevallo AL), Elena Ruehr (Call & Response 2010), and Pablo Furman (a Quartet Concerto for the CSQ and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra).
Click here to read up on the first 10 years of our Call & Response commissioning project.
Finally, later this year we will be releasing two new discs of music by Benjamin Lees (on Naxos, in July) and Beethoven (on our own label, in late August).
Click here to find out more about those and other recordings that are out and available for purchase today!
Almost halfway through 2009, we have a lot to report - thanks for checking in!
This season has taken us to the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. where we performed the World Premiere of Kevin Puts' Lento assai on instruments from the Library's Cremonese Instruments collection; to Hertz Hall on the UC Berkeley campus for our Cal Performances debut; to Herbst Theatre in San Francisco for the West Coast premiere of Lento assai... Those are just a few highlights, without even mentioning our awesome south Florida tour, our string of successful Inspired by America concerts, and our fantastic residencies at Lebanon Valley College, Chamber Music Monterey Bay, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Chamber Music Tulsa, and the Montalvo Arts Center.
Click here to view our calendar for more of what's next...
We have just received in the mail the first of three commissions for the 2009-2010 season: new works by composers Joseph Landers (Heritage Concerts, Montevallo AL), Elena Ruehr (Call & Response 2010), and Pablo Furman (a Quartet Concerto for the CSQ and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra).
Click here to read up on the first 10 years of our Call & Response commissioning project.
Finally, later this year we will be releasing two new discs of music by Benjamin Lees (on Naxos, in July) and Beethoven (on our own label, in late August).
Click here to find out more about those and other recordings that are out and available for purchase today!
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Monday, January 29, 2007
Inspired By America Reviewed
“Multi-media 'Inspired by America' Premieres at Lied”
by Chuck Berg (Topeka Capital Journal) 1-29-07
As the house-lights faded to black, the hauntingly astringent strains of the molto adagio from Samuel Barber’s “Quartet, Op. 11” served notice that the Cypress String Quartet’s world premiere of “Inspired by America” was going to be unique.
Opening a concert in pitch black darkness -- and with a slowly unfolding and mournful movement at that -- was a bold move. For Friday night’s crowd that had come to Lawrence’s Lied Center on the strength of the Cypress String Quartet’s reputation as one of chamber music’s hot young ensembles, it was a gambit that worked.
Formed in 1996, the San Francisco-based foursome of violinists Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violist Ethan Filner and cellist Jennifer Kloetzel displayed great poise and panache. While turning even the most difficult phrases with virtuosic aplomb, it was the group’s tonal warmth, musical breadth and ESP-like phrasing that carried the day.
The Quartet was in top form as it navigated masterfully through more than a dozen selections ranging from traditional fare such as Dvorak’s “American Quartet in F” to modern works by contemporary American composers Benjamin Lees and Dan Coleman. Regardless of style or period, the Quartet successfully found and transmitted each composition’s emotional core.
Structurally, “Inspired by America” is a spirited conversation between music, spoken word and film. On a large screen at the back of the Quartet, we “met” author Jacob Needleman who, drawing on his book “The American Soul,” offered insightful portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas.
In contrast to the hagiographic tendencies of much popular history, Needleman’s probes did not shy away from the great contradictions of the American story including, as one example, Jefferson’s roles as freedom-fighter and slaveholder. While also pointing to the inconvenient truths of the Native American genocide and slavery, Needleman cited Douglas’s call to conscience as a basis for continuing the challenge of righting past wrongs and moving forward with hope for all.
These difficult yet inspiring commentaries were dramatically amplified in an adroitly assembled pastiche featuring works by U.S. composers and, in the case of Dvorak, a noted European inspired by American music. At opposite ends of the emotional-thematic spectrum, Charles Ives' “Hope of the World” and Elena Ruehr’s “Red, for solo violin” provided pitch-perfect correlatives to Needleman’s poignant narrative.
The production’s thematics were further italicized by effectively edited film collages by Emmy Award-winning director Michael Schwarz, whose archival montages included historical paintings, newspaper headlines, and clips from movie newsreels.
Judging by the audience’s enthusiastic applause and lively exit conversations, it was clear that the poignantly thoughtful “Inspired by America,” by moving beyond greeting card sentimentality, more than hit the mark.
Kudos to the Cypress String Quartet and its worthy collaborators, and to the Lied Center for its part in co-commissioning this bold new work.
by Chuck Berg (Topeka Capital Journal) 1-29-07
As the house-lights faded to black, the hauntingly astringent strains of the molto adagio from Samuel Barber’s “Quartet, Op. 11” served notice that the Cypress String Quartet’s world premiere of “Inspired by America” was going to be unique.
Opening a concert in pitch black darkness -- and with a slowly unfolding and mournful movement at that -- was a bold move. For Friday night’s crowd that had come to Lawrence’s Lied Center on the strength of the Cypress String Quartet’s reputation as one of chamber music’s hot young ensembles, it was a gambit that worked.
Formed in 1996, the San Francisco-based foursome of violinists Cecily Ward and Tom Stone, violist Ethan Filner and cellist Jennifer Kloetzel displayed great poise and panache. While turning even the most difficult phrases with virtuosic aplomb, it was the group’s tonal warmth, musical breadth and ESP-like phrasing that carried the day.
The Quartet was in top form as it navigated masterfully through more than a dozen selections ranging from traditional fare such as Dvorak’s “American Quartet in F” to modern works by contemporary American composers Benjamin Lees and Dan Coleman. Regardless of style or period, the Quartet successfully found and transmitted each composition’s emotional core.
Structurally, “Inspired by America” is a spirited conversation between music, spoken word and film. On a large screen at the back of the Quartet, we “met” author Jacob Needleman who, drawing on his book “The American Soul,” offered insightful portraits of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglas.
In contrast to the hagiographic tendencies of much popular history, Needleman’s probes did not shy away from the great contradictions of the American story including, as one example, Jefferson’s roles as freedom-fighter and slaveholder. While also pointing to the inconvenient truths of the Native American genocide and slavery, Needleman cited Douglas’s call to conscience as a basis for continuing the challenge of righting past wrongs and moving forward with hope for all.
These difficult yet inspiring commentaries were dramatically amplified in an adroitly assembled pastiche featuring works by U.S. composers and, in the case of Dvorak, a noted European inspired by American music. At opposite ends of the emotional-thematic spectrum, Charles Ives' “Hope of the World” and Elena Ruehr’s “Red, for solo violin” provided pitch-perfect correlatives to Needleman’s poignant narrative.
The production’s thematics were further italicized by effectively edited film collages by Emmy Award-winning director Michael Schwarz, whose archival montages included historical paintings, newspaper headlines, and clips from movie newsreels.
Judging by the audience’s enthusiastic applause and lively exit conversations, it was clear that the poignantly thoughtful “Inspired by America,” by moving beyond greeting card sentimentality, more than hit the mark.
Kudos to the Cypress String Quartet and its worthy collaborators, and to the Lied Center for its part in co-commissioning this bold new work.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
Inspired By America - World Premiere
The Cypress String Quartet will present the World Premiere of Inspired By America at the Lied Center of Kansas in Lawrence, KS this Friday January 26 2007 at 7:30pm.
There will also be a pre-concert discussion and performance of a short film by Lawrence High School students starting at 6:30pm.
Inspired By America is a unique multimedia event blending live music with original film. The production team includes Emmy and Peabody Award-winner Michael Schwarz, stage and lighting designer/director Jack Carpenter, sound engineer Mark Willsher, author Jacob Needleman (The American Soul, 2001), and the Cypress String Quartet.
Friday Jan.26 2007 is the World Premiere performance in Kansas; other upcoming performances of IBA include:
the Krannert Center, University of Illinois in Champagne-Urbana Jan.28 2007
Penn State-Erie, Feb.1 2007
and further down the line in 07-08: performances in San Jose, Southern California, North Carolina, San Francisco...
Check out these links for more information:
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2007/jan/25/string_quartet_provides_notes_high_schools_film_pr/?city_local
http://www.cypressquartet.com/iba
http://www.lied.ku.edu/06-07/events/cypress_string.shtml
http://www.lied.ku.edu/06-07/studio_lied/csq/index.shtml
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Announcing the 2006-2007
Music & Conversation Concert Season
at SJSU
MEDIA CONTACT: 415-681-9045
________________________________
________________________________
Leading classical music innovators the Cypress String Quartet present one of the Bay Area’s most unusual and varied performance series, Music & Conversation, featuring six free performances from September 21 2006 through May 10 2007. Music & Conversation allows audience members to take a mid-day break to enjoy some of the world’s best young classical and jazz artists in performance followed by a free discourse offering insight into their work and process. 2006-2007 Music & Conversation dates and programs are listed below and each performance begins at 12:30pm in the Concert Hall of the SJSU Music Building, which is located on El Paseo de Cesar E.Chavez (Seventh Street), SJSU Campus, info hotline: 408-924-4675.
Originated by the Cypress String Quartet, Music & Conversation is a joint presentation with
The
The Cypress String Quartet has captivated audiences around the world with virtuoso performances. Featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a “Generation X ensemble to watch,” Quartet members Cecily Ward &Tom Stone, violins; Ethan Filner, viola; and Jennifer Kloetzel, cello; blend outstanding performance with innovative programming and exemplary leadership in music education and outreach.
As Quartet-in-Residence at
The
2006-2007 MUSIC & CONVERSATION SERIES
Vocalists Joe Frank and
Erie Mills has received critical and popular acclaim throughout the world, dazzling audiences with her sparkling coloratura voice, captivating personality, and vivid portrayals of operatic roles. Tenor Joseph Frank has long specialized in the lyric character tenor repertoire. He appears regularly with leading opera companies, and his recent appearances include The Marriage of Figaro for the Austin Lyric Opera; Die Fledermaus for San Diego Opera; Boris Godunov in Toulouse, France; Madama Butterfly and Turandot for the Pittsburgh Opera; and the world premiere of Nicholas and Alexandra with the Los Angeles Opera. Ms. Mills and Mr. Frank will be accompanied by Dr. Gwendolyn Mok, head of Keyboard studies at
Erie Mills, soprano Joe Frank, tenor Gwendolyn Mok, piano
Stone-Zimmerman Duo October 19
The Stone-Zimmermann Duo has been captivating audiences with their blend of superb musicianship, ravishing sound and profound interpretations. German violinist Iris Stone is a member of the New Century Chamber Orchestra and has recently performed and recorded with the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra on the EMI label. Swiss Pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann maintains a career on two continents. She has appeared at festivals in
Zuill Bailey and the
A multi-faceted musician of consummate virtuosity, Zuill Bailey has established himself as one of the most sought-after and active cellists today. He continues his collaboration with trio partners, pianist Navah Perlman and violinist Giora Schmidt. Mr. Bailey made his Carnegie Hall debut with the
www.zuillbailey.com www.cypressquartet.com
Luciana Souza March 1
Three-time Grammy nominee Luciana Souza hails from
Antigoni Goni March 15
Greek guitarist Antigoni Goni enjoys a truly international career. She is a professor of Guitar at the Royal Conservatory in
Amit Peled with the
Israeli cellist Amit Peled is an internationally recognized soloist. In addition to continuing his Beethoven Cycle of performances and recordings in
www.amitpeled.com www.cypressquartet.com
Admission to Music & Conversation performances is free of charge.
For more information call 415-681-9045 or visit www.cypressquartet.com
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