Manhattan School of Music Presents Artists in Residence

The American String Quartet
Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, Violins;
Daniel Avshalomov, Viola; and Wolfram Koessel, Cello

Sunday, April 1, 2007, 3:00 PM
John C. Borden Auditorium

Program features works by Beethoven, Strauss, and Schoenberg

Special Faculty/Student collaboration for Strauss’ String Sextet from Capriccio and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night), op. 4 for string sextet with Manhattan School of Music students Brian Hatton, cello and Molly Carr, viola.

March 21,  2007 /prbuzz/ -

On Sunday, April 1, 2007 at 3 p.m., The American String Quartet present their third and final concert in their 2006-2007 Manhattan School of Music concert series with Beethoven’s Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 “Razumovsky”, Strauss’ Streichsextet aus Capriccio, and Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) Op. 4 for String Sextet. The American String Quartet welcomes two Manhattan School of Music students, Brian Hatton, cello and Molly Carr, viola, as guest performers for the Strauss and Schoenberg pieces.

Beethoven’s Quartet in E Minor, op. 59, no. 2 is one of three quartets Beethoven wrote for his patron, the Russian ambassador Count Razumovsky. Written in 1805-1806, the quartets’ radical new style bewildered contemporary critics. In the Second “Razumovsky” Quartet Beethoven incorporates and stunningly transforms a patriotic Russian hymn as a theme. Strauss’s String Sextet is an arrangement of his 1941 opera Capriccio, the story of a poet and composer in love with the same woman. The piece is signature Strauss with colorful solos and rhapsodic effects. The program concludes with one of Schoenberg’s most often performed works, Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) for String Sextet, op. 4, inspired by an 1896 poem by Richard Dehmel describing a man and a woman alone in the “bare, cold woods” on a moonlit night.

Internationally recognized as one of the world's finest quartets, The American String Quartet: Peter Winograd and Laurie Carney, violins; Daniel Avshalomov, viola; and Wolfram Koessel, cello, celebrated its 30th anniversary during the 2005-2006 season. To highlight the anniversary, the Quartet debuted a new series of recordings on the Arabesque label, including quartets of celebrated composer Richard Danielpour and the launch of a series of discs of the Complete Brahms String Chamber Music featuring a stellar list of collaborative artists.

In three decades of touring, the American has performed in all fifty states and appeared in virtually every important concert hall throughout the world. Their presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim. The 1998 MusicMasters recording of the Complete Mozart String Quartets performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius are widely considered to have set the standard for that repertoire.

Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, the American has also served as resident quartet at the Taos School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet’s diverse activities have also included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, tours of Asia, and performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

As champions of new music, the American has given numerous premieres, most recently including Richard Danielpour’s Quartet No. 4, commissioned by Kansas City Friends of Chamber Music, and Curt Cacioppo’s “a distant voice calling,” commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music. Albany Records released their recording of three quartets by Kenneth Fuchs in 2001.

Their extensive discography can be heard on the Albany, CRI, MusicMasters, Musical Heritage Society, Nonesuch, and RCA labels. The Quartet is popular with national radio audiences and has been featured on Minnesota Public Radio’s “St. Paul Sunday Morning,” National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” and in live broadcasts on WFMT.
Formed in 1974, when its original members were students at the Juilliard School, the American String Quartet was launched by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. Individually, the members devote additional time outside the quartet’s active performance and teaching schedule to solo appearances, recitals, and master classes.

Cellist Brian Hatton is an Orchestral Performance graduate student of Alan Stepansky at Manhattan School of Music. He recently completed his bachelor’s degree at MSM where he has served as principal cellist in each of the school’s major performing ensembles. He studies chamber music at MSM with members of the American String Quartet, Laurie Smukler, and Robert Mann. A native of Washington, D.C., he studied with NSO cellist James Lee and played principal cello with the American Youth Philharmonic on its tour to Carnegie Hall in 2002.

Violist and Nevada native Molly Carr, is a sophomore viola student at Manhattan School of Music.

The Manhattan School of Music Artist-in-Residence ensemble, the American String Quartet, is $15 general admission and $7 for senior citizens and students with valid ID. Tickets can be purchased online at our website, www.msmnyc.edu, by phone via the Manhattan School of Music Concert office at (917) 493-4428, by mail at 120 Claremont Avenue, New York, NY 10027, or by fax at (212) 749-5471. If you have any questions, please feel free to e-mail us at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it , or visit our website at www.msmnyc.edu. Manhattan School of Music is located on the northwest corner of Broadway at 122nd Street, part of New York City’s Morningside Heights neighborhood. The school is easily reached by bus (M4 and M104 buses stop at the corner of Broadway and 122nd Street) or by subway (the #1 train stops at Broadway and 116th Street). In addition, taxis are readily available following concerts directly in front of the School at Broadway and 122nd Street.

THE AMERICAN STRING QUARTET
ARTISTS IN RESIDENCE
SUNDAY, APRIL 1, 2007, 3:00 PM
JOHN C. BORDEN AUDITORIUM, MANHATTAN SCHOOL OF MUSIC
122ND STREET AND BROADWAY

BEETHOVEN QUARTET NO. 8 IN E MINOR, OP. 59, NO. 2
STRAUSS STRING SEXTET FROM CAPRICCIO
SCHOENBERG VERKLÄRTE NACHT (TRANSFIGURED NIGHT) FOR STRING SEXTET, OP. 4