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October 10, 2007
 Guarneri String Quartet
to Perform All-Beethoven Chamber Music Concert
Famed Quartet to Retire Next Season
On Sunday October 28, 2007 at 3:00 p.m. in the Anderson Center at
Binghamton University, the Binghamton Philharmonic
presents a special chamber music concert by the Guarneri String Quartet. This
famed ensemble, which was in residence at Binghamton University in the 1960's,
will be retiring at the end of the 2008-2009 season. This will be one of
their last performances in the Binghamton area. The Guarneri String Quartet,
made up of Arnold Steinhardt and John Dalley,
violins, Michael Tree, viola and Peter Wiley,
cello, is renowned for its interpretations of the music of Beethoven, having
recorded the complete Beethoven string quartets twice. In this
concert the Guarneri will perform two Beethoven masterpieces: the
Quartet in E-flat, Op. 74 ("Harp") and the Quartet No. 13, Op.
130.
Tickets range from $29-$40 for adults, $26-$37 for seniors (over 60) and $10
for students and children. Call 607-723-3931 for tickets and
information. Tickets may be purchased online at
www.binghamtonphilharmonic.org. The
Binghamton Philharmonic has recently improved its website so patrons can now
choose their seats online.
This concert is sponsored by Hinman Howard & Kattell.
This performance is made possible with public funds from the New York
State Council on the Arts, a state agency. General Operating
Support is provided to the Binghamton Philharmonic by a grant from the
United Cultural Fund, a program of the Broome County Arts
Council. The Binghamton Philharmonic's 2007-2008 Season is also made
possible by a grant from The New York State Music Fund,
established by the New York State Attorney General at Rockefeller Philanthropy
Advisors.
Guarneri String Quartet
ARNOLD STEINHARDT, violin
JOHN DALLEY, violin
MICHAEL TREE, viola
PETER WILEY, cello
The renowned Guarneri String Quartet "is among the most revered and enduring
ensembles of its kind in the world" (National Public Radio) and has circled the
globe countless times since it was formed in 1964, playing in the most
prestigious halls in North and South America, Mexico, Europe, Asia and
Australia. The Guarneri String Quartet has announced its retirement at the
completion of the 2008-09 season. In the coming seasons the quartet will
celebrate by doing what it does best - touring extensively throughout the United
States as they have for nearly 45 years. These performances also include their
annual Metropolitan Museum of Art concert series, instituted in 1965, as well as
a collaboration with the Johannes String Quartet. The ensemble also makes its
annual tour to Europe this winter.
The Guarneri has been featured on many television and radio specials,
documentaries and educational presentations both in North America and abroad.
They have been interviewed by Charles Kuralt on CBS' nationwide television
program, Sunday Morning. A full-length film entitled High Fidelity
- The Guarneri String Quartet was released nationally, to great critical
and public acclaim, in the fall of 1989 (the film was directed and produced by
Allan Miller who was also the director/producer of the Academy Award-winning
documentary, From Mozart to Mao, which dealt with Isaac Stern's visit
to China). The quartet is also the subject of various books including Quartet by
Helen Drees Ruttencutter (Lippincott & Crowell, 1980), The Art of Quartet
Playing: the Guarneri in Conversation with David Blum (Alfred A. Knopf,
1986) and Arnold Steinhardt's Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in
Pursuit of Harmony (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 1998).
In addition to mastering the finest works in the existing quartet repertoire,
the Guarneri String Quartet is committed to performing and popularizing works by
today's foremost composers. In the spring of 2008 the quartet, in collaboration
with the Johannes String Quartet, will premiere new works by acclaimed American
composers William Bolcom and Derek Bermel. In the 2003-04 season, they gave the
first performance of String Quartet No. 5 (In Search of La Vita Nuova) written
for them by the award-winning American composer, Richard Danielpour. Mr.
Danielpour had previously written a Concerto for String Quartet and Orchesta,
commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra and written expressly for the
Guarneri String Quartet. It was premiered with the NSO in the Kennedy Center
under the direction of Leonard Slatkin in January, 2000 followed by its New York
premiere at Carnegie Hall later that same month. In the 2001-02 season, the
Guarneri gave the first performances of String Quartet No. 5, written for them
by Lukas Foss and this work remains in their active repertoire.
In 1982, Mayor Koch presented the Quartet with the first New York Seal of
Recognition. The Quartet was awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees by the
University of South Florida (1976) and the State University of New York (1983).
In 1992, the Guarneri String Quartet became the only quartet to receive the
prestigious Award of Merit from the Association of Performing Arts Presenters in
New York City. The Quartet continues their longstanding series and residency at
the University of Maryland where they are on the faculty. In 2004, the Guarneri
received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award from Chamber Music
America. This is CMA's highest honor, given annually to an individual or
ensemble for a lifetime of service and achievement in the field. In 2005,
Guarneri received the Ford Honors Award from the University Musical Society of
the University of Michigan where they have performed 30 times over the past 40
years.
The Guarneri String Quartet has recorded for Surrounded by Entertainment, which
released a CD in Spring 2001 of Quartets by Ravel, Debussy and Fauré. Several of
its recordings on both RCA Red Seal and Philips have won international awards,
including its recent recording of Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga's String Quartet
Nos. 1-3 (Philips), which won the 1996 Deutsche Schallplattenkritik Award in
Germany. Among its other award-winning recordings are collaborations with such
artists as Artur Rubinstein, Pinchas Zukerman; and Boris Kroyt and Mischa
Schneider of the Budapest Quartet. They have also recorded on the Arabesque
label Mendelssohn's String Quartet No. 3 and its first ever recording of the
great Mendelssohn Octet, Op. 20, in collaboration with the Orion Quartet.
Programs and guest artists are subject to change.
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