BEETHOVEN String Quartets – Concert V

To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the birth of Ludwig van Beethoven (1770-1827), Arte Musica presents the great composer’s complete String Quartets in 2020.

QUATUOR ROLSTON

Canada’s Rolston String Quartet continues to receive acclamation and recognition for their musical excellence. As the 2018 recipient and first international ensemble chosen for the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America, their accolades and awards precede them. In 2016, a monumental year, they won First Prize at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition, Grand Prize at the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, and Astral’s National Auditions.

Recent highlights include debut performances at Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, The Freer Gallery, and Chamber Music Houston, two major Canadian tours under the Prairie Debut and Debut Atlantic touring networks, and three European tours with dates in Leipzig, Berlin, Lucerne, Heidelberg, Barcelona, and Graz among others. Their 2019-20 season includes concerts at UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, Texas Performing Arts, Chamber Music Northwest, and Calgary Pro Musica; the chamber music societies of Detroit, Fort Worth, Kansas City, Philadelphia, and Vancouver; and the Louvre Museum. As Süddeutsche Zeitung states, “they showed such delicacy, slender elasticity, impeccable intonation, and such eminent sense of tonal balance… This is a new bright star on the truly not empty string quartet sky of our day.”

Notable collaborations include performances with renowned artists Janina Fialkowska, Gary Hoffman, Nobuko Imai, Miguel da Silva, and David Shifrin, as well as the St. Lawrence, and Dover Quartets. The quartet are associated artists at the Queen Elizabeth Music Chapel, and completed a two-year term as the Yale School of Music’s fellowship quartet-in-residence in spring 2019. Previously, they were the graduate quartet-in-residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music. Keeping in the teaching tradition, they have taught at the Yale School of Music, University of Toronto, and the Bowdoin International Music Festival among others. Primary mentors include the Brentano Quartet, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith, and the quartet has received additional guidance from the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Barry Shiffman, Miguel da Silva, and Alastair Tait.

The Rolston String Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Chamber Music Residency. They take their name from Canadian violinist Thomas Rolston, founder and long-time director of the Music and Sound Programs at the Banff Centre. They are all graduates of The Glenn Gould School (GGS), and it was at the GGS that the original members founded their passion for chamber music and, under the guidance of Barry Shiffman, focused their artistic growth and ensemble playing. In addition, Ms. Lee, Ms. Kruspe, and Mr. Lo are alumni of The Rebanks Family Fellowship and International Performance Residency Program at the GGS.

“The Rolston String Quartet performed with a maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world.”
    – Musical Toronto

Luri Lee plays a Carlo Tononi violin, generously on loan from Shauna Rolston Shaw. Emily Kruspe plays a 1900 Stefano Scarampella violin, generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. The Rolston String Quartet is endorsed by Jargar Strings of Denmark.

Artists
Rolston Quartet
Luri Lee, violin
Emily Kruspe, violin
Hezekiah Leung, viola
Jonathan Lo, cello

Program
Complete BEETHOVEN String Quartets – Concert V
Quartet No. 3 in D major, Op. 18, No. 3, “Lobkowitz”
Quartet No. 7 in F major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Razumovsky”
Great Fugue in B-flat major, Op. 133

Sunday, February 2nd 2020 at 2:30pm
Duration: 1 Hrs 30 Min

Subscribe to the series by phone: 514-285-2000, option 4, or 1-800-899-6873
Every day from 9 am to 5pm or in person at the ticket booth of the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.
For tickets and information: www.mbam.qc.ca/en/concerts 514-285-2000

Bourgie Concert Hall, at the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (MMFA) complex, is a 444-seat venue located in the restored Erskine and American Church (designed in 1894 in Neo-Romanesque style by architect Alexander Cowper Hutchison). Designated a national historic site in 1998, the transformed setting is now graced with high-quality acoustics and an exceptional décor incorporating 20 historic Tiffany stained glass windows. Ideal for performances by chamber-music ensembles, string orchestras, and other groups, Bourgie Concert Hall offer music lovers an auditory repertoire as diverse as the MMFA collections.

Bourgie Concert Hall
1339 Sherbrooke Street West

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