The inimitable Emerson String Quartet returns to Memorial Chapel Sunday, April 1 at 3 p.m. as part of the College's Concert Series.
The Quartet will begin the program with Joseph Haydn’s "String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2," continue with a regional premiere of renowned English composer Thomas Adès’ “The Four Quarters” and conclude with Ludwig van Beethoven’s "String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 132."
The quartet stands alone among string quartets with a long list of achievements over three decades: more than 30 recordings since 1987, nine Grammy Awards (including an unprecedented two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, and the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize — a first for a chamber ensemble. The group has performed cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich string quartets in the world’s musical capitals, from New York to London and Vienna. Formed in 1976, the quartet took its name from the poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson.
The group is comprised of violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer who alternate in the first chair position, with Lawrence Dutton on viola and David Finckel on cello. In February, the Quartet announced that, in the first major change in 34 years, Finckel would be leaving the group at the end of the 2012-13 season. Paul Watkins will join in the fall of 2013.
Individual tickets are $25 per person. The campus community can attend for free. For information, call (518) 388-6080 or click here.