Tuesday, January 11, 2005
Tokyo String Quartet will captivate Goshen College audience on Jan. 23
GOSHEN, Ind. – A
deep love of musical literature is the driving force behind the
Tokyo String Quartet that motivates each brilliant
performance.
The quartet will bring
what the New York Times calls “beautifully
burnished sound, impeccable ensemble and delicately modulated
balances” to the Goshen College Sauder Concert Hall as part
of the 2004-05 Performing Arts Series on Jan. 23 at 4
p.m.
“The love of the music
has always come first for us,” said Kazuhide Isomura, violist
and a founding member of the group. “We never thought of
trying to play more beautifully than someone else, we only wanted
to do justice to the music. The main reason we ever wanted to play
quartets was that we were crazy about that great
literature.”
Formed in 1969 at the
Juilliard School of Music, the quartet was profoundly influenced by
Professor Hideo Saito of the Toho School of Music in Tokyo.
Isomura, the remaining member of the original four, is joined by
second violinist Kikuei Ikeda, a member since 1974; cellist Clive
Greensmith, member since 1999; and first violinist Martin Beaver,
who in 2002 became the newest member of the group.
Almost since its
founding, the quartet has been regarded as one of the world’s
supreme chamber ensembles. The group tradition of performing
standard repertory and contemporary works includes compositions by
Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Shostakovich, Webern,
Ravel and others.
In the past year, the
ensemble performed in prestigious concert halls in the Netherlands,
Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Spain, France, Switzerland and
Japan.
Among the quartet’s
many achievements are more than 30 recordings, including complete
quartets of Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók; awards from both
Stereo Review and
Gramophone magazines and seven
Grammy nominations. They have also appeared on numerous television
programs. The group has served as
quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music since 1976 and
also at the Toho School of Music in Tokyo since 2001. Committed to
teaching young string quartets, the quartet members devote a
considerable amount of time during the academic year to holding
master classes throughout North America and Europe. The quartet performs with
“The Paganini Quartet,” a group of renowned
Stradivarius instruments named for legendary virtuoso
Niccolò Paganini who acquired and played them during the
19th century. The instruments are on loan to the ensemble by the
Nippon Music Foundation.
Future concerts in the Performing Arts Series:
·
Feb. 12, 7:30
p.m. – Baltimore Consort
·
March 13 and
20, 3 p.m. – Goshen College Opera: Die
Fledermaus
·
April 16, 7:30
p.m. – Cantus
·
April 26, 7:30
p.m. – Wroclaw Philharmonic (add-on) For information about
ticket availability, prices, reservations or more information,
contact the Welcome Center at (574) 535-7566 or e-mail joannp@goshen.edu. Goshen College,
established in 1894, is a four-year residential Christian liberal
arts college rooted in the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition. The
college’s Christ-centered core values – passionate
learning, global citizenship, compassionate peacemaking and
servant-leadership – prepare students as leaders for the
church and world. Recognized for its unique Study-Service Term
program, Goshen has earned citations of excellence in
Barron’s Best Buys in Education, “Colleges of
Distinction,” “Making a Difference College Guide”
and U.S.News & World Report’s
“America’s Best Colleges” edition, which named
Goshen a “least debt college.” Visit http://www.goshen.edu/. - by Melanie
Histand Editors: For
more information, contact News Bureau Director Jodi H. Beyeler at
(574) 535-7572 or jodihb@goshen.edu. ###
