Juilliard String Quartet Seminar Concludes With Two Free Chamber Music Concerts

The annual Juilliard String Quartet Seminar concludes with two free chamber music concerts performed by the participating string quartets on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 3:30pm and 7:30pm in Juilliard’s Paul Hall.

The weeklong seminar brings promising string quartets from across the country to Juilliard where they receive intensive coaching with members of the Juilliard String Quartet. Each ensemble works with two members of the Juilliard String Quartet in two coaching sessions per day covering quartet repertoire and technique and this year, a master class has been added. Ample time to rehearse and interact is included in their schedule. The Belka Quartet and the Heimat String Quartet been selected to participate in this year’s seminar.

The two quartets have chosen specific works for their coaching during the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and this year’s repertoire includes Haydn’s String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1; Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 44, No. 2; Prokofiev’s String Quartet No 2 in F Minor, Op. 92; and Schubert’s String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, D. 804 “Rosamunde.” Each quartet will also collaborate with Juilliard String Quartet members Joseph Lin and Roger Tapping on a Mozart Viola Quintet.

A free public master class with Juilliard String Quartet members Joseph Lin and Roger Tapping will take place on Wednesday, May 25, 2016 from 2:30-4pm in Juilliard’s Morse Hall. No tickets are required.

At the end of the week, the best works are selected to be performed on two free concerts on Friday, May 27, 2016 at 3:30pm and 7:30pm in Juilliard’s Paul Hall (155 West 65th Street). No tickets are required for the free concerts.

About the Belka Quartet

Described in performance as “emotionally gripping” by ClevelandClassical, the Belka Quartet (Beatrice Hsieh and Charles Gleason, violins; Matthew Geise, viola; and Daniel Blumhard, cello) was established in the fall of 2014. In its first season together, the Belka Quartet won first place in the 2015 Darius Milhaud Performance Prize Competition, and was featured in the Music in the Galleries series at the Cleveland Museum of Art.

Recent highlights include an appearance at the Maltz Museum of Jewish Heritage as a showcased ensemble of the unprecedented Violins of Hope exhibition, and performances at the Canton Museum of Art, the Cleveland Public Library, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, among others. Upcoming engagements include performances at various venues in the Northeast Ohio region, as well as an appearance with cellist Andres Diaz and violist Geoff Nuttall at the 2016 Madeline Island Chamber Music Festival.

As a select ensemble in the Cleveland Institute of Music’s Intensive Quartet Seminar program, the Quartet is mentored by Peter Salaff of the Cleveland Quartet and members of the Cavani Quartet; the Quartet has also worked with Cuarteto Casals, Amy Schwartz Moretti, Beth Oakes, Joel Smirnoff, and Joan Kwuon. Recently, the Quartet worked extensively with Robert Mann and members of the American, Tokyo, Brentano, and Mendelssohn quartets as a featured group of the 2016 Robert Mann String Quartet Institute. The ensemble was also awarded a fellowship for the 2016 Madeline Island Fellowship String Quartet Program, allowing for extensive study this coming summer with members of the Brentano, Pacifica, Arianna, St. Lawrence, and Dover Quartets.

Dedicated to the exploration of both old and new music in concert halls and community centers alike, the Belka Quartet strives to actively engage in performances throughout the community in a variety of traditional and non-traditional settings.

All members of the Quartet will enter their junior years at the Cleveland Institute of Music this fall.

About the Heimat String Quartet

The Heimat String Quartet was founded October of 2014 in Boston by graduates of the Boston Conservatory. Members of the Quartet are Patrick Shaughnessy and Aubrey Holmes, violins; Chung Han Hsiao, viola; and Aaron Fried, cello. They are currently serving as teaching assistants to the Miami String Quartet at Kent State University, while pursing master’s degrees in chamber music as the graduate string quartet-in-residence.

The Heimat String Quartet also serves as the resident faculty ensemble at the internationally-recognized Western Reserve Academy in Hudson, Ohio. Recent engagements have included master classes, coachings, and performances at Duke University, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Dickinson College, The College of New Jersey, and Mercer College. During the past year, the Quartet’s commitment to contemporary music has included performances with the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), as well as with composer Sid Richardson, director of Duke University’s New Music ensemble, performing the U.S. premiere of his quartet, Défile de Féeries (Procession of Enchantments), in Baldwin Hall at Duke.

Members of the Heimat String Quartet have also performed chamber music with faculty from institutions such as Juilliard, New England Conservatory, and the Boston Conservatory, in venues such as Weill Recital Hall in NYC, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory, and Sanders Theater at Harvard University, and have held various teaching positions in the Boston and Cleveland areas.

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