By Paul Yarbrough for the UCCA
The Ukiah Community Concert Association will open its 2024-25 season on Nov. 3, 2 p.m., with a performance by the world-renowned Alexander String Quartet in the Mendocino College Theatre.
The quartet, now in its fifth decade, will present a program of classic works by Mozart, Beethoven and Schubert, composers who defined the string quartet genre in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Since its founding in New York in 1981, the ASQ has maintained a reputation as brilliant interpreters of the most treasured works of the string quartet repertoire. Their complete-cycle recordings of works by Beethoven, Mozart, Shostakovich and Bartok have earned international acclaim, solidifying their reputation as one of the most respected chamber ensembles in the classical music world.
The quartet has made its home in San Francisco since 1989, serving as artists in residence with San Francisco Performances and Directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center at San Francisco State University.
During the first year of its existence, the quartet won the prestigious Concert Artist Guild Competition which presented the ensemble in its Carnegie Hall debut. In 1985, they became the first American quartet to claim First Prize (and Audience Prize) at the London International String Quartet Competition, leading to a debut recital in the Wigmore Hall.
Their extensive performance history includes appearances at prestigious venues such as Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress, and Jordan Hall in Boston, as well as international tours in the U.K., Germany, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Poland, Argentina and beyond.
Menachem Pressler, Joyce Yang, Marc-Andre Hamelin, Joyce DiDonato, Midori, Branford Marsalis, Wayne Peterson, and Samuel Carl Adams, are only a few of the distinguished instrumentalists, singers, and composers with whom the Alexander String Quartet has collaborated in performance and recording in its more than four decades of music making.
Beyond the concert stage, the quartet has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to education, mentoring generations of young musicians who now teach and perform worldwide. They have created collaborative projects with schools, arts organizations, and community institutions to present workshops, informances, and concerts fostering a deep engagement with the community and reflecting their belief in the transformative power of music.
Together with San Francisco Performances and composer and music historian Robert Greenberg, the ASQ created a Saturday morning series of Concert/Lectures which continues after nearly 30 years in San Francisco’s Herbst Theater with a fierce audience loyalty.
For its Ukiah performance, the quartet will begin with a small gem of a piece by the teenaged Mozart, K.172 in B-flat, full of the simple clarity and beauty of the early Classical style. Beethoven’s magnificent “Harp” Quartet and the epic “Death and the Maiden” of Franz Schubert, to follow, show the vast emotional range that the early Romantic composers were able to generate through this ensemble of only four players.
It is a splendid grouping of music to illustrate the explosion of creativity that happened in Vienna as these great geniuses explored the depths and heights of expression possible through the intimate medium of the String Quartet.
Tickets are available for purchase at Mendocino Book Company in Ukiah and Mazahar in Willits (payment by cash or check only), and online at www.ukiahconcerts.org. Single tickets are $35 if purchased ahead, and $40 at the door. This kick-off concert will be your last chance to purchase a UCCA season membership at the stunning price of $120 for all four concerts.
UCCA offers free tickets to youth 17 and under who are accompanied by an adult and to full-time college students (12 units). Free tickets must be reserved by calling (707) 463-2738 and providing name, phone number and email address.
Thank you to our sponsors for their generous support: Arts Council of Mendocino, KZYX&Z, KWINE, The Ukiah Daily Journal, Black Oak Coffee, Schat’s Bakery, Lost in the Cellar, Graziano Family of Wines, Cesar Toxqui Cellars, W/E Flowers, Mendocino College Foundation and Mendocino College Recording Arts & Technology Program.
Ukiah Community Concert Association has been presenting nationally acclaimed talent since 1947. This all-volunteer nonprofit’s mission is to build and maintain a permanent concert audience and cultivate an interest in fine music of all genres among the citizens of the community and surrounding area. It is also its goal to encourage music appreciation in the schools of the community.
Copyright for syndicated content belongs to the linked Source link