Nakamichi Concert to Feature Lydian String Quartet
March 18, 2011
The critically-acclaimed Lydian String Quartet will perform at this semester's Nakamichi Concert on Tuesday, March 29 at 8 p.m. in the Martin Institute. The concert is supported in part by the Father Eugene Green Foundation and is free and open to the public. A meet and greet with the musicians will be held during a reception following the concert, which will feature music by Haydn, Beethoven and Fauré.
Since its formation in 1980, the Lydian String Quartet's mastery of traditional works and special flair for contemporary repertoire has been recognized at international festivals. The members of the Lydian String Quartet (Daniel Stepner, violin; Judy Eissenberg, violin; Mary Ruth Ray, viola; Joshua Gordon, cello) are members of the faculty at Brandeis University's Department of Music.
In 1984, they received the prestigious Naumburg Award for Chamber Music from the Walter W. Naumburg Foundation. They are also the winners of a Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming.
The Quartet has also received grants from the Meet the Composer/Rockefeller Foundation/AT&T Jazz Program in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, and numerous awards from the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Their latest recording of the first four string quartets of John Harbison was the recipient of a Copland Fund grant and was released by Centaur in 2009.
Through concerts, recordings, workshops, lectures, and master classes, the Lydian String Quartet brings to life music spanning two-and-a-half centuries. Their programming of traditional and contemporary, as well as formal and informal, helps to build new audiences for the world of chamber music.
They have performed extensively throughout the United States at venues such as Jordan Hall, in Boston, the Kennedy Center, and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Abroad, the Quartet has made appearances in France, England, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Russia, and Armenia.
The Lydian String Quartet has created intriguing programs such as "Around the World in a String Quartet," a multi-year concert series that explored string quartet music in global settings within and beyond the European tradition.
A five-year project called "Vienna and the String Quartet," surveyed the heart of the string quartet repertory by juxtaposing new and old Vienna on each program.
Their five-year "American Originals" Project, from 1995-2000, featured the rich repertoire of the 20th-Century American string quartet. During that time they performed or recorded over 60 works by American composers, often accompanying their concerts with workshops, lectures, and discussions.
The Lydian Quartet has recorded 20 CDs of music from Schubert and Brahms through Hyla, Boykan, Ornstein, Persichetti, and Wyner. Their recording of John Harbison's String Quartet No. 3 and "The Rewaking" was chosen by both The New York Times and The Boston Globe as one of the best classical recordings of 2001.
Contact
For more information, contact Communications and Media Relations at 508-565-1321.