The critically acclaimed Brentano and Borromeo String Quartets will perform together Friday, Feb. 19, at 8 p.m. in Union College's Memorial Chapel.
The Borromeo Quartet, in its second performance of the season at Union, will be joined by the combined artistry of the members of the Brentano String Quartet: Mark Steinberg, Serena Canin, violins, Misha Amory, viola, and Nina Maria Lee, cello. The program includes Haydn's Quartet in E flat, Op. 71, No.3, Mendelssohn's Octet, and the Capital District debut of Thomas AdJ s' Arcadiana. Called “a British sensation” by the New York Times, AdJ s is considered a master-pianist and prodigious composer. There will also be a pre-concert recital free to all ticket holders in which the Brentano will perform Schoenberg Quartet No. 3, one of the great quartets of the 20th Century, a difficult piece which is rarely performed.
Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano has been awarded the 1995 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the 10th Annual Martin E. Segal Award. Named the inaugural Artist Member of Chamber Music Society Two in 1995, the Quartet is also the first quartet-in-residence at New York University. Its festival appearances have included the Festival De Divonne in France, Chamber Music Northwest, Wisconsin's Green Lake Festival, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and Chautauqua. They have performed widely and had their European debut at the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam and Wigmore Hall in London. The Quartet is named after Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars believe to have been Beethoven's mysterious “Immortal Beloved” and to whom he wrote his famous love confession.
The Borromeo String Quartet, formed in 1989 by four young musicians from the Curtis Institute of Music, has risen quickly to international prominence. Members include Nicholas Kitchen, violin; Ruggero Allifranchini, violin; Hsin-Yun Huang, viola; and Yeesun Kim, cello. All are faculty members at the New England Conservancy.
Internationally, they have held performances in Moscow, Montevideo, Uruguay, Tokyo, Amsterdam, and Wigmore Hall in London. American performances include Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, the Corcoran Gallery in Washington and Boston's Isabella Steward Gardner Museum. The Boston Globe wrote: “The Borromeo String Quartet is simply the best there is on the planet … the only real treasure, it's been said, is spiritual treasure, and this was it.”
Tickets, at $15 ($7 for students), are available in advance at the Schenectady Museum (518) 382-7890 and at the door at 7 p.m. For more information, call 372-3651