Schenectady, N.Y. (March 29, 2000) – The critically acclaimed Borromeo String Quartet will perform its All-Beethoven Program VI, the final concert in a six-part series of the complete Beethoven string quartets on Friday, April 7, at 8 p.m. in Union College's Memorial Chapel. This is the final concert of the Schenectady Museum-Union College 1999-2000 season.
The All-Beethoven program includes Op. 18, No. 1 in F; Op. 130 in B-flat with the Grosse Fuge, Op. 133, and will be performed, following the Union concert, at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston as part of the Gardner's Sunday Concert Series.
The Quartet is comprised of violinists Nicholas Kitchen, Hsin-Yun Huang and Ruggero Allifranchini, and cellist Yeesun Kim, all of whom are faculty members at the New England Conservatory; the group is also the Quartet-in-Residence there. It became the first ensemble accepted for the prestigious Artist Diploma program. Boston Globe critics praised the musicians by saying, “Since arriving at the New England Conservatory in 1990, the Borromeo has established itself as an ensemble of the very first rank, a quartet that matches elegance and refinement with a fire in the belly.”
The internationally renowned Borromeo, a series favorite at Union, has performed at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Suntory Hall in Tokyo, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, the Opera Bastille in Paris and Wigmore Hall in London, Italy's Spoleto Festival, the Stavenger Festival in Norway and the Orlando Festival in The Netherlands. Last year the Quartet performed in Prague, with the illustrious violinist Josef Suk in celebration of his 70th birthday.
American engagements have included performances at Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, the Library of Congress, the Phillips Collection and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, Florida, the Karannert Center in Champaign-Urbana, Meany Hall in Seattle, Duke University, UC Berkeley, and the Chamber Music Societies of Buffalo, Kansas City and La Jolla among many others.
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.