Schenectady, N.Y. (Nov. 20, 2001) – Led by internationally renowned violinist Thomas Zehetmair, the Zehetmair Quartet will perform on Friday, Nov. 30, at 8 p.m. at Union College's Memorial Chapel.
This performance will feature works by Haydn, Schumann, and Karl Hartmann; unusual amongst quartets, they perform from memory, giving the players a unique level of communication. Following their performance at Union College the Quartet will make their New York City debut at the Frick Collection on Dec. 2.
Thomas Zehetmair and three of his longstanding chamber music partners founded the Zehetmair Quartet in
1997. The quartet's first appearances in March 1998 (Lisbon, Cologne, Leipzig,
Salzburg, Munich) were widely acclaimed by both audiences and critics; present
engagements included major European music centers such as Paris, Brussels,
Amsterdam, Vienna, London, Edinburgh, Milan and Zurich. The quartet's repertory extends from the classical period to the music of our time, and their first CD recording for ECM is of Hartmann's First and Bartok's Fourth String Quartets.
First violinist Thomas Zehetmair was born in Salzburg. He studied at the Mozarteum with his father and later took master classes with Franz Samokyl, Max Rostal and Nathan Milstein. Early debuts were the Salzburg Festival (1977), first recording of the Mozart Concertos (1978), and the Vienna Musikverein (1979). He is now a regular guest of the world's finest orchestras, working with distinguished conductors including Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Simon Rattle, Christoph von Dohnanyi and Heinz Holliger. He was previously heard in the Series in October 1995 with oboist Heinz Holliger and Camerata Bern in a performance of Antonio Vivaldi's Four Seasons.
Second violinist Matthias Metzger studied with Ulf Hoelscher at the Musikhochschule in Karlsruhe. He was
appointed leader of the Schllerbach Chamber Orchestra in 1987 and of the
Heidelberg Symphony Orchestra in 1993. Matthias Metzger performs regularly as
soloist and in chamber music.
Violist Ruth Killius studied with Ulrich Koch and Kim Kashkashian in Freiburg. From 1993-96 she was the principal viola of the Camerata Bern, and, with the Ensemble Contrechamps, she has taken part in numerous first performances and recorded for CD the string trios of Hindemith, Petrassi and Veress. She has partnered Thomas Zehetmair in performances of the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante for Violin and Viola with the Residentie Orchestra in The Hague, and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.
Cellist Francoise Grober studied with Boris Pergamenschikow at the Cologne
Musikhochschule and subsequently with William Pleeth, Daniel Shaffran, and
members of the Amadeus Quartet. In 1990 she won second prize in the Tchaikovsky
Competition in Moscow, and was awarded special prizes by the Soviet Artists'
Federation and the Moscow Virtuosi. Since then she has received invitations to major festivals and orchestras including the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, the NHK Tokyo, Leningrad Philharmonic, Jerusalem Symphony, and the Russian State Orchestra.
Tickets at $20 ($8 for students) are available in advance at the Office of Communications, Union College (518) 388-6131 and at the door at 7 p.m. For more information, call 372-3651.
The Union College Concert Series is made possible, in part, with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency; additional support comes from the Times Union Newspapers. Memorial Chapel is located near the center of the Union College campus. Parking is available on campus and nearby side streets.