APPLETON, WIS. — The acclaimed Brentano String Quartet brings its “luxuriously warm sound” to the stage of the Lawrence Memorial Chapel Saturday, Oct. 20 at 8 p.m. for the opening concert of the 2007-08 Lawrence University Artist Series.
Tickets for the concert, at $22-20 for adults, $19-17 for seniors, and $15-17 for students, are available through the Lawrence University Box Office in the Music-Drama Center, 420 E. College Ave., Appleton or by phone at 920-832-6749.
Hailed as “an ensemble of exceptional insight and communicative gifts” by the London Daily Telegraph, the Brentano String Quartet was founded in 1992. It has since performed to popular and critical acclaim in many of the world’s most prestigious venues, among them New York City’s Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Vienna’s Konzerthaus in Vienna, Suntory Hall in Tokyo and the Sydney Opera House.
In 1996, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center invited them to be the inaugural members of Chamber Music Society Two, a program that has since become a coveted distinction for chamber groups and individuals. Brentano toured Europe for the first time in 1997, earning the United Kingdom’s Royal Philharmonic Award for “most outstanding debut.”
Brentano performs the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire as well as many musical works pre-dating the string quartet as a medium. They have recorded the Opus 71 Quartets of Haydn, the music of Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe, Chou Wen-chung and Charles Wuorinen and have collaborated with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman and pianists Richard Goode and Mitsuko Uchida.
The quartet is named for Antonie Brentano, who is widely considered by music scholars to be Beethoven’s “Immortal Beloved,” the intended recipient of his famous love confession.
Other scheduled performers on this year’s Lawrence Artist Series are the all-male vocal ensemble Cantus, Feb. 23; classical pianist Jon Kimura Parker, March 7; and the American Brass Quintet, April 19.
