FEATURED VIDEO
Beethoven Quartet Op. 133
NEWS
8 April 2013
The Elias String Quartet is in the home stretch of their first large-scale North American tour, and "large" doesn't even begin to describe the geographic and musical scope of this tour! Many of the concerts are collaborations with Jonathan Biss, in which they are performing works by Schumann, Mozart, and a new work by composer Timothy Andres. With Mr. Biss, they have performed in Costa Mesa, San Francisco, New York, and Kansas City. They return to New York for a second Carnegie Hall performance on Wednesday, followed by concerts in Portland, Maine and Boston. In between these dates, they've made quartet-only visits to Salt Lake City, St. Paul, Napa, Princeton, and Atlanta, playing additional works by Haydn, Janacek, Purcell, and Schumann.
The New York Times called last week's peformance in Carnegie's Zankel Hall “Excellent….particularly memorable” and “Superb…[first violinist Sara Bitlloch’s] playing was remarkable throughout, her bold, rich tone and expressive nuances contributing to an intense and deeply felt interpretation.”
13 April, 2012
With baseball season is upon us, let’s say the Elias String Quartet’s debut North American tour in March can be considered nothing short of a “grand slam”! Their New York debut at Carnegie Hall was sold out, and while that concert was (shockingly) not reviewed, those in Philadelphia and Washington were.
Their Spring 2013 tour is now fully booked, with quartet performances in Salt Lake City, St. Paul, Napa, Morrow, GA, Princeton, and performances with Jonathan Biss in Carnegie’s Zankel Hall (two concerts!), San Francisco, Costa Mesa, Kansas City, Portland, OR, and Boston. But by all means, please climb aboard for 13/14, as they will return in March, 2014, during which they will offer the first installment of their 3-season Beethoven Project (ask me!), along with standard programs. And to top it all off, the prestigious Wigmore Hall Live label has just released a second recording featuring the Elias Quartet in music of Haydn and Schumann (WHLive 0051).
17 May, 2011
The Beethoven Project is underway!
The Elias String Quartet is learning the complete Beethoven quartets, and has launched a website where listeners can join them on their journey. They will present the cycle in various formats in venues across the country over the next four years. "We hope this gives us enough time and space to immerse ourselves in the music and present the programmes to as wide an audience as possible. It also enables us to develop this website both as a personal account of our experiences and as a broader educational resource,” explains violinist Donald Grant.