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| Eric Lewis, violin John Dexter, viola Calvin Wiersma, violin Chris Finckel, cello |
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| Described by The Boston Globe as "a national treasure," the MANHATTAN STRING QUARTET has appeared throughout the United States, Europe, Canada and Mexico. After a series of concerts in Moscow and Leningrad in the fall of 1985, the Quartet became the first American classical ensemble to give a full tour of the Soviet Union under that era' s new cultural agreement. The first sold-out series of performances in 1986 was followed by an equally successful tour in 1989. The Quartet also had the honor of hosting the Taneiev String Quartet from Leningrad for its U.S. debut in 1987. Hailed as one of America’s leading chamber ensembles, the Manhattan String Quartet marks its thirty-eight consecutive season with concerts throughout the United States and Europe. Well known for their performances of 20th century "classics," the Manhattan String Quartet has established a significant international reputation as today’s pre-eminent interpreter of the fifteen String Quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich. Recent performances of this complete cycle have been presented in New York City at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, St. Bartholomew’s Church, Town Hall and the Sylvia and Danny Kaye Playhouse of Hunter College; in Nagoya and Tokyo, Japan; in Paris, on French National Radio; at the International Shostakovich Festival in Troy, NY; at Sarah Lawrence University, Western Connecticut State University and other colleges and universities throughout the United States. The ensemble' s benchmark traversal of the Shostakovich cycle is currently available on six Ess.A.Y. CDs; it was the only chamber music recording to make Time Magazine's "Best of 1991" classical list. The MSQ has been in residence at Colgate University for the past twenty years, and has held similar posts at the Manhattan School of Music, Cornell University, Grinnell College, Connecticut State University, Greece’s Corfu Festival, Mexico’s Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes, Chamber Music Institute in Racine, Wisconsin, and Michigan's Interlochen National Music Camp (where they became something of an institution, returning for nineteen consecutive summers). From 1981-1988, the MSQ was the resident ensemble at Connecticut’s Music Mountain Festival, the chamber music center in Falls Village, Connecticut, where they gave weekly concerts broadcast on the radio to a national audience, as well as administering chamber music programs. Since the 2005-2006 season, The Manhattan String Quartet is fulfilling two residency appointments at Western Connecticut State University and New York City’s famed St. Bartholomew’s Church. Active as teachers, the MSQ hosts annual string quartet conferences each June in Racine, Wisconsin and Kent, Connecticut. The Quartet travels to Budapest in January 2009, presenting, as part of its ongoing European teaching conference program, a two-week conference on Bartok’s Quartet #6. This annual program examines a major work in the quartet repertoire in the city where it was written, employing international scholars in the field as well as European musicians whose careers are relevant to the subject. Previous programs included Bartók in Budapest, Beethoven in Vienna, Debussy and Ravel in Paris, Dvorák and Smetana in Prague, Mendelssohn in Leipzig and Verdi in Parma.
Adding to a large vinyl discography, the MSQ has recorded a number of works on compact disk. In addition to their six-CD Shostakovich set, other releases include Schubert's Quartets Nos. 14 ("Death and the Maiden") & 15 on Centaur CDs; "Adagio for Strings" on Newport Classic, featuring Dvorák's "American Quartet" and popular encores by Turina, Wolf, Puccini, Kern, Gershwin and Barber; Weber's Quintet for Clarinet and Strings with clarinetist Jon Manasse on XLNT; and a Koch International CD with flutist Doriot Anthony Dwyer, featuring works by William Bergsma, Amy Beach and Donald Francis Tovey. The MSQ's 1997 CD release of Beethoven and Mozart in live concert performance initiated, in response to popular demand, a new wave of recordings dedicated to the standard string quartet repertoire. |
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BEETHOVEN Quartet in e, Op. 59, #2 MOZART Quartet in D, K. 499 MSQ Enterprises CD 1001 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #1, Op. 49 Quartet #2, Op. 68 Quartet #3, Op. 73 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1007 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #4, Op. 83 Quartet #5, Op. 92 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1008 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #6, Op. 101 Quartet #7, Op. 108 Quartet #8, Op. 110 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1009 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #9, Op. 117 Quartet #10, Op. 118 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1010 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #11, Op. 122 Quartet #12, Op. 133 Quartet #13, Op. 138 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1012 |
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SHOSTAKOVICH Quartet #14, Op. 142 Quartet #15, Op. 144 ESS.A.Y Recordings CD 1013 |
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SCHUBERT Quartet #14 "Death & the Maiden" Centaur Records, Inc. CRC 2013 SCHUBERT |
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WEBER Clarinet Quintet Introduction,Theme & Variations Jon Manasse, clarinet XLNT Recordings, Inc. CD 18004 |
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CHAMBER MUSIC FOR FLUTE & STRINGS (works by Bergsma, Tovey, Villa Lobos, Beach Doriot Anthony Dwyer, flute) KOCH International 3-7001 "ADAGIO FOR STRINGS" (Dvorak "American" Quartet, Op. 96; short pieces by Wolf, Puccini, Turina, Gershwin, Kern, Barber) Newport Classic NC 60033 COLLINS String Quartet Composers Recordings Inc. CD 644 |
| "A National Treasure" THE BOSTON GLOBE "Chamber music performance doesn't come better than this." NEW YORK MAGAZINE "One of the most remarkedly blended sounds in the world." FANFARE "The players come to the music with circumspection and unflagging intensity." THE NEW YORK TIMES www.manhattanstringquartet.com/press.htm |
| 10/2/2008 (5:30pm) COLGATE UNIVERSITY Colgate Memorial Chapel Lecture/Concert Webern: 5 Pieces 10/3/2008 (7:30pm) COLGATE UNIVERSITY Colgate Memorial Chapel Shostakovich: String Quartet #9 Ravel: String Quartet Bartók: String Quartet #6 10/4/2008 (3pm) STORM KING ART CENTER (Mountainville, NY) Shostakovich: String Quartet #9 Ravel: String Quartet Bartók: String Quartet #6 11/16/2008 (3pm) ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH (NYC) The Chapel Beethoven: String Quartet #4 Beethoven: String Quartet #10 1/11/2008 (9pm) VERDI IN PARMA CONFERENCE (Italy) Parma Conservatory Auditorium Mozart: String Quartet #4 Debussy: String Quartet Verdi: String Quartet 1/16/2009 (8pm) BARTÓK IN BUDAPEST CONFERENCE (Hungary) 1/23/2009 (8pm) Old Liszt Academy Shostakovich: String Quartet #9 Ravel: String Quartet Bartók: String Quartet #6 2/1/2009 (3pm) PLEASANTVILLE CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY The Presbyterian Church Shostakovich: String Quartet #9 Ravel: String Quartet Bartók: String Quartet #6 3/5/2009 (5:30pm) COLGATE UNIVERSITY Colgate Memorial Chapel Lecture/Concert Webern: 5 Pieces 3/6/2009 (7:30pm) COLGATE UNIVERSITY Colgate Memorial Chapel Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 76, #6 Beethoven: String Quartet #13 3/8/2009 (3pm) ULSTER CHAMBER MUSIC SERIES Church of the Holy Cross (Kingston, NY) Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 76, #6 Webern: 5 Pieces Beethoven: String Quartet #13 4/26/2009 (3pm) ST. BARTHOLOMEW’S CHURCH (NYC) The Chapel Beethoven: String Quartet #6 Beethoven: String Quartet #13 5/14/2009 (1pm) CUNY GRADUATE CENTER (NYC) Beethoven: String Quartet #13 5/18/2009 (1pm) HUDSON VALLEY MUSIC CLUB (Dobbs Ferry, NY) Haydn: String Quartet, Op. 76, #6 Webern: 5 Pieces Beethoven: String Quartet #13 6/17/2009 (7:30pm) PRAIRIE CHAMBER MUSIC CONFERENCE (Racine, WI) Prairie School Performing Arts Center Auditorium Beethoven: String Quartet #13 Bartók: String Quartet #6 6/24/2009 (7:30pm) COLGATE UNIVERSITY Colgate Memorial Chapel |
