Emerson Quartet Returns As Musica Viva Farewells Carl Vine AO
The celebrated US chamber ensemble the Emerson String Quartet is making its first Australian visit in almost two decades in September 2019, touring nationally for Musica Viva. The group marks its momentous return with two programs that celebrate the masterworks of the genre: Mozart-Dvořák-Shostakovich and Haydn-Bartók-Beethoven.
Retiring Music Viva Artistic Director Carl Vine AO, will tour with the quartet, bidding farewell to Musica Viva after 19 years at the company’s helm.
Named after the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, the New York-based quartet was one of the first whose violinists alternated in the first chair position. Featuring violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist Paul Watkins, it has maintained its stature as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles for 44 years, with only one change in members in all that time. The proud winners of nine GRAMMYs, three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, Musical America’s ‘Ensemble of the Year’ and countless other accolades, they have an extensive discography, including highly celebrated cycles of the Bartók, Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets – composers whose music will feature on the Australian tour.
Members of the quartet will also mentor talented students at masterclasses in Sydney, Perth, Melbourne and Brisbane. Members of the public are welcome to attend. Please visit www.musicaviva.com.au/masterclasses
EMERSON STRING QUARTET: Eugene Drucker, violin/ Philip Setzer, violin/ Lawrence Dutton, viola/ Paul Watkins, cello
PROGRAM ONE/ Sydney weekday/ MOZART String Quartet no 21 in D major, K575/ DVOŘÁK String Quartet no 10 in E-flat major, op 51/
SHOSTAKOVICH String Quartet no 5 in B-flat major, op 92
PROGRAM TWO/ Sydney weekend/ HAYDN Strinhttps://musicaviva.com.au/emerson/g Quartet in D major, op 71 no 2/ BARTÓK String Quartet in B flat major, no 5/ BEETHOVEN String Quartet no 8 in E minor, op 59 no 2, ‘Razumovsky’
