2017 June Concert Series
Calidore String Quartet
Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96 "American"
Paul Hindemith: String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A Major, K.581, with guest clarinetist Alan Kay
Saturday, June 24 |
Olin Hall
$30 single tickets; $5 for students; $70 for all three series concerts
Jeffrey Myers, violin
Ryan Meehan, violin
Jeremy Berry, viola
Estelle Choi, cello
Alan Kay, guest clarinetist
"In short, the Calidores balanced intellect and expression in such a way as to make them a pleasure to hear all afternoon. Keep your ears out for these young musicians." — Los Angeles Times
The Calidore String Quartet, one of the most acclaimed and sought after chamber ensembles of their generation, has been heralded as "the epitome of confidence and finesse" (Gramophone Magazine) and "a miracle of unified thought" (Montreal). The Quartet made international headlines as the Grand-Prize winner of the 2016 and inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition, the largest prize for chamber music in the world. Other major highlights of 2016 include being named a BBC New Generation Artist for the 2016–2018 seasons and becoming the first North American ensemble to win the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.
Additionally, the quartet began a three-year residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two for the 2016–2019 seasons. In 2016 the quartet was named Visiting Guest Artists at the University of Delaware and will serve as Visiting Artists-in- Residence at the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater and Dance.
The Calidore String Quartet regularly performs throughout North America, Europe and Asia and has debuted in such prestigious venues as Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Seoul's Kumho Arts Hall, and Schneider Concerts (NYC), and at many significant festivals, including Verbier, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Rheingau, East Neuk and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern.
In addition to winning the M-Prize, the Calidore String Quartet won grand prizes in virtually all the major U.S. chamber music competitions, including the Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions, and captured top prizes at the 2012 ARD Munich International String Quartet Competition and Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition.
As protégés of the Emerson Quartet, the Calidore String Quartet is featured in a performance of Mendelssohn's Octet with the Emerson Quartet presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to commemorate the Emerson's 40th anniversary season. Other highlights of the 2016 /17 season include the quartet's Chinese debut in Hong Kong as well as debuts in major series in Berlin, New York, Chicago, Houston, Portland and Ann Arbor, a world-premiere of a quartet by Pulitzer- prize winning composer Caroline Shaw at SOKA University, and collaborations with David Shifrin and Anne-Marie McDermott as well as members of the Emerson, Borodin and Vogler String Quartets.
In February 2015 the Calidore String Quartet released its critically-acclaimed debut recording of quartets by Mendelssohn and Haydn. Additionally, in February 2016 the Calidore released an album on the French label Editions Hortus, with music by Hindemith, Milhaud, Stravinsky, de la Presle, and Toch commemorating the World War I centennial. The Calidore was featured as Young Artists-in-Residence on American Public Media's Performance Today and its performances have been broadcast on National Public Radio, BBC, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, Korean Broadcasting Corporation, Bayerischer Rundfunk (Munich), and Norddeutscher Rundfunk (Hamburg), and were featured on German national television as part of a documentary produced by ARD Public Broadcasting.
The Calidore String Quartet has collaborated with many esteemed artists and ensembles, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Joshua Bell, Inon Barnatan, Paul Coletti, Ronald Leonard, Paul Watkins, Raphael Merlin and the Quatuor Ebéne, among others.
Formed in 2010 at the Colburn School of Music, the Calidore has studied closely with such luminaries as the Emerson Quartet, David Finckel, Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, Günther Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, Heime Müller, Guillaume Sutre, Gabor Takacs-Nagy, Paul Coletti, Ronald Leonard, Clive Greensmith, Martin Beaver and the Quatuor Ebène.
Using an amalgamation of "California" and "doré" (French for "golden"), the ensemble's name represents a reverence for the diversity of culture and the strong support it received from its home in Los Angeles, California, the "Golden State." The Calidore String Quartet aims to present performances that share the passion and joy of the string quartet chamber music repertoire.
Praised by the New York Times for his "spellbinding" performances and "infectious enthusiasm and panache," Alan R. Kay is Principal Clarinetist and an Artistic Director of Orpheus Chamber Orchestra as well as Principal Clarinet of New York's Riverside Symphony and the Little Orchestra Society. He also appears as Principal with the American Symphony and the Orchestra of St. Luke's. Mr. Kay's honors include the 2015 Classical Recording Foundation Samuel Sanders Chamber Music Award, the C.D. Jackson Award at Tanglewood, a Presidential Scholars Teacher Recognition Award, Juilliard's 1980 Competition, and the 1989 Young Concert Artists Award with the sextet Hexagon later featured in the prize-winning documentary film, "Debut."
Mr. Kay is a founding member of Hexagon and Windscape Quintet. Summer festivals include Yellow Barn, Bach Dancing and Dynamite Society and Holland's Orlando Festival. His innovative programming for the New York Chamber Ensemble was a regular feature of the Cape May Music Festival for 26 years. Mr. Kay has recorded with Hexagon, Windscape, the Sylvan Winds, Orpheus and numerous other ensembles. His most recent CD, "Max Reger: Music for Clarinet and Piano," on Bridge Records, was released recently to critical acclaim and received a feature in the November/December 2016 issue of Fanfare Magazine. His arrangements for wind quintet are available from Trevco Music Publishing and International Opus.
Also a conductor, Mr. Kay studied conducting at The Juilliard School with the late Otto- Werner Mueller and has conducted orchestras and chamber ensembles throughout the New York City area. Mr. Kay taught at the Summer Music Academy in Leipzig, Germany in 2004 and currently teaches at the Manhattan School of Music, Juilliard, and Stony Brook University. He has served on the juries of the Orlando Festival Piano Trio and Mixed Ensemble International Competitions in Rolduc, Holland; the International Chamber Music Competition in Trapani, Italy; Young Concert Artists International Auditions, Concert Artist Guild Auditions, and the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.