Emerson String Quartet Performs Works by Haydn and Mendelssohn October 15
September 28, 2009
The Emerson String Quartet, regarded by many critics and classical music enthusiasts as the world’s finest small string ensemble, performs works by Joseph Haydn and Felix Mendelssohn in concert at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 15, in Penn State’s Schwab Auditorium.
The New York City-based quartet’s program features Haydn’s The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross, a meditation on the final utterances of Jesus Christ that includes an introduction, seven sonatas and a finale. The ensemble is also scheduled to perform Mendelssohn’s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80.
Tickets for the Center for the Performing Arts presentation are $36 for an adult, $15 for a University Park student and $29 for a person 18 and younger. Buy tickets online at www.cpa.psu.edu or by phone at 814-863-0255. Outside the local calling area, dial 1-800-ARTS-TIX. Tickets are also available at four State College locations: Eisenhower Auditorium (weekdays 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.), Penn State Tickets Downtown (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.), HUB-Robeson Center (weekdays 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.) and Bryce Jordan Center (weekdays 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.). A grant from the University Park Allocation Committee makes Penn State student prices possible.
The quartet—renowned for its intensity, integrity, energy and commitment—has released 30 recordings with Deutsche Grammophon since 1987, performed in all of the world’s musical capitals, won the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and earned eight Grammy Awards (including a pair for best classical album, an unprecedented achievement for a chamber music ensemble).
Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. Most string quartets are seated while performing, but since 2002 Drucker, Setzer and Dutton have stood for concerts. Finckel sits on a podium.
The performance of The Seven Last Words of Our Savior on the Cross is part of Moments of Change, a Penn State Institute for the Arts and Humanities multifaceted and ongoing initiative focused in 2009–2010 on the late 18th century (1776–1801). The performance is made possible through a partnership between the Center for the Performing Arts and the Institute for the Arts and Humanities.
The John L. Brown Jr. and Marlynn Steele Sidehamer Endowment sponsors the performance. The Norma and Ralph Condee Chamber Music Endowment underwrites chamber music presentations at the Center for the Performing Arts. WPSU-FM is the media sponsor. Artistic Viewpoints, an informal moderated discussion featuring Emerson String Quartet violinist Eugene Drucker, is offered in Schwab Auditorium one hour before the performance and is free for ticket holders.
Contact: Laura Sullivan, 814.863.6379