"Indeed while their sexy reading of Frank's "An Andalusian Walkabout" glimmered, shook, and dolefully sang as needed, it was the biting Bartñk and languorous, soulful Brahms that stole the show."
-- Daniel Felsenfeld, Strings Magazine
"The presentation catered to the expectations of a pop-music audience; individual movements were offered piecemeal, the exception being the whole of Shostakovich’s devastating Eighth String Quartet, played here with endearing intensity. Condescension was not on the program, which mixed and matched hard-driving pieces by Jefferson Friedman and Pierre Jalbert with Mozart, Haydn, Brahms and lighthearted Latin American music by Gabriela Lena Frank."
-- Bernard Holland, New York Times
"superb quartet...."
-- Allan Kozinn -- New York Times
"...this tightly knit ensemble brings single movements of quartets from Beethoven onwards. If they play anything from Gabriela Lena Frank's exciting South American folk music-inspired Leyendas, which they premiered and recorded, there should be dancing."
-- Marc Geelhoed, Timeout Chicago
"Each young artist marries a nimble technique to eager-to-please intensity and unhackneyed joy."
-- The Washington Post
"The New Voice Singles series is [the Chiara's] own attractive way of bringing new works to the attention of the CD-buying public . . . I hear nothing to suggest that this performance [of Robert Sirota's Triptych] is anything less than definitive."
-- Fanfare, Raymond Tuttle
"Achieving an unforced power through purity of tone and deft articulations seems to be as natural as breathing or opening a book to this young ensemble. Other musicians would kill for such shapely phrasing, the ends of which are nothing short of exquisite."
-- William Stibor, National Public Radio
"“[Shostakovich’s 8th Quartet] is a de profundis, a cry from the depths, and the darkness helped focus attention on the music, and on the fact that the Chiara played it very well, soft edges not muting its pained intensity.”"
-- The New York Times, Anne Midgette
"The Chiara Quartet gave these works luminous performances, underlining the sweet-toned character of Ms. Frank’s score and the mystery and exoticism of Mr. Zhou’s work. But the best performances were searing accounts of the Bartok and Golijov pieces, for which the players produced a tone that ranged from glowing warmth to hard-edged acerbity, which each of these searing works demands."
-- -- New York Times
"The music [Robert Sirota's Triptych] is powerful and evokes the emotions of 9/11 . . . and the Chiara Quartet plays [it] with feeling and virtuosity."
-- American Record Guide, David Moore
"The Chiara's no-holds-barred approach was most effective in Jefferson Friedman's Quartet No. 3 (a world premiere). The players sustained this cinematically atmospheric score with masterly conviction, organizing the loose strands into a convincing dramatic whole and realizing a host of unusual sounds and textures with both gusto and finesse."
-- The Strad, Andrew Farach-Colton
“. . . the Chiara String Quartet never, figuratively speaking, broke a sweat. You don’t realize how accustomed you are to hearing symptoms of labor in a string quartet until they’re not there. And with the Chiara quartet, they are not. It was almost eerie.”
-- The Philadelphia Inquirer, David Patrick Stearns
". . . the award-winning foursome clearly has what it takes to make a lasting impression in the chamber music world."
-- The Baltimore Sun, Tim Smith
"The Chiara String Quartet . . . grew up from the grass roots and represents a fresh voice for one of the world’s great musical traditions. This award-winning group of musicians–all in their late 20s–blends new and traditional repertoire and old-fashioned stage appeal to win followers in a young generation largely untutored in the ways of European art music."
-- The Journal Star (IL)
"[The Chiara String Quartet] is not a chamber ensemble that simply takes their place on stage (with all the pomp and dignity usually associated with performers at this level) and plays a piece of music. This is an ensemble that performs. Music comes alive and vibrates across the stage from one performer to another, one instrument to the next.”
-- Valley City Times-Record (ND)
"The quartet will be playing its latest recorded piece, “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout,” as well as movements by other contemporary composers, including Jefferson Friedman, who was influenced by, among other groups, the post-punk rock group Fugazi."
-- -- The Journal Star
"They’re among the pioneers who are making it acceptable for great music to be played anywhere."
-- Fargo Forum, Fargo, ND
Sounds Like
NO HOLDS BARRED! Chamber music in ANY chamber
In club settings, or in concert halls who wish an alternate type of program, Chiara Quartet presents a "set list" approach to their classical programming:
-Music is a blend of brand new classical music (esp. New Voice Singles pieces), old-school "classical" repertoire (Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms), 20th Century Music (Hindemith, Bartok), and an occasional cover tune.
-Music is picked based on intensity and strength of feeling or mood.
-Sets will be custom-tailored to the space, feel of the audience in the room, time of day or year, our feelings, etc.
Playing "Chamber Music in Any Chamber," the *Chiara String Quartet *(Rebecca Fischer, Julie Yoon violin; Jonah Sirota, viola; Gregory Beaver, cello) reaches from the concert hall into clubs, bars and galleries, expanding the places to hear live classical music while returning chamber music to its roots in intimate spaces. Described by the “Seattle Post-Intelligencer” as "vastly talented, vastly resourceful, and vastly committed to the music of their time," the Chiara is also continually finding new meaning within pieces from the well-established quartet canon. Their style is best described as a nonstop journey to the edge of expressive possibility: "luminous," "searing," (“New York Times”) "soulful," "biting," and possessing a "potent collective force" (“Strings Magazine”).
The Chiara Quartet was recently named the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University, a post they begin in the fall of 2008, in addition to their ongoing artist residency at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Recently awarded with the Guarneri Quartet Residency Award for artistic excellence by Chamber Music America, the Quartet’s other honors include a top prize at the Paolo Borciani International Competition, winning the Astral Artistic Services National Audition, and winning First Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
In addition to performing in concert halls such as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall's Weill Recital Hall, Philadelphia's Kimmel Center, and Harris Hall in Aspen, Colorado, the Chiara devotes much of its performance season to reaching new audiences through concerts in non-classical venues. The Quartet has performed at Caffe Vivaldi in New York's West Village, Kansas City’s The Brick, Houston’s Mucky Duck, and Chicago’s The Hideout, among many others.
Internationally, the Chiara Quartet has performed at the American Academy in Rome, and recently completed a critically-acclaimed eight-city tour of Sweden with clarinetist Håkan Rosengren. In May 2009 they will make their debut in Munich, performing “Different Trains “by Steve Reich at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität as part of “Crosscurrents: American and European Music in Interaction, 1900-2000.” Other highlights of the current season include four concerts in Boston and Cambridge as part of their Harvard residency, including a performance of music banned in the former U.S.S.R. with soprano Lucy Shelton; several concerts at Columbia University’s Miller Theater in New York, performing Mozart’s Six “Haydn” String Quartets; and concerts in Chicago, Houston, and St. Paul.
Recent collaborators of the Chiara Quartet include Joel Krosnick, Roger Tapping, Todd Palmer, Simone Dinnerstein, Norman Fischer, and Paul Katz, as well as members of the Orion, Ying, Cavani, and Pacifica Quartets. The ensemble has premiered works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Jefferson Friedman, Michael Wittgraf, Randall Snyder, and Nico Muhly, among others.
The Chiara discography includes the Mozart and Brahms clarinet quintets with Håkan Rosengren for SMS Classical, and the world premiere recordings of Robert Sirota's “Triptych” and Gabriela Lena Frank's “Leyendas: An Andean Walkabout” for the Quartet’s own New Voice Singles label. In 2007 the Chiara recorded Jefferson Friedman’s Second and Third Quartets, and they are currently at work recording the complete string quartets of Brahms for SMS Classical.
The Chiara Quartet has been artists-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2005. In the summer, they are in residence at Greenwood Music Camp, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Chamber Music Institute, and the Red River Chamber Music Festival, a summer study and performance festival founded by the Chiara Quartet in Grand Forks, North
Dakota.
The Chiara trained and taught at The Juilliard School, mentoring for two years with the Juilliard Quartet, as recipients of the Lisa Arnhold Quartet Residency from 2003-2005.
“Chiara” (key-ARE-uh) is an Italian word, meaning "clear, pure, or light." More information about the Chiara Quartet can be found online at chiaraquartet.net and on MySpace at myspace.com/chiarastringquartet.
Thanks for the Friendship. Really enjoyed listening to your music. If you come over to the Uk let us know. If you'd like a free copy of 'Steady On' drop us an email and we'll send one over.
Thanks for the friendship! Wishing you oodles of success, happiness...and most of all, a good book to read!
Sincerely, Amy Corwin THE BRICKLAYER'S HELPER...coming soon I BID ONE AMERICAN "An American heiress no one wants; a duke all women desire; and a murder no one expects..."
i just wanted to stop by your page and thank you for being my friend on here....i hope that you had a great monday and you are looking forward to the rest of the week....i have been busy busy today working on finalizing the new album that i just finished in austin with charlie sexton...i am really excited.....here is the link to the new video if you would like to watch it....
Beautiful sound. Let us know if you would ever like to be a part of Daniel Pearl Music Days, a global network of concerts forming the world's largest symphony for peace. Participation entails adding a short written or spoken message at concerts about the power of music to promote harmony across borders and cultures and is in memory of journalist and musician Daniel Pearl. (www.worldmusicdays.org/events.php) We would be honored
Many Thanks, For Your Friendship !!!
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