2015-2016 Arianna String Quartet Subcription Packages are Now Available

The Arianna String Quartet's 2015-2016 season is here.  Take advantage of savings when you purchase a four or a five concert package.  For more information visit the Touhill Performing Arts Center.

Mark your calendars for Friday, September 11, Essential Arianna.

Mozart: Quartet in D minor, K.421

Kevin Puts: Credo for String Quartet

Beethoven: String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op.130

The Arianna Quartet launches their 2015-16 Touhill Concert Series with three riveting works that capture the power, grace, elegance and nuance of the art of the string quartet.  

Mozart’s impassioned Quartet in D minor, K.421 opens the ASQ’s season, striking a delicate balance between hushed utterances and operatic grandeur, luring us into the beauty of Mozart’s dark timbres.  

The ASQ is then thrilled to present Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts’ mesmerizing Credo for String Quartet.  Originally from St. Louis, Mr. Puts has established himself as one of America’s most important composers.  

Famous for its gripping drama and unparalleled intimacy of expression, Beethoven’s revolutionary Quartet in B-flat Major, Op.130 closes this evening of essential quartet classics.

This performance features a pre-show talk with the Arianna String Quartet. Please arrive 50 minutes early for the pre-show discussion.

For more information and to purchase tickets,  visit Touhill.org.

A Week of Free Concerts - Don't Miss Out!

Did you know that the Arianna Chamber Music Festival offers a week of free concerts? Mark your calendars! You don't want to miss performances by amazing students from St. Louis, across the U.S., South America and, of course, by the Arianna String Quartet. Concerts are free. CONCERT SCHEDULE: Arianna String Quartet Tuesday, June 2, 7 pm Lee Theater ACMF Student Performance Monday, June 8, 7 pm Tavern of Fine Arts Cellissimo: Naperville Youth Cello Choir Sunday, June 7, 2 pm Lee Theater ACMF Final Student Performance Thursday, June 11, 7 pm Lee Theater www.ariannacmf.org

In the News - Awards and Concerts

Go! List 2015 Awards

The Go! List 2015 awards named the Arianna String Quartet as "Most Accomplished Chamber Music Ensemble".   What an honor and a pleasure.  

Julia attends the Go! List Awards

Speaking of Julia.  She recently performed Mendelssohn’s Violin Concerto with the University Orchestra  and Singers Concert.  She's pictured below on stage.

Then she graced the stage at the John E. Anglin Performing Arts Center with an evening of French Music:  Debussy, Saint-Saëns, and Franck, joined by pianist Jennifer Judd.  

This weekend the Quartet is in Chicago at DePaul University for a Guest Artist Concert Series.  Also scheduled is a live concert on 98.7 WFMT Radio,  Monday, April 27.  

Don't forget to check out the website for other upcoming concerts!

Way "out there"

Jason Makansi, a writer, musician, and follower of the Arianna String Quartet, recently blogged about our Touhill Performance - Contemporary Beethoven.

It’s not everyday that you go to hear chamber music and Beethoven happens to be the most avant garde composer you hear.

Okay, that’s not strictly the truth. The second String Quartet by Sofia Gubaidulina, composed in 1987, and performed by the Arianna String Quartet last night at the Touhill Performing Arts Center in St. Louis, was way more “out there.” In a relative sense, though, the Beethoven Grosse Fuge, was the more experimental, given that it was composed more than 150 years prior. 

Check out his full story here.

Cast Your Vote for The Arianna String Quartet

The St. Louis Post Dispatch is gearing up for The GO! List 2015.  Now's your chance to cast a vote for the Arianna String Quartet in the most accomplished chamber music ensemble category.

Voting is open through March 8.  (click here to cast your vote)

Tell your friends, and thank you for your support!

FEMUSC 2015 in Brazil - by Julia Sakharova

January 2015.
Jaragua Do Sul, Brazil.
about 100 degrees F

If someone told me a few years ago that I would be going to Brazil on a regular basis I would have exclaimed “Really?!”   Not because it’s located 5000 miles from American shore or that it’s full of unknown tropical fruits but because for me this country represents a childhood memory of a story told in a book and a movie. There is a famous character in a classic Russian novel whose utmost desire is to visit Brazil and in particular Rio de Janeiro where he believes everyone wears white pants and smokes cigars. You may ask why am I writing about this? Well, this character is so iconic that every time I think of Brazil or go there I can’t help but remember numerous funny quotes from this story.  If you are Russian reading this you will know in a heartbeat that the character is Ostap Bender from the novel The Twelve Chairs. Synchronicity, according to Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung, is the occurrence of two or more events that appear to be meaningfully related but not causally related. It is this synchronicity that connected my passion for that story to my now annual journey to the beautiful country of Brazil. 

          

This is my fourth time being there.  Three of those four times were attending FEMUSC, an International Music Festival of Santa Catarina. It has become a very special place for the Arianna Quartet.  We all look forward to being there every year as it is one of the highlights of our season. Each year we meet and get to work with wonderful pre-formed string quartets from around South and North America. This year is no exception. We have four quartets: two from Brazil, one from Colombia and one from the United States. Here are their names: Sorocaba (their 3rd time at Femusc), Oliver Toni, Efferus and Pavo String Quartets. All of them are fantastic. Each group has 3 quartets to work on during the two weeks.The amount of progress they make by the end is astonishing. I am always amazed and thrilled to see the eagerness to learn, the openness to new ideas, the fast development of the technical skills and an enormous amount of energy coming from these FEMUSC quartets. These kind of students are always the biggest source of our inspiration. Teaching is a two way street. It works successfully only if both parties want it to work.

          

Our other favorite thing to do at FEMUSC is to make music with our wonderful friends and colleagues. This year we have several collaborations which include Antal Dorati’s Notturno and Capriccio for oboe and string quartet with Alex Klein,  Brahms Viola Quintet with Daniel Guedes; Prokofiev Quintet for oboe, clarinet, violin, viola and bass with Catalin Rotaru, Ovanir Buosi and Alex Klein; and Brahms f minor piano quintet with Alexandre Dossin. It is both an honor and joy to work with these outstanding musicians. By the end of the concert I wish there is another movement or page to play. Luckily the night is still young after the concert and we all go to a local pizzeria for a night of celebration, good food and a shot of cachaca, a traditional Brazilian drink! Saude!

I would like to take this opportunity and say thank you to the founder and artistic director of FEMUSC Alex Klein. It’s because of his immense vision and tireless energy we all are able to experience this unique music festival. People like him make a difference in our lives.

My personal goal for next year is to learn some Portuguese and to be able to carry a simple conversation. It took me 4 times being in Brazil to realize that I need and want to learn this language. It is absolutely beautiful! The sound of it resembles Romanian somewhat, language spoken in Romania and Moldova. I was born in Moldova and though never had an opportunity to learn the language was always interested in being able to speak it. I am going to finish this entry by saying one very important phrase in Portuguese. Actually it’s just one single word but it contains a very deep meaning and is sort of a signature word in Portuguese: Saudade. It means to miss someone or something, to be longing for. Saudade, Brazil! Until next time.

Julia Sakharova

ASQ Performs Beethoven String Quartet op. 135 in F major.  Photo by Cesar Castro.

Brahms Piano Quintet op. 34 in f minor.  Kurt Baldwin - Cello.  Photo by Diego Redel

Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola and Bass op. 39 by Prokofiev. Julia Sakharova-violin.
Photo by Cesar Castro.

Performance of the Brahms Piano Quintet op. 34 in f minor.  John McGrosso - violin
Photo by Cesar Castro

Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola and Bass op. 39 by Prokofiev.  Joanna Mendoza - viola.
Photo by Cesar Castro

Quintet for Oboe, Clarinet, Violin, Viola and Bass op. 39 by Prokofiev. Pictured left to right:  Joanna Mendoza-viola, Julia Sakharova-violin, Catalin Rotaru-bass, Ovanir Buosi-clarinet, Alex Klein-oboe.  Photo by Cesar Castro.

Group shot of the quartets.

Farewell party

For more photos visit our Photo Albums!

Arianna Orchestra Festival Highlights

Congratulations and thank you to the directors and students from Hazelwood West High School, Quincy Senior High School, and St. Charles High School, who recently participated in the Arianna Orchestra Festival. The Festival welcomed participants to a day filled with a tour of the UMSL campus, rehearsals, sectionals, master classes and a final performance in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. The Festival was led by UMSL's quartet-in-residence, the acclaimed Arianna String Quartet: John McGrosso, Julia Sakharova, Joanna Mendoza, and Kurt Baldwin; and UMSL colleagues, Sue Stubbs and Dr. James Richards. Check out more photos  from the event by visiting  our photo album. If you and your students would like to participate next year, contact Julia Sakharova at juliasakharova@gmail.com.