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Sunday, June 5, 2016
Arianna Chamber Music Festival Presents the 2016 Young Artist Concerts
Saturday, April 23, 2016
John McGrosso: An Evening of Baroque Chamber Music - Tuesday, April 26
Please join
me, Arianna Quartet
Violinist John McGrosso, as I perform with my good friend,
Washington
University Harpsichordist Todd Decker on Tuesday, April 26th,
at the
Tavern of Fine Arts, in an evening devoted exclusively to
the music of
Handel and Bach.
These two giants of the Baroque period had
vastly different
approaches to composition and very different visions of the role
of music in
human life. Experience for yourself how these compare and
contrast in an
evening of wonderfully compelling music for violin and
harpsichord, performed
in the uniquely intimate and casual setting of the Tavern of
Fine Arts.
We hope to see you there!
Choose
between two opportunities to
hear this program of great Baroque chamber music, at either 6:30
or
8:30 that evening. For more information about the Tavern
of Fine Arts,
visit http://tavern-of-fine-arts.blogspot.com/p/events.html
We hope to see you there!
~John
Thursday, February 11, 2016
Behind the Scenes at FEMUSC 2016
ASQ recently returned from another fantastic trip to Santa Catarina, Brazil's Festival of Music.
Lots of wonderful memories were created. Here's a look at behind the scenes fun.
Lots of wonderful memories were created. Here's a look at behind the scenes fun.
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| Happy times with FEMUSC String Quartets and ASQ |
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| Inspiration for Piazzolla with Pablo and Alejandra, beautiful tango dancers from Argentina |
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| Reading Mendelssohn Octet at our FEMUSC chamber music party |
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| Performance of Chausson Concerto for Violin, Piano and String Quartet with Ole Bohm, violin, and Alexander Dossin, piano. |
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| Members of the Sorocaba Quartet stop by for a visit! |
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| Happy Quartets! |
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
Application Deadline for Arianna CMF is March 15, 2016
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Tuesday, January 5, 2016
You're Invited to the Annual Arianna Orchestra Festival - January 12, 2016
The Arianna String Quartet proudly presents its annual Orchestra Festival. Providing the best educational opportunities for the next generation of our best musicians has always been a primary mission of the Arianna String Quartet. This festival is certainly no exception. After a day of rehearsals, sectionals, masterclasses and touring the campus with members of the Arianna String Quartet, three of the top high school orchestras in our area will perform beginning at 6 p.m. in the Anheuser-Busch Performance Hall. All three orchestras will perform under the direction of UMSL's very own Dr. James Richards.
Please join us and experience what these young people are able to accomplish in a day by helping us celebrate this great night of music and the immense talent of these students.
This event is free and open to the public.
Blanche M. Touhill Performing Arts Center
1 University Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63121 View Map
1 University Boulevard, St. Louis, Missouri 63121 View Map
Jan 12, 2016 6:00 PM
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Arts BHAM REVIEW
Review by: MICHAEL HUEBNER
The Arianna String Quartet is an exemplary model for 21st-century string quartets. A full-time university residency allows it to spread its musical message far beyond its home base of St. Louis — in their case, to five continents. Its numerous education and outreach programs help ensure the progress and continuity of the art form. Recordings and festivals further heighten its visibility.
But the most apparent manifestations of such an endeavor come down to live musical performance, as Arianna revealed Thursday in Brock Recital Hall in a concert jointly presented by the Birmingham Chamber Music Society, Davis Architects Guest Artist Series and Ted Haddin. An engaging, balanced program, coupled with playing that in many ways rivaled the world’s finest quartets, made this a memorable experience. It included Beethoven, an almost obligatory benchmark for quartets, together with a 2007 quartet by St. Louis native and Pulitzer Prize winning composer Kevin Puts, and Schumann’s piano quintet.
Beethoven’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, the third of the Razumovsky quartets, defined Arianna’s sound – scrupulously blended yet sharply transparent, with an easy fluidity. It allows each player to emerge as a soloist (they are all established as such) or merge seamlessly into the whole. The opening Allegro vivace was taken at a fast clip, which produced a few minor technical glitches in scale passages, but on the whole the movement was filled with tension and anticipation. That segued nicely to the slow second movement, which honed in on the depth of cellist Kurt Baldwin and violist Joanna Mendoza.Puts’ “Credo” immediately establishes an open tonal landscape, a minimalist atmosphere occasionally interrupted by stray dissonances but remaining ever grounded. Its extramusical narratives – a stringed instrument workshop, cityscapes in Pittsburgh and New York – aren’t readily apparent without the aid of program notes, but the work stands vividly on its own. Arianna is clearly enamored with this Americana tableau, its heartfelt melodic exchanges, furious outbursts, and plaintive solos ensuring its place in the repertoire.
For Schumann’s Piano Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 114, the quartet was joined by the Isareli pianist Einav Yarden, whose chamber music sensibilities fit the quartet’s like a glove. The thick-textured opener vacillated between power and lyricism, the Scherzo by sweeping scales. Yarden clearly led the way in defining the work’s dynamic shifts in the final Allegro, leading the quintet to a brilliant conclusion.In the Menuetto, scales intersected and criss-crossed with ease and clarity. In the finale, the quartet exceeded its Allegro molto marking. Exaggerated accents and imitative entries were negotiated with blazing speed and precision, violinists John McGrosso and Julia Sakharova matching Baldwin and Mendoza in each phrase.Full review on ArtBHAM.com
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Arts REVIEW: East meets West in fruitful collaboration
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| The Arianna String Quartet with the Kyo-Shin-An Arts trio Photo: Karen Palmer |
Review by: Lee Hartman
After a day of celebrating the Royals’ World Series victory, things were decidedly more quiet at UMKC for the Conservatory Artists Series’s presentation of the Arianna String Quartet and Kyo-Shin-An Arts trio. Those who could drag themselves out of their elated stupor bore witness to a remarkable program and performance combining the Western string quartet tradition and that of Japanese Sankyoku [trio].
Kyo-Shin-An Arts began the program with Yachiyo Jishi, a traditional sankyoku dating from the middle-eighteenth century by Fujinaga Kengyo. Set in three sections, this Lion Piece depicts a lion sleeping who becomes disturbed and then executes a wild dance. Though the “wildness” of the music loses something in translation for Western ears, the piece was beautifully rendered by Yoko Reikano Kimura on shamisen (a Japanese guitar/banjo) and voice, Yumi Kurosawa on 20-string koto (zither), and James Nyoraku Schlefer on shakuhachi (flute). Kimura’s voice was rich and full-bodied and easily carried over the delicate ensemble.
The Arianna String Quartet followed with a performance of Claude Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor unlike any I have ever heard before. Typically the playing of impressionistic Debussy is muted, wishy-washy, and polite. Arianna infused this work with a dose of pre-impressionism as befitted the time in which it was composed. As such, humor and aggression, passionate reds and playful purples, burst forth with exuberance. This performance was immediately gripping and showed artists with much to say about the music they were playing. The few intonation slips were secondary to this elucidating rendition. It was stunning work all around.
If it was possible to top the sublime Debussy, Kyo-Shin-An Arts and Arianna did so with James Nyoraku Schlefer’s Dream Corner. A fusion of Eastern traditional ensemble and Western string quartet, Dream Corner is among the most convincing, integrated, and musical fusion of the two ensembles and philosophies. Schlefer, one of the few handful of non-Japanese to ever achieve the rank of Grand Master of shakuhachi, clearly knows both idioms. All too often pieces in this genre are used for artificial timbral effects or pandering attempts at inclusivity, neither of which were present in Schlefer’s monumental eleven-movement work. Each instrument was essential, and Schlefer’s explorations of possible timbral combinations created a clear palette for each player to work musical magic as soloists, concerted, or ensemble members. Telling the story of two lovers who meet only in dreams, the piece echoed back to the two previous works in its elegance and vibrancy. Three of the standout movements were the opening shakuhachi solo Overture, the fourth movement’s energetic ensemble Dance, and “Down and Dirty,” also for the entire ensemble. “Slow,” the ninth movement, was a masterpiece in simplicity and my personal favorite. This almost-passacaglia of two declamatory attacks followed by long silences ever so gradually filled the open spaces with achingly gorgeous lines from each performer.
It’s a shame that more weren’t in attendance for this recital that will probably appear on my list of favorites at the end of the season. Both the music presented and the performances were of the highest caliber. As the only visiting artist to appear on this season of the Conservatory Artist Series, it is distressing to see the UMKC Conservatory not bringing more events like this to Kansas City as its comparable nearby public state institutions at KU and UCMO manage to do in Lawrence and Warrensburg.
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