New Esterházy Quartet Grand Concert Symphonique II Friday 24 Mar 2017 at 8:00pm The Berkeley Hillside Club is pleased to present the New Esterházy Quartet with an exciting new version of their Grand Concert Symphonique series. This program will feature symphonic music of Haydn arranged for string quart and featuring guest soloists. The artists of this celebrated San Francisco Bay Area string ensemble are internationally-known period instrument and chamber music specialists, and have gained a well-deserved reputation for virtuoso playing and interesting programs. Don't miss these remarkable artists performing in our historic and acoustically-excellent hall. The Artists: Lisa Weiss & Kati Kyme - violins Anthony Martin - viola William Skeen - 'cello The Program:
Joseph Haydn:
Concerto in G for Piano, with Karen Rosenak, fortepiano Concerto in E♭ for Trumpet, with Jonathan Impett, keyed-trumpet Symphony No. 100 in G "Military" The Ensemble: Founded in 2006 and currently in its eighth year of subscription concerts in San Francisco, Berkeley and Palo Alto, the New Esterházy Quartet continues to present masterworks of the classical period alongside intriguing works from less-familiar composers. With Haydn's 68 quartets as its core repertoire, NEQ is increasingly recognized as one of the world's top period-instrument string quartets. The ensemble has been presented by the San Francisco Early Music Society, Arizona Early Music Society, Carmel Chamber Music Society, has performed in New York and Los Angeles, and appeared as a Main Stage event for the 2012 Berkeley Festival & Exhibition. NEQ was also selected for Early Music America's Touring Artists Roster and has received two grants from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music. Recent seasons have featured works by pupils and admirers of Haydn, late quartets of Schubert and Beethoven, and novel explorations of early Bartók and Schoenberg. January 2014 saw the world premiere of Esterházy, book II, written for the ensemble by noted New York composer Paul Brantley. NEQ's 2014 summer project was the complete Mozart "Haydn" Quartets, performed at Berkeley's historic Hillside Club in a three-concert Amadè-Athon. The coming season will include an appearance on Pittsburgh's prestigious "Renaissance and Baroque" series in January and a summer cycle of the late Beethoven quartets. Four Haydn recordings are currently available, and a world premiere recording of a mid-19th century string quartet by Hungarian composer Imre Székely is near release. The members of NEQ are internationally-known period-instrument and chamber music specialists: Kati Kyme and Lisa Weiss, violins, violist Anthony Martin, and cellist William Skeen. As individuals, the players have performed and recorded in the top echelon of early music ensembles worldwide. In addition to many years of musical collaboration in Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, and a long list of renowned chamber ensembles, these four Bay Area musicians have enjoyed decades of friendship and shared experience. Their history as both colleagues and friends endows the quartet with an unusual commonality of musical language and gesture, and provides a strong foundation for a unique and original ensemble voice. In addition to concert appearances, NEQ enjoys performing in private homes and other intimate settings where the traditional experience of true chamber music is renewed and shared by players and listeners together. For more information on the New Esterházy Quartet and this program, please check their website: http://newesterhazy.org/