Chiara's Hixson-Lied Concert Series begins Sept. 18
calendar icon06 Sep 2012
The University of Nebraska–Lincoln School of Music’s Chiara String Quartet begins their Hixson-Lied Concert Series with a performance at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 18 at Kimball Recital Hall, 11th and R streets on the UNL city campus. They will be joined on the program by UNL’s new Graduate Quartet-in-Residence, the Skyros Quartet.
Tickets are $20 general, $10 seniors and $5 students and available at the Lied Center for Performing Arts box office at (402) 472-4747 or (800) 432-3231 or at the door. Subscriptions for the entire four-performance series can be purchased for $60 adults, $30 seniors and $10 students at the Lied Box Office.
The concert program includes Mozart’s String Quartet No. 23 in F Major, K. 590, Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, Op. 80 and Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 with the Skyros Quartet.
Composed in 1790, Mozart’s String Quartet No. 23 in F Major is his last string quartet and is part of the pieces that were written and dedicated to the King of Prussia, Friedrich Wilhelm II, an amateur cellist.
Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6 in F Minor, composed in 1847, was his last major composition and was written after the death of his sister Fanny. Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major was written in 1825, when the composer was 16, and was a birthday gift for his friend and violin teacher Eduard Rietz.
The Chiara String Quartet includes Rebecca Fischer and Hye Yung Julie Yoon,violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello. 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 as well as the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Chamber Music Institute.
The Chiara's 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. Awarded the Guarneri Quartet Residency Award for artistic excellence by Chamber Music America and the Adventurous Programming Award of Contemporary Music by ASCAP-Chamber Music America for the 2010-2011 season, the Chiara Quartet has also been the recipient of grants from Meet The Composer, the Aaron Copland Foundation and the Amphion Foundation.
The Skyros Quartet is the new Graduate Quartet-in-Residence in the UNL School of Music, made possible with support from the Hixson-Lied Endowment. Skyros includes Sarah Pizzichemi and James Moat, violins; Justin Kurys, viola; and William Braun, cello.
They are the first quartet to pursue a doctorate in chamber music performance under the guidance of the Chiara Quartet. Founded in 2010, Skyros received Masters in chamber music performance from the University of Texas at Austin’s Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music and were mentored by the Miro Quartet and Sandy Yamamoto. For more information on their residency at UNL, visit go.unl.edu/skyros.
Additional dates in the Chiara’s Hixson-Lied Concert Series include Nov. 19, 2012; Jan. 29, 2013; and March 26, 2013; each at 7:30 p.m. in Kimball Recital Hall.
For more information, visit chiaraquartet.com.