NEW YORK, NY. (St. Bartholomew's Church announcement) - The Manhattan String Quartet performs the first of a four-concert traversal of Dmitri Shostakovich's 15 string quartets on Tuesday,
September 27 at 7:30 PM, under the auspices of "Great
Music at St. Bartholomew's Church."
The 2005-2006 season marks a double anniversary for the Russian composer: the 30th anniversary of his death in August 1975 and the centenary of his birth in April 1906.
St. Bartholomew's Church is located at Park Avenue at 51st Street. Admission to each concert is $20, $15 (students & seniors). A "Quartet Pass" for admission to all concerts is $150 (which includes a $90 tax-deductible contribution to Great Music at St. Bartholomew's Church), $60, $45 (students & seniors). Reservations can be made by calling 212-378-0248.
Hailed by The Boston Globe as "a national treasure," the Manhattan String Quartet is regarded as a pre-eminent interpreter of Shostakovich's quartets. The ensemble's 1991 recording of the cycle on the E.S.S.A.Y. label made Time magazine's "Best of 1991" classical list, and the quartet has performed the cycle as part of Lincoln Center's "Great Performers" series, where the Emerson Quartet is scheduled to perform later this season. (Coincidentally: the cellists in both ensembles are named Finckel: David Finckel in the Emerson and Chris Finckel in the Manhattan.)
Shostakovich lived from the early years of the Russian Revolution through civil war, famine, Stalin's Terror, WWII, the "Thaw" and into the Brezhnev era. His 15 string quartets form a musical diary of 20th-century Soviet history, transcending its brutal struggles and creating towering musical legacy.
In residence this season at St. Bartholomew's Church, the Manhattan String Quartet will perform the cycle in chronological order. September 27th features Quartets Nos. 1-4. The remaining quartets will be performed on November 1 (Nos. 5-8), January 17 (Nos. 9-12) and March 7 (Nos. 13-15). The Emerson Quartet's cycle at Lincoln Center begins in April.
The 2005-2005 Great Music series features 91 different events including concerts, lectures and special events. Highlights include the return of the popular Marilyn Horne Foundation concerts, Mary Greer's Bach Cantatas in Context series, Anthony Newman's Bachworks concerts and a performance of Vivaldi's The Four Seasons by the Orchestra of St. Luke's. For more information, visit https://www.stbarts.org.
