Delving into his rich personal history, Menahem Pressler offers colloquia
in which he performs selections from select composers and speaks about the
important role the music has played in his life.
Virtuoso violinist Rachel Barton Pine performs all Twenty-four
Paganini Caprices or all five Mozart violin concertos in a single evening.
The Leipzig String Quartet performs Haydn's "Seven Last Words" with the saxophonist Steve Wilson performing jazz improvisations and Duke Ellington's sacred music in between movements; a
program featuring Thomas Mann's Dr. Faustus read by an actor with revelatory musical interludes and underscores; and all of Beethoven's string quartet's with the audience
choosing what program they would like to hear just prior to the performance.
The New York Chamber Soloists offer endlessly inventive programs
including Three Quintets, Paris in the ‘20s, Four Winds, and 1900.
The Pacifica Quartet performs widely acclaimed cycles of the
complete string quartets of Beethoven, Carter, Mendelssohn, and
Shostakovich.
In addition to offering the complete Beethoven trios in two
programs, the Gryphon Trio performs startlingly creative programs with projection,
and another built around Mussorgsky’s “Songs and Dances of Death” with rising
opera star Robert Pomakov.
The Parisii Quartet is the only quartet in the world to perform
Boulez’s complete Livre Pour Quatuor,
and also offers an all-French program built around Debussy’s string quartet for
this composer’s 150th birthday.
In November/December 2013, the Salzburg Marionette Theater offers Wagner’s complete Ring Cycle performed
in 75 minutes.
Privileged to perform on four legendary Stradivaris, the Stradivari Quartet performs a program entitled “Four Stories, Four Strads,” built around the
history of these instruments, and another called “Stradivari’s Italy.”
The embodiment of the great Czech musical tradition, the
Talich Quartet performs music by Dvorak, Janacek, Smetana, and others from this
rich repertoire.
The Ying Quartet continues their highly successful long-term Dim
Sum and LifeMusic projects. Dim
Sum programs present bite-sized morsels by Asian and Asian-American composers,
and LifeMusic commissions prominent living composers to write music that has a tangible
connection to modern American life.
The Borealis String Quartet performs exciting arrangements of Taiwanese
folk songs along with rarely heard repertoire by Grieg and Respighi.
Built around Schubert’s monumental Quartet in G major, the
American String Quartet has devised a program entitled “Schubert’s Echo” exploring the
connections between Schubert, Berg, and Webern. Collaborative programs with Menahem Pressler, Carol Wincenc,
and Richard Stoltzman are also available.
The Aulos Ensemble, North America’s leading period-instrument ensemble, offers a
special program entitled “When Stars Align” with vocal stars Robin Blaze and
Dominique LaBelle.
The Amelia Piano Trio performs Chopin’s piano trio with viola, cello, and
piano as the composer originally intended. Also, “East Meets West” delves into the connections between
the eastern and western musical traditions with guest erhu and pipa players.
Now in their late 20s, the members of the Ariel Quartet have made it
their goal to publicly perform the complete Beethoven cycle before they turn 30
years old.



