Stradivari Quartet


Xiaoming Wang, violin
Soyoung Yoon, Violin
Lech Antonio Uszynski, Viola
Maja Weber, cello

The Swiss Stradivari Foundation Habisreutinger lent four exceptional Stradivari instruments to four outstanding young musicians from England, Austria, Poland, and Switzerland, who formed the Stradivari Quartet, based in Zurich. After a stunning debut concert the Quartet was celebrated with standing ovations in its hometown as well as on its debut tour to Munich, Berlin, Prague, Budapest, Eisenstadt, Salzburg, and Vienna. The Stradivari recorded a double CD of Haydn’s Opus 50 string quartets, which was released by Sony BMG in late 2009 for the Haydn anniversary. In 2009 the Quartet performed in the United States, China, and the United Kingdom, among other places, and will visit the United States, Great Britain, and Japan on future tours. The Budapester Zeitung titled the Quartet’s debut as a moment “when stars are born,” and praised the “incomparable warm sound” and the “fabulous” interplay. 


Xiaoming Wang, violin

Born in China in 1982, Xiaoming Wang started playing the violin at the age of 4. While still at school, he continued his musical development and education under Prof. Xu Lu at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where he studied violin performance for ten years. His musical talent was promoted by the Herbert von Karajan Center, and flourished under the tutelage of Gerhard Schulz in Vienna. He competed with great success in many competitions, and won first prize and the special award at the Leopold Mozart Competition. He has been concertmaster of the UBS Verbier Orchestra and the UBS Chamber Orchestra, and in 2008 he became the second concertmaster of the Zurich Opera Orchestra.


AUREA
This “golden violin” comes from Stradivari’s ‘Golden Period’ (ca. 1700-1720).  During this period the master’s genius reached maturity and he made his best instruments, including the Aurea, which was made in 1715.  Presumably Stradivari proportioned this violin according to the “Golden Section” (sectio aurea), which is the name given to the special mathematical relationship according to which the smaller part relates to the larger part as the larger part relates to the whole.  It was according to this geometric model that he calculated the optimum position of the F-holes to produce the best sound.  The result was this slim, maneuverable violin which is easy to play and shines with an incomparable fullness of tone. 


Soyoung Yoon, Violin

Born in Korea in 1984, So Young Yoon received her first violin lesson at the tender age of five. Her teacher, Professor Nam Yun Kim, nurtured her impressive talent in Seoul before she transferred to Professor Zakhar Bron's masterclass in Cologne and Zurich. She gave dazzling performances and won countless prizes at the world's most famous competitions, including the Queen Elisabeth Competition, Tchaikovsky Competition, Yehudi Menuhin Competition, David Oistrach Competition, Tibor Varga Competition, and Georg Kulenkampff Competition. Her very special charisma and musical passion always enchant both judges and the public alike.


KING GEORGE
This valuable violin dates from 1710 and is named after its owner King George III.  In 1800 he gave it to a Scottish officer, whose motto was “Not without my Stradivari,” for he worshipped this instrument.  A cavalryman under Wellington, he fell in the Battle of Waterloo on 18 July 1815, but the violin survived undamaged in his horse’s saddle bags.  Its next owner was Bernhard Molique, a pupil of Spohr, followed by his student Baron von Dreyfuss and then the Berlin violin expert August Riechers.  The German-American dealer Emil Hermann bought it from Professor Meyer and then sold it to a buyer in Tokyo.  Before the outbreak of World War II the King George violin found its way back to Berlin, by a route which has not been documented.


Lech Antonio Uszynski, Viola

Born in 1986 in Italy to a family of Polish musicians, he grew up in Switzerland and began learning violin from his father at the age of six. He has also been playing the viola since the age of 13. He was later a double winner – in violin and viola – at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. He studied violin under Professor Ana Chumachenco and Professor Zakhar Bron in Zurich, and drew inspiration for his viola playing from Rudolf Barshai. In 2001 he founded the Trio Elegiaque with his brother, and they went on to win the prestigious Gaetano Zinetti International Chamber Music Competition. The Trio has continued to win major international prizes and recognition, and Lech brings his chamber experience and love of performance to the Quartet.


GIBSON
It was surely with a trembling hand that in 1734 Antonio Stradivari – already ninety years old – gave what was presumably his last contralto viola (which was smaller than his tenor violas) a craftsmanlike and artistic vitality which made it an instrument of unusual tone colour and beauty. This is perhaps the most priceless of the instruments of his “Golden Period.”  The Gibson demonstrates an absolute perfection, and is in excellent condition today, more than 250 years after it was made.  It is the only viola in which the back of the sound box was “slab cut” (tangential cut).  Most violins and violas were “quarter sawn” (radial cut).  This is how things have remained until the present day.  This jewel of an instrument is named after the Englishman George Alfred Gibson (1849-1924), who was Professor of Violin at the Royal Academy and a famous soloist, and who was also the viola player in the world-famous “Joachim Quartet.”


Maja Weber, cello

Born in 1974 in Switzerland, Ms. Weber began playing the cello at the age of four, when the instrument was bigger than she was.  At a very young age she played in the family quartet and in the “Ars Amata Zürich”, then formed the “Amar Quartet” with her sister, winning 1st prize at Bubenreuth, 2nd prize at Geneva and Graz, and the Millennium Award in London. 

BONAMY DOBREE - SUGGIA
The English scholar Bonamy Dobree owned this 1717 Stradivari cello.  The moving story of this valuable instrument actually begins with the mysterious, diva-like Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia (1885-1950), who when playing her favourite cello combined technical perfection and interpretative feeling, enchanting her public with her playing as well as her warmth and depth of tone.  Outwardly extravagant and lively, inwardly intelligent and warm-hearted, Suggia lived many lives: in Paris as the pupil and lover of Pablo Casals, in London as a “Grande Dame” and cosmopolitan figure, in Portugal as the yearning woman seeking her homeland. After Suggia’s death the cello was sold and the proceeds used to provide grants for students at the Royal Academy of Music.

7/11 - Please do not edit without permission.