Escher String Quartet to perform at Cheboygan Opera House

CHEBOYGAN — The Chamberfest Cheboygan series continues this Saturday, June 4 with the New York-based ensemble Escher String Quartet. The quartet will perform an evening concert at 7:30 p.m. at the Opera House of music by Mozart, Beethoven and American composers Charles Ives and George Walker.

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist's summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, New York. In its home town of New York, the ensemble now serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.

In addition to a busy touring schedule, the group has recorded many highly regarded albums. Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received with the highest critical acclaim, with comments such as “…eloquent, full-blooded playing... The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” by BBC Music Magazine. In 2019, DANCE, an album of quintets with Grammy-award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was enthusiastically received. The Escher’s most recent recording, the complete quartet of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber, was met with equal excitement, including “...a fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine). The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014.

In addition to works by Mozart, Beethoven and Ives, the program on Saturday evening will include a work by prominent African-American composer George Walker (“Lyric for Strings”). Walker was the first African-American winner of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 1996. The work is dedicated to Walker’s grandmother, a formerly enslaved person, who died shortly before its completion in 1946.

A reception with light food and drink will follow the performance on the Opera House stage, providing an opportunity for the public to meet the visiting performers. This concert will be recorded by Interlochen Public Radio for re-broadcast on their stations.

Tickets to the 7:30 p.m. evening performance are free for students and $25 for adults. They are available online at www.theoperahouse.org/tickets, by phone at (231) 627-5841), or at the box office.

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Escher String Quartet to perform at Cheboygan Opera House