Colorado Quartet to present all-Beethoven concert
The Colorado Quartet will take the stage for an all-Beethoven performance on Sunday, March 25 at 3 p.m. in the Squires Recital Salon on the campus of Virginia Tech. The concert is a part of the University Chamber Music series presented by the School of Performing Arts and Cinema. The program will feature Quartet in B-Flat Major, Opus 18 No. 6; Quartet in F Minor, Opus 95 ("Serioso"); and Quartet in F Major, Opus 59 No. 1.
Among their many accolades, the ensemble is the first female quartet in history to perform the complete Beethoven quartet cycle in Europe and North America. Their performances are noted for musical integrity, impassioned playing, and lyrical finesse. This will be the quartet's third performance in Blacksburg over the past three years.
Violinists Julie Rosenfeld and Deborah Lydia Redding, violist Marka Gustavsson, and cellist Katie Schlaikjer have all experienced groundbreaking success for nearly three decades. Catapulted onto the scene by back-to-back wins at the first Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in May 1983, it was the first all-woman quartet to attain international stature. The quartet's performance of Beethoven quartets has garnered the ensemble major international accolades. Since the two-year consecutive wins at the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in May 1983, the quartet has played over 1,200 concerts worldwide.
Fanfare Magazine wrote, "The Colorado Quartet tears into these works with a combined tension, cohesion, grace, and complete understanding of the music ... if it's the music and what the music says that interests you, well this is the only set of the late quartets you'll ever need. ... these four women bring Beethoven to intense, blazing life." In reviewing the quartet's performance of Beethoven, Fanfare Magazine wrote, "[The Colorado Quartet] are not only master architects, but master painters. Their palette of sound has a hidden layer of hues that no one else has discovered or used."
Tickets are $15 general, $10 senior, and $5 student and are available at the Student Centers and Activities Ticket Office on the first floor of Squires Student Center. Tickets may be purchased online or by calling 540-231-5615. Tickets will also be available at the box office beginning one hour prior to the performance.
Free parking is available in the Squires Lot, located at the corner of College Avenue and Otey Street, in the Architecture Annex Lot on Otey Street, and the Perry Street/Prices Fork lots. Find more parking information online or call 540-231-3200. Alternative parking is available in the Kent Squire parking garage or the Farmers Market metered parking lot, both located on Draper Road. Additional Downtown Blacksburg parking information can be found online.
