The Dover Quartet, artists in residence at Curtis Institute and Caramoor Festival for 2013 will bring Schubert, Shostakovich and Beethoven quartets to the Mainstay in Rock Hall, MD on Friday July 26 at 8:00 p.m. The concert is part of the Mainstay’s Hedgelawn Classical Music. Admission is $15. For information and reservations call the Mainstay at 410-639-9133. Information is also available at the Mainstay’s website https://www.mainstayrockhall.org.
The members of the Dover Quartet, Joel Link, violin, Bryan Lee, violin, Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola, and Camden Shaw, cello are all in their mid to late 20s. Their program will feature Quartet in G minor, D. 173 by Franz Schubert, Quartet No. 3 in F Major, Op. 73 by Dmitri Shostakovich and Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 by Ludwig van Beethoven. The group has strong ties to Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and takes its name from Samuel Barber’s legendary composition “Dover Beach,” which was written for the Curtis String Quartet.
Considered one of the most remarkably talented string quartets ever to emerge at such a young age, the Dover Quartet has been named the first Quartet-in-Residence at the venerated Curtis Institute of Music, and the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-In-Residence at the Caramoor Festival for the 2013-14 season.
The Grand Prize-winner of the 2010 Fischoff Competition, the Dover formed at Curtis in 2008, when its members were just 19 years old. The Quartet draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri Quartets, but brings a youthful enthusiasm and musical conviction to the repertoire that is truly its own. The Strad recently raved that the Quartet is “already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretative maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble.”
The Dover Quartet won prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition , and has taken part in festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, La Jolla SummerFest, and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. Recent performances include those for such influential series as the Washington Performing Arts Society, the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Peoples’ Symphony, Schneider Concerts, Kneisel Hall, and the Houston Friends of Chamber Music. The Quartet continued their close collaboration with violist Roberto Díaz on an extensive European tour in spring 2013, which included performances throughout Germany, Austria, Spain, and the United Kingdom. The summer of 2013 features performances at Bard, Chamber Music Northwest, and Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.
Members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic. The group’s recording of the Mendelssohn and Debussy quartets received high praise: “…the maturity in these interpretations is phenomenal and disproportionate to the age [of the group].”
The ensemble has studied with such renowned chamber musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein, and Peter Wiley, and was the Quartet-in-Residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music until May 2013. In addition, the Quartet is an active member of Music for Food, an initiative by musicians to help fight hunger in their home communities.
The Hedgelawn Classical Music Series at the Mainstay is sponsored by the Hedgelawn Foundation. Based in Kent County, MD, the Foundation funds educational and cultural programs.
Janice Dickson says
What an extraordinary opportunity!
Young, talented musicians at a very reasonable price.
Wonderful composers.