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Publication Date

Fall 11-13-2009

Year of Release

2009

Note(s)

Emily Popham, Beverly Shin, violin

Simon Ertz, viola

Philip von Maltzahn, cello

Biography

Since their founding at the Bowdoin International Music Festival in 1999, the Degas Quartet has emerged as the most exciting young string quartet on stage today. Renowned for energetic performances of the classical and contemporary quartet repertoire, the Degas Quartet plays with vibrant intensity and exceptional musicianship.

Highlights of their distinguished concert career include appearances in Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall and Harris Hall at the Aspen Music Festival. Last season the Degas performed at Spivey Hall in Atlanta with pianist Michiko Otaki and this season they performed at the Library of Congress in Washington.

The Degas Quartet has performed with other esteemed artists including pianist Wu Han, pianist Awadigin Pratt, cellist Steven Doane, and jazz bassist Christian McBride. In addition, the group has collaborated in concert with the Colorado Quartet, the Fry Street Quartet, the Euclid Quartet, and the Jupiter Quartet.

The quartet studied the standard repertoire with some of America's finest ensembles, including the Takacs, the Emerson, the Juilliard, the Colorado, the Vermeer and the Cassatt Quartet. A recipient of a

Residency Grant from Chamber Music America, the Degas Quartet was based in Hickory, North Carolina, where they were featured on the UBS Chamber Classics concert series. The Quartet has performed and coached chamber music at many of North Carolina's leading Universities and Colleges, including Appalachian State, University Brevard College, UNC Pembroke, and Davidson College. Strong advocates for the performance and composition of contemporary music, the Degas Quartet has premiered numerous new works in venues such as New York's Music Under Construction series, New York's WQXR Classical Radio, and the Gamper Contemporary Music Festival at Bowdoin College. In 2005, the Degas Quartet premiered Monotypes by Laura Kaminsky, a work inspired by five paintings by Edward Degas. The quartet has also worked closely with composer Joan Tower, who revised her composition Elegy for the quartet's performance in 2004 with trombonist Haim Avitsur. In the upcoming seasons, the quartet will perform new works by Armando Bayalo, Shafer Mahoney, Piotr Szewczyk and Stefan Freund.

Note

First Presbyterian Church, Huntington, WV

Library of Congress Authorities

Haydn, Joseph, 1732-1809. Quartets, strings, H. III, 79, D major

Tchaikovsky, Peter Ilich, 1840-1893. Quartets, violins, viola, cello, no. 1, op. 11, D major

Keywords

recitals, guest artists, string quartets

Disciplines

Arts and Humanities | Fine Arts | Music | Music Performance

Marshall University Music Department Presents a Music Alive Chamber Series, Guest Artists Concert, featuring, Degas String Quartet, Emily Popham, violin, Beverly Shin, violin, Simon Ertz, viola, Philip von Maltzahn, cello

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