Jupiter Quartet Presented by Auditorium Chamber Music Series at The University of Idaho
The Jupiter String Quartet is Presented by
Auditorium Chamber Music Series at The University of Idaho
Performing Music by Michi Wiancko, Bela Bartók, and Ludwig van Beethoven
Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 7:30pm
University of Idaho Administration Auditorium
851 Campus Dr | Moscow, ID
Tickets and Information at
www.uidaho.edu/class/acms/concerts
“The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.”
– The New Yorker
Moscow, ID – On Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter String Quartet –– internationally acclaimed winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition –– will be presented in concert by the Auditorium Chamber Music Series at The University of Idaho. The performance will be held in the University of Idaho Administration Auditorium (851 Campus Drive).
The award-winning ensemble will perform an assortment of bold selections from the early 19th century through to the present day: Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2. (1808), Bela Bartók’s String Quartet No. 6 (1939), and Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores (2020) –– a work written specifically for the Jupiter Quartet, which was commissioned by Bay Chamber Concerts in partnership with the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Giving concerts all over the country, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet has been performing together since 2001 and has been the quartet-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012. Exuding an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, the Quartet celebrates every opportunity to bring their close-knit and lively style to audiences. Their connections to each other and the length of time they’ve shared the stage always shine through in their intuitive performances.
Of these three emotive works, which highlight notably different points of inspiration across several centuries, the Jupiter Quartet says:
“We are pleased to present three of our favorite dramatic works for the audience in Idaho—the timely “To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores” by Michi Wiancko, which addresses topics related to climate change; the wonderful last quartet of Bela Bartok, which is full of both haunting beauty and biting sarcasm; and the volatile and electric Op. 59 No. 2 Quartet by Beethoven, with its sublimely transcendent slow movement.”
Beethoven’s epic eighth quartet, one of his “Razumovsky” String Quartets, is one of the many works he wrote during a time of immense political turmoil. Bartók’s sixth and final string quartet was also conceived during the second world war as he struggled to deal both with the turmoil in his homeland of Hungary and his mother’s acute illness. He eventually fled to the United States after his mother’s death.
Michi Wiancko’s Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores was written for the Jupiter Quartet and is a response to climate change. Over the work’s seven movements, Wiancko traverses a broad spectrum of emotional depth: the joy of curiosity around nature’s complexity, mourning the ongoing struggles of those most in need, urgency in the face of increasing environmental crises, and an energized call for positive change through humanity’s collective bond.
More About Jupiter String Quartet: This tight-knit ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music. Artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana since 2012, the Jupiter Quartet maintain private studios and direct the University’s chamber music program.
The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Music at Menlo, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
About the Auditorium Chamber Music Series: Since 1986, the Auditorium Chamber Music Series has presented some of the world's finest small ensembles in the beautiful neo-gothic auditorium in the heart of the University of Idaho campus. Four ensembles visit the Palouse each year, performing for the series and enriching the region through school residencies, informal performances in community venues and master classes. The Auditorium Series embraces a wide variety of types and styles of ensemble, from string quartets to eight-voice a cappella choirs to ethnic improvisational ensembles. The same great ensembles that audiences from New York to Seattle flock to hear — the Beaux Arts Trio, Masters of Persian Music, Kronos Quartet, Chanticleer, eighth blackbird and the Chamber Orchestra Kremlin — have all graced the Auditorium Chamber Music Series.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as an ensemble of “technical finesse and rare expressive maturity,” is presented by Auditorium Chamber Music Series at The University of Idaho for a performance in the University of Idaho Administration Auditorium (851 Campus Drive). The Jupiter Quartet will perform a diverse program featuring one of Beethoven’s “Razumovsky” String Quartets (No. 8 in E minor, Op. 52 No. 2), as well as Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, and Bela Bartók’s String Quartet No. 6.
Short description: The Jupiter Quartet, an ensemble of “technical finesse and rare expressive maturity” (The New Yorker), is presented by the Auditorium Chamber Music Series at the University of Idaho for a performance featuring the music of Michi Wiancko, Bela Bartók, and Ludwig van Beethoven.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by Auditorium Chamber Music Series at University of Idaho
What: Music by Michi Wiancko, Bela Bartók, and Ludwig van Beethoven
When: Thursday, January 25, 2024 at 7:30pm.
Where: University of Idaho Administration Auditorium, 851 Campus Drive, Moscow, ID
Tickets and information: www.uitickets.com