Feb. 13: The Jupiter & Jasper Quartets Presented by BIG ARTS
The Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper Quartet
Presented by BIG ARTS
Performing Music by
Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz and Felix Mendelssohn
Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 7:30pm
Christensen Performance Hall | 900 Dunlop Road | Sanibel Island, FL
Tickets and Information
“This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” – The Arts Fuse
www.jasperquartet.com | www.jupiterquartet.com
Sanibel Island, FL – On Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 7:30pm, the Jupiter String Quartet, the internationally acclaimed winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and Banff International String Quartet Competition who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine), and the Jasper String Quartet, who The Strad describes as “sonically delightful,” will be presented together in concert by BIG ARTS at the Christensen Performance Hall (900 Dunlop Road).
For this concert, the two award-winning ensembles will perform works which display both their individual and collaborative artistries, featuring quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Felix Mendelssohn, which span the dawn of the 19th century and mid-20th century.
The Jupiter and Jasper quartets celebrate many years of deep connections that go beyond simply enjoying playing music together. There are siblings – J Freivogel from the Jasper is the younger brother of Jupiter members Meg and Liz Freivogel; spouses – Rachel Henderson Freivogel and J are married in the Jasper, and Daniel McDonough and Meg are married in the Jupiter; and longtime friends – Nelson Lee and Karen Kim were apartment mates while they were college students in Boston. In 2021, the two quartets celebrated the release of a collaborative album on Marquis Classics, produced by GRAMMY Award-winner Judith Sherman, which features Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, which they will perform on Sanibel Island.
Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2 (1799) is the last of his many works in this genre. Considered by many to be the “grandfather of the string quartet”, Haydn developed the form over many years, experimenting with more dramatic structures and particularly with a more equal treatment of the four voices, instead of the first-violin dominated texture often heard earlier. Grażyna Bacewicz’s striking String Quartet No. 4 was composed in 1951, several years after the end of World War II, during which Bacewicz lived through theNazi occupation of Warsaw. The quartet unfolds with an air of sorrow-tinged hope that rises up to a happy conclusion in the third movement. Felix Mendelssohn composed his String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, an intricate masterpiece, in 1825, at the age of sixteen. The work is known for its joyous energy. Rather than treating the two quartets as separate entities, Mendelssohn weaves all kinds of deft and subtle conversations among the eight musicians, in every possible combination.
About the Jasper Quartet: Celebrated as one of the preeminent American string quartets of the twenty-first century, the prizewinning Jasper String Quartet is hailed as being “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet is highly regarded for its “programming savvy” (ClevelandClassical.com), which strives to evocatively connect the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire through thoughtful programs that appeal to a wide variety of audiences.
A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2012), the Quartet’s playing has been described as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including its most recent release, Insects and Machines: Quartets of Vivian Fung (2023) which Strings Magazine praised as being “intensely dramatic throughout demonstrating both their advocacy of new music and their transcendent mastery.” The Quartet’s 2017release, Unbound, was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.
The Quartet will release new recordings in 2024 and 2025, including Reinaldo Moya’s Pájaros Garabatos with soprano Maria Brea in 2024, works by Tina Davidson with pianist Natalie Zhu in 2024, and Richard Festinger’s Quartet No. 5 in 2025. In celebration of its twentieth anniversary in 2026-27, the Quartet has commissioned new works from composers Patrick Castillo, Brittany J. Green, Reinaldo Moya, and Michelle Ross.
The Jasper String Quartet is passionate about connecting with audiences beyond the concert hall and is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and Director of the annual Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute. The Quartet is Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, a series in Philadelphia dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber performances. The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and is represented by Suòno Artist Management.
For more information, please visit www.jasperquartet.com.
About the Jupiter String Quartet: 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, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois 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.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by GRAMMY-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse acclaimed, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet will record their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiters.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity,” and the Jasper String Quartet, which The Strad describes as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” are presented in concert together by BIG ARTS. The two award-winning ensembles will perform a concert that highlights their individual and collaborative quartet chemistries with emotive and intricate quartets written between the dawn of the 19th century and mid-20th century. Featured works include: Haydn’s String Quartet in F Major, Op. 77, No. 2, Hob.III: 82, performed by Jupiter Quartet, Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 4 performed by Jasper String Quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s iconic Octet, performing together by both ensembles.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet
Presented by BIG ARTS
What: Music by Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and Felix Mendelssohn
When: Thursday, February 13, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Christensen Performance Hall, 900 Dunlop Road, Sanibel Island, FL 33957
Tickets and information: www.bigarts.org/event/jupiter-and-jasper-quartets