Borromeo String Quartet
with Richard Stoltzman

performing works by Debussy, Currier, Françaix, and Mozart

7:30 p.m. on Saturday, January 19, 2019

(6:45 p.m. Pre-Concert Talk with musicologist Kai Christiansen)
Sunset Center, Carmel

“…a fearless ensemble who appears to savor every sonic and atmospheric challenge.”
– Gramophone

“Stoltzman remains one of the most, if not the most,
expressive clarinet soloists in the world.”
-Los Angeles Times

The third concert in Chamber Music Monterey Bay’s 52nd season features the Borromeo String Quartet (Nicholas Kitchen and Kristopher Tong, violins Mai Motobuchi, viola; Yeesun Kim, cello) and two-time Grammy award winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman.

They return to Carmel to perform String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 by Claude Debussy; Etudes and Lullabies by Sebastian Currier (a California Central Coast Premiere); Quintet for Clarinet and String Quartet by Jean Françaix; and Quintet in A major for Clarinet and Strings, K. 581 by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The Borromeo & Stoltzman last performed in Carmel in January 2010.

Having performed together for almost 30 years, each visionary performance of the award-winning Borromeo String Quartet strengthens and deepens its reputation as one of the most important ensembles of our time. Admired and sought after for both its fresh interpretations of the classical music canon and its championing of works by 20th and 21st century composers, the ensemble has been hailed for its “edge-of-the-seat performances,” by The Boston Globe, which called it “simply the best.”

Two-time Grammy Award-winning clarinetist Richard Stoltzman is known as a captivating recitalist, chamber musician, and jazz performer, as well as a prolific recording artist. He gave the first clarinet recitals in the histories of both the Hollywood Bowl and Carnegie Hall. In 1986, Stoltzman became the first wind player to be awarded the Avery Fisher Prize. Recently he was awarded the prestigious Sanford Medal by the Yale School of Music. He has performed or recorded with such jazz and pop greats as the Canadian Brass, Chick Corea, Steve Gadd, Eddie Gomez, Keith Jarrett, Wayn Shorter, Mel Tormé, and Spyro Gyra founder Jeremy Wall. In 2017, Sony Music Entertainment released a 40 CD box set of Stoltzman’s 40 years of recording history.

The Borromeo has presented more than ten string quartet cycles by beloved masters such as Bartok, Beethoven, and Brahms; and it has enjoyed collaborations with composers John Cage, György Ligeti, and Gunther Schuller, among many others. The quartet has been ensemble-in-residence at the New England Conservatory and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum for twenty-three years, and has worked extensively as performers and educators with the Library of Congress (highlighting both its manuscripts and instrument collections), the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Taos School of Music.

Recent and upcoming seasons include the premiere of a new work by Aaron Jay Kernis; a new multi-media collaboration with visual artist and director Doug Fitch celebrating Beethoven’s 250th and the BSQ’s 30th; a sold out recital at Carnegie Hall, where it premiered portions of Bach’s Well Tempered Clavier arranged by first violininst Nicholas Kitchen (which the BSQ recorded and which hit the Billboard charts); and performances in Switzerland, Japan, Korea and China; the Bartók Cycle in Boston, San Francisco and at the Library of Congress; and appearances at Carnegie Hall and Shriver Hall, which have co-commissioned a new work by Sebastian Currier for the BSQ, the Schubert Club in Minneapolis, and the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival.

“Nothing less than masterful” (Cleveland.com), the Borromeo Quartet has received numerous awards throughout its illustrious career, including Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Career Grant and Martin E. Segal Award, and Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award. It was also a recipient of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and top prizes at the International String Quartet Competition in Evian, France.

KAZU 90.3 FM is the proud sponsor of this concert. Listen to Chamber Music Monterey Bay concert broadcasts on KAZU HD2 Classical. Details at http://www.KAZU.org

Borromeo String Quartet will visit Monterey’s Walter Colton Middle School on Friday, January 18 for two interactive student outreach sessions with music director Paul Dunsmoor and his music students as part of Chamber Music Monterey Bay’s Visiting Artists Outreach program.

Learn more about the music on the program by attending Chamber Music Monterey Bay’s popular pre-concert lecture with musicologist Kai Christiansen at 6:45 p.m. Kids up Front and Free! Students in grades 3-12 and music teachers receive FREE tickets. $15.00 discounted tickets are available for their adult companions through Chamber Music Monterey Bay’s education program. Experience the concert up close.

Ticket prices: $44.00 – $64.00; $15.00 for adult students under 30 years of age and active military. Tickets are available at ChamberMusicMontereyBay.org or (831) 625-2212. Box office opens at 5:45 p.m. on the day of the concert.

Chamber Music Monterey Bay is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization whose mission is to preserve the tradition of live classical chamber music performance and explore the evolution of this intimate art form through commissions of new compositions and local educational outreach.