THE STRADIVARI QUARTET
DATE: FEBRUARY 10, 2012
TIME: 8PM
TICKET PRICE: $29

The Stradivari Quartet
Xiaoming Wang, violin
Soyoung Yoon, violin
Lech Antonio Uszynski, viola
Maja Weber, cello

Click Here to read about Four Stories, Four Strads

Program  – Four Stories, Four Strads

Quartet in G minor, D. 173                                                                                         Franz Schubert
                                                                                                                                                       (1797-1828)
Allegro con brio
Andantino
Menuetto: Allegro vivace
Allegro

La Oracion del Torero (The Bullfighter’s Prayer)                    Joaquin Turina (1882-1949)

Quartet No. 4                                                                                                              Béla Bartók    (1881-1945)

Allegro
Prestissimo, con sordino
Non troppo lento
Allegretto pizzicato
Allegro molto

INTERMISSION

Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2                                                                              Johannes Brahms
                                                                                                                                                     (1833-1897)
Allegro non troppo
Andante moderato
Quasi Minuetto, moderato
Finale: Allegro non assai

The Zurich-based quartet was formed when the Swiss Stradivari Foundation, Habisreutinger, lent two violins, a viola and a cello to four outstanding young musicians.  The members of the quartet hail from around the globe.  Violinist  Xiaoming Wang was born in China and started playing the violin at the age of four. While still at school, Wang continued his musical development and education under Prof. Xu Lu at the Central Conservatory in Beijing, where he studied violin performance for ten years.  Violinist Soyoung Yoon was born in Korea and received her first violin lesson at the tender age of five. Her teacher, Professor Nam Yun Kim, nurtured her impressive talent in Seoul before she transferred to Professor Zakhar Bron’s masterclass in Cologne and Zurich.  Violist Lech Antonio Uszynski was born in Italy to a family of Polish musicians.  He grew up in Switzerland and began learning violin from his father at the age of six. Uszynski has also been playing the viola since the age of 13. He was later a double winner – in violin and viola – at the Swiss Youth Music Competition. He studied violin under Professor Ana Chumachenco and Professor Zakhar Bron in Zurich, and drew inspiration for his viola play from Rudolf Barshai. Cellist Maja Weber was born in Switzerland and began playing the cello at the age of four, when the instrument was bigger than she was. Her teachers, Prof. Frans Helmerson, Prof. Walter Levin and Alban Berg, had a major impact of her adolescence. At a very young age she played in the family quartet and in the Ars Amata Zürich, then formed the Amar Quartet with her sister, winning 1st prize at Bubenreuth, 2nd prize at Geneva and Graz, and the Millennium Award in London. She created the Stradivari Quartet and in doing so is pursuing her ideal of telling stories with music.In the hands of each these talented musicians are historic instruments .  Each was hand-crafted by master violin maker Antonio Stradivari (1644-1737), widely considered the greatest artisan in this field.  Of 1,100 legendary stringed instruments which the industrious and tireless Stradivari made right into his old age, around 650 invaluable treasures remain, including an estimated nine violas and 50 cellos.
Each of the musicians’ instruments has a history that dates three centuries and has multiple chapters. Wang plays the Aurea, the “golden violin” that comes from Stradivari’s “Golden Period,” circa 1700-1720. It was during that time that Antonio Stradivari is thought to have made his best instruments, including the Aurea, which was made in 1715. Yoon’s violin dates to 1710 and is named after its owner, King George III. According to the quartet’s management company, King George gave the violin to a Scottish officer, whose motto was “Not without my Stradivari.” The officer was killed in the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, but the violin survived undamaged in his horse’s saddle bags.  Uszynski’s viola, the Gibson, was created in 1734 when Antonio Stradivari was 90. It is presumed to be his last contralto viola and is possibly the most priceless of the instruments of his Golden Period.  Weber plays the Bonamy Dobree-Suggia cello, which was created in 1717. It is named, in part, for Portuguese cellist Guilhermina Suggia, who owned it for a time. After her death in 1950, the cello was sold, and the proceeds were used to provide grants for students at the Royal Academy of Music.The Quartet breathes life into the completed work: the work of Stradivari and the works of the composers. What unites them is their love of music; what drives them is their enthusiasm for using their musical talent to tell stories; technical perfection is a basic precondition which can be allowed to slip into the background. This love is something that reaches to the heart that can be felt by anyone who is able and willing to listen.To learn  more about the Stradivari Quartet, please visit http://www.stradivariquartett.com/index_en.html