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Live From FM 91
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Pacifica String Quartet (Simin Ganatra, violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello)
Friday, December 1, 2006
Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has carved out a compelling musical path. Since the group first came together in 1994, the ensemble has swept top prizes in several leading international competitions from the Cleveland Quartet Award to the Naumburg. This past spring the Pacifica was awarded the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant – only the second chamber music ensemble ever to be selected.
The Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe and the Far East. Each season, the ensemble can be heard on many of the nation’s most prominent radio broadcasts, including Chicago’s WFMT, National Public Radio’s Performance Today, and Minnesota Public Radio’s St. Paul Sunday.
Prolific in the recording studio, the Pacifica Quartet has just released a new CD this fall, showcasing music composed during the turbulent decades between World Wars I and II. On Declarations: Music Between the Wars, the ensemble offers string quartets by three enterprising, public-spirited humanists of first half of the 20th century: Czechoslovakia’s Leoš Janáèek, America’s Ruth Crawford Seeger, and Germany’s Paul Hindemith. The Pacifica’s recent recordings of the Complete String Quartets of Felix Mendelssohn have also attracted effusive praise from critics in the US and abroad. On the heels of the release, the ensemble was featured on the cover of Gramophone magazine. Earlier Cedille recordings include Dvorak chamber works (including the Viola Quintet with Michael Tree), and the complete quartets of Easley Blackwood.
The Pacifica Quartet celebrated its 10th anniversary in the 2004-2005 season with great fanfare. The ensemble marked the occasion with its first tour of Japan, its first appearance at Wigmore Hall in London, a performance of all five Elliott Carter quartets for San Francisco Performances, a concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, the release of the complete Mendelssohn string quartets, and more than 60 concerts across the country.
In the 2005-06 season, the Pacifica embarked on a European tour that included a re-engagement at Wigmore Hall in London, debut appearances in Brussels and Stuttgart, a series of appearances in Chicago, two concerts at Lincoln Center in New York, two in Washington DC, and guest appearances across the country from Boston to New Orleans to Tucson. The Pacifica collaborated with a number of distinguished artists over the course of the season including the Emerson and St. Lawrence string quartets, Miro Quartet, Avalon Quartet, and pianists Wu Han and Ursula Oppens.
The Pacifica was appointed a member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s CMS Two program for gifted young musicians in 2002. The position involved the Quartet in a full range of activities organized by The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, from performances in Alice Tully Hall to community partnerships and leading roles in the Society's educational activities.
The Quartet is an ardent advocate of contemporary music, commissioning and performing as many as eight new works a year. A champion of the string quartets of Elliott Carter, the ensemble has distinguished itself with performances of the complete cycle of five quartets in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, and Cleveland, and abroad in Japan, Germany and the Edinburgh International Festival. The New York Times wrote glowingly of the “astounding performances” and the Chicago Tribune praised the Quartet’s “astonishing talent, energy and dedication.” As resident string quartet for Contempo, one of the country’s leading contemporary music organizations, the Quartet presents a series of concerts each year devoted exclusively to new music.
The Pacifica serves as Faculty Quartet in Residence at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, and is Quartet in Residence at the University of Chicago, where it is the first resident ensemble in the history of the institution. Reflecting its dedication to musicians and music lovers of the next generation, the Pacifica Quartet was instrumental in creating the Music Integration Project, an innovative program that provides musical performances and teacher training to inner-city elementary schools. In addition, the Quartet regularly teaches and performs at summer festivals, including Musicorda, Fontana Chamber Arts, Music in the Vineyards, Interlochen Arts Camp and the Madeline Island Music Festival, and is also frequently invited for visiting residencies at universities and schools nationwide.
The Pacifica Quartet was awarded top prizes in three of chamber music’s most important international competitions for young ensembles: the 1996 Coleman Chamber Music Competition, the 1997 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2002, the Quartet was further honored with Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, which led to a series of concerts in eight of America’s most prestigious venues.
The members of the Pacifica Quartet share a unique history of personal and musical friendship. First violinist Simin Ganatra, born and raised in southern California, initially played with cellist Brandon Vamos and violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson while they were all teenagers. Sibbi later introduced violist Masumi Rostad to the group. Originating on the West Coast, where it played many of its earliest concerts together, the Quartet takes its name from the awe-inspiring Pacific Ocean. Throughout their journey as a string quartet, its members continually strive to be Distinct as the billows/yet one as the sea. (James Montgomery)
For further information about the Pacifica Quartet, please visit: www.pacificaquartet.com
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