St. Lawrence String Quartet

It takes a brainy group indeed to be Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford University, which is where the St. Lawrence String Quartet calls home. Its members are as committed to new works by such leading composers of our day as John Adams and Osvaldo Golijov as they are to the established quartet literature of Haydn and the 19th and 20th century giants who followed him.  In fact, among their honors are two Grammy Award nominations for Golijov’s Yiddishbbuk.  Said Alex Ross in The New Yorker, “The St. Lawrence are remarkable not simply for the quality of their music making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection.” In addition to performing quartets by Haydn and Dvorak, they will perform R. Murray Schafer’s String Quartet No. 3, in which they may seem more like samurai warriors than string players. A staple of the ensemble’s repertoire, Schafer’s quartet was described by Mr. Ross as a “spellbinding spectacle, and a hilarious send-up of the emotional infantilism of the ultramodern repertory.”

CALLING ALL AMATEUR STRING QUARTET PLAYERS…THE ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET WANTS YOU!

Following the concert, we are hosting a “late night jam session” with the St. Lawrence String Quartet.  We are asking all amateurs of any age and ability to join the Quartet on stage at Richardson to read a Haydn String Quartet. The St. Lawrence Quartet has a special love for the Haydn Quartets and they have said that their “primary focus for this event is our wild enthusiasm for Haydn and how we want to convert the masses to the religion of Haydn.”

To sign up, please call the Concert Office at 609-258-2800 or e-mail John Burkhalter at jburkhal@princeton.edu.  Please send your name, phone number and instrument.  The sign up deadline is November 4 and space is limited so act quickly.  The Concert Office is open Monday – Friday, 10AM -4PM.  Please leave a message if you call and get an answering machine.

Tell all of your music playing friends! The event is open to all string players – violins, violas and cellos.