ASPECT Foundation For Music & Arts Presents Zemlinsky Quartet

The ASPECT Foundation for Music & Arts opens its third New York City season of illuminating performances with Zemlinsky, Janacek, Dvorak and Their Muses on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 7:30pm at Bohemian National Hall. The concert features the acclaimed Zemlinsky String Quartet in an exploration of the culture and music of Czech romantics. The program includes the quartet's namesake Alexander Zemlinsky's String Quartet No. 1, Janacek's String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters," and Dvorak's Love Songs, Op. 83. Founded in 1994, the Zemlinsky Quartet, "a perfect union of intimate interaction between four musicians" (Seen and Heard International), is continuing the Czech string quartet tradition in style, performing a wide-ranging repertoire on stages around the world.

Musicologist Nicholas Chong, a professor at Rutgers' Mason Gross School of the Arts and Columbia University, curates an illustrated talk during the concert and interview with the musicians. Chong specializes in the music of the late Classical and Romantic eras in Germany and Austria, in particular on the relationship of the creation and reception of musical works to religious, political, and intellectual history.

Program Information
Zemlinsky, Janacek, Dvorak and Their Muses
Tuesday, October 16,2018 at 7:30pm
Bohemian National Hall | 321 E 73rd St. | New York, NY
Tickets: $45 includes wine and refreshments

Performers:
Zemlinsky String Quartet
Nicholas Chong, musicologist

Program:
Zemlinsky - String Quartet No. 1
Janacek - String Quartet No. 2 "Intimate Letters"
Dvorak - Love Songs, Op. 83

About the Zemlinksy String Quartet
Founded in 1994 while the members were still students, the Zemlinsky Quartet has become amuch lauded example of the Czech string quartet tradition. The Zemlinsky Quartet won the First Grand Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2010. They have also been awarded top prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition (2007), Prague Spring International Music Competition (2005) and London International String Quartet Competition (2006), where they also received the Audience Prize. The Quartet was recipient of the Alexander Zemlinsky Advancement Award in 2008. Other notable prizes include Beethoven International Competition (1999), New Talent Bratislava (2003), Martin? Foundation String Quartet Competition (2004), and the Prize of Czech Chamber Music Society (2005). In the season 2016/17, Zemlinsky Quartet was appointed as the residential ensemble of the Czech Chamber Music Society.

While students at the Prague Conservatory and the Academy of Performing Arts Prague, the ensemble was coached by members of renowned Czech string quartets including the Talich, Prague, Kocian and Pražák Quartets. The ensemble also took part in several master classes including ProQuartet, in France and Sommerakademie in Reichenau, Austria where they were awarded First Prize for the best interpretation of a work by Janacek. From 2005 to 2008, the quartet studied with Walter Levin, the first violinist of LaSalle Quartet. Their recent mentor has been Josef Kluso?, the violist of the Pražák Quartet.

Zemlinsky Quartet is named after the Austrian composer, conductor and teacher Alexander Zemlinsky (1871-1942), whose enormous contribution to Czech, German and Jewish culture during his 16-year residence in Prague had been underrated until recently. His four string quartets (the second onebeing dedicated to his student and brother-in-law Arnold Schönberg) belong to the basic repertoire of the ensemble. Since 2005, the quartet has maintained a special relationship with the Alexander Zemlinsky Foundation in Vienna.

The Zemlinsky Quartet performs regularly in the Czech Republic and abroad (Germany, Switzerland, Austria, France, Monaco, Luxembourg, Spain, Italy, Belgium, Great Britain, Ireland, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Canada, USA, Brazil, Japan, South Korea). Recent major appearances of the Zemlinsky Quartet include London's Wigmore Hall, Cité de la Musique in Paris, Library of Congress, Place des Arts in Montreal, Prague Spring Festival, and their New York debut on Schneider/New School Concerts Series. Their vast repertoire contains more than 200 works ranging from Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms, and Dvorak to works by contemporary composers. The members of the ensemble also perform as soloists and are individual prize-winners of several competitions (Concertino Praga, Spohr International Competition Weimar, Tribune of Young Artists UNESCO, Rotary Music Competition Nürnberg, Beethoven International Competition, Kocian International Competition).

Between 2006-2011, the Zemlinsky Quartet were Assistant Quartet-in-Residence at Musikakademie Basel in Switzerland. Music education is an important part of their professional life and during their tours, the quartet is often invited to give master classes to students of any age. They also perform educational concerts for students. Recently, František Sou?ek and Petr Holman have been appointed Professors at the Prague Conservatory.

About ASPECT Foundation for Music and Arts
ASPECT Foundation for Music and Arts was founded by Irina Knaster in London in 2011 and relocated to New York City in 2016. ASPECT presents a new concert format - one that transforms the traditional recital into an intimate, engaging, and thought-provoking blend of performance, speech, and image.

The Foundation's chamber-music events feature some of today's leading musicians and music experts. For each concert, they set the works on the program in context with presentations supported by visuals. These "illustrated talks" reveal fascinating details about the composer, the music, and the cultural history of the period in question.

ASPECT aims both to support and promote artists, and to welcome audiences old and new to explore new aspects of a classical repertoire of endless riches. It's more than a concert. To find out more, please visit www.aspectfoundation.net.

*Photo (c) Ilona Sochorová. Photographed in The Czech Radio building.