Borromeo Quartet to Deliver Two Premieres at Carnegie Hall

On October 20th the Borromeo Quartet delivers two premieres across three centuries in Carngie's Weill Hall at 7:30pm.

The first of the two is the New York Premiere of BSQ First Violinist Nicholas Kitchen's transcription of Bach's Well Tempered Klavier Book 1. The quartet recently released a recording of the Bach, which the San Francisco Chronicle praised for its "appealing feats of invention," calling it "a familiar body of music cast in a wonderful new light. "

The transcription project has unexpected origins - Beijing traffic. While the quartet was on tour and traveling between locales, the BSQ found itself stuck in the backseat of gridlocked city traffic - time in which Kitchen decided to embark on a project he had long dreamed of undertaking, arranging Book 1 for string quartet. The complete arrangement came into being over several months and continents, and will be performed across the globe in the coming seasons.

The second premiere on the program by Sebastian Currier follows a more traditional definition of the word. Co-commissioned by Carnegie Hall and Shriver Concert Hall Series, the BSQ will give the world premieres of two pieces by the Grawemeyer winning composer: Etude 6, "Velocities" and Lullaby 2, "Dreaming" from Currier's Etudes and Lullabies. These pieces are part of a larger collection of works being performed by leading string quartets across the world over several years.

The program also includes Mendelssohn's String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 13 and Schumann's String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3. More information on the program and purchasing tickets can be found here.

Recently celebrating its 25th anniversary, each visionary performance of the award-winning Borromeo String Quartet strengthens its reputation as one of the most important ensembles of our time, "simply the best there is." (Boston Globe)

A pioneer in its use of technology, the Quartet strives to redefine the classical music landscape through innovation; the first string quartet to utilize laptop computers in concert to read music, it's also the first classical ensemble to make and distribute its own live recordings to audiences. Passionate educators, the Borromeo's programs for young people include MATHEMUSICA, a fun and uniquely effective learning environment combining music and science study.

With an expansive repertoire ranging from Beethoven to Gunther Schuller, its signature cycle of Bartok String Quartets, and collaborations with some of this generation's most important composers-John Cage, Gyorgy Ligeti, Jennifer Higdon, and John Harbison - the Quartet performs on such major concert stages as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Tuscany's Terra di Siena Chamber Music Festival, and at venues in Switzerland, Japan, Korea, and China. The BSQ is Quartet-in-Residence at the New England Conservatory, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Taos School of Music. Recent and upcoming engagements include appearances at the Library of Congress, Peabody Institute, San Francisco Conservatory, La Jolla Music Society, and Trinity Church Wall Street, among many others. Visit www.borromeoquartet.org for more.