Segerstrom Center to Welcome Dover Quartet in March

Segerstrom Center presents the Dover Quartet on Thursday, March 17 at 8 p.m. in Samueli Theater. The New Yorker recently dubbed the Dover Quartet "the young American string quartet of the moment," and The Strad raved that the quartet is "already pulling away from their peers with their exceptional interpretive maturity, tonal refinement and taut ensemble." For its Center debut, the Quartet will perform Mozart's String Quartet No. 17 in B-flat Major, K. 458; the Center premiere performance of French composer Dutilleux's "Ainsi la nuit" (1976) and Shostakovich's Quartet No. 2 in A Major, Op. 68. A free Preview Talk with musicologist and author Herbert Glass will take place at 7:15 p.m.

Tickets for the Dover Quartet start at $29 and are now available online at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa or by calling (714) 556-2787. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts applauds the Colburn Foundation for its support of the Chamber Music Series. Kia is the Official Automotive Partner of the Center and United Airlines is the Official Airline of the Center. Classical KUSC is the Media Partner of the Chamber Music Series.

Following the Dover Quartet, Segerstrom Center's 2015 - 2016 Chamber Music Series will continue with the St. Lawrence String Quartet on April 8, 2016.

The Dover Quartet includes Joel Link, violin; Bryan Lee, violin; Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola and Camden Shaw, cello. The Quartet is lauded for performing with a youthful enthusiasm (all members are still in their 20s) while exhibiting true musical conviction.

The Quartet catapulted to international stardom following a stunning sweep of the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, becoming one of the most in-demand ensembles in the world. It won not only the Grand Prize, but also all three Special Prizes. In 2013-14, the quartet became the first ever Quartet-in- Residence for the venerated Curtis Institute of Music.

During the 2014-15 season, the Dover Quartet has performed more than 100 concerts throughout the United States, Canada, South America, and Europe. Highlights included concerts for the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C, Schneider Concerts in New York City, and Wigmore Hall in London. The quartet has also performed with pianists Andre Watts, Anne-Marie McDermott, and Jon Kimura Parker; the violists Roberto Di?az and Cynthia Phelps; and the Pacifica Quartet.

In addition to the Banff Competition awards, the Quartet also won top prizes at the Fischoff Competition and the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. They have has performed in festivals such as Chamber Music Northwest, Artosphere, La Jolla SummerFest, Bravo! Vail and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. During the 2013-14 season, the Quartet acted as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Festival. Additionally, members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world's finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra and the Tokyo Philharmonic.

The Dover Quartet draws from the musical lineage of the Cleveland, Vermeer and Guarneri Quartets. Its young members have studied at the Curtis Institute and Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, where the Quartet was in residence from 2011-2013. The Quartet has been mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree and Peter Wiley. The artists are dedicated to sharing their music with underserved communities and is an active member of Music for Food, an initiative to help musicians fight hunger in their home communities.

In 2016, the Quartet will participate in week-long residencies for Chamber Music Northwest, the Phoenix Chamber Music Festival, the Chamber Music Society of Logan and the Festival Internacional de Musica de Cartagena. They have been reengaged a remarkable number of times for appearances throughout the United States, Canada, Germany, Austria, Italy and Great Britain.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School, where students ages 3 - 14 are taught by acclaimed teachers utilizing the renowned ABT National Training Curriculum in studios utilized by the world's greatest dancers and choreographers.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events.

The Center's education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year. In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independently acclaimed organizations: Tony Award®-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

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