Emerson String Quartet to Opens Louisville Beethoven Festival February 8th & 9th

The Chamber Music Society of Louisville will present the Emerson String quartet in the first two, of six concerts February 8th & 9th, celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. The Louisville Beethoven Festival is a program of international proportion and one of very few presentations of all 16 of Beethoven's string quartets in one cycle in the U.S. in 2020, and, it's all coming to Comstock Concerts Hall, 105 W. Brandeis Ave in Louisville, KY

The Emerson String Quartet is widely recognized as the greatest living string quartet and secures that view with an unprecedented nine Grammy Awards in classical music. Grammy Award #5 was as for their 7-CD box set recording of all 16 Beethoven String Quartets. Eugene Drucker, Emerson co-founder and violin for the ESQ says of their Louisville Beethoven Festival appearance: "When we last played for the Chamber Music Society in Louisville, we were presented with four 'Louisville Slugger' baseball bats. Mindful of having been honored with such a recognizable symbol of excellence from your city, we hope to hit it out of the park with our upcoming Beethoven cycle. At the very least, we can rely on the greatness of the music: there's no doubt that Beethoven hit it out of the park!"

The opening programs will be presented on two consecutive days, Feb 8th & 9th exploring Beethoven's earliest quartets followed by pieces written in his middle period. This approach shows the early influence of Haydn and Mozart as Beethoven develops his style. The closing piece on each day will be from the famous Razumovsky quartets that offers great insight into Beethoven's' growth and genius. These pieces were commissioned by Prince Andrey Razumovsky, then the Russian ambassador to Vienna, and feature Russian themes. They are regarded as some of Beethoven's most technically accomplished works, and most difficult to play. When challenged about these pieces Beethoven replied "They are not for you, but for a later age!"(Thayer's Life of Beethoven), and so they were.

Tickets may be purchased at the door, or in advance, online, at: http://louisvillechambermusic.eventbrite.com/. General Admission Adult tickets are $40.00, Senior tickets (65+) are $35.00, with student tickets available for $5.00 (age limit applies). A pre-concert talk will precede the performance at 2 PM, adjacent to Comstock Hall. Free parking is conveniently available next to the University of Louisville School of Music at 105 W. Brandeis Avenue.

The Chamber Music Society of Louisville was founded in 1938 and is Kentucky's oldest chamber music organization. The Chamber Music Society of Louisville also sponsors the Macauley Chamber Music Competition to encourage an interest in chamber music among young musicians in the Kentuckiana area. The Chamber Music Society of Louisville is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and operates with the support of its longtime partner, the University of Louisville School of Music.

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