Award-Winning Aeolus Quartet Performs Mozart Clarinet Quintet With Franklin Cohen On CMSDetroit Regional Series

The award-winning Aeolus Quartet is joined by revered clarinetist Franklin Cohen, former principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, for three concerts on the Chamber Music Society of Detroit's new regional partner series. The concerts take place Friday, January 18, 7:30 PM in the Patriot Theater at the Grosse Pointe War Memorial; Saturday, January 19, 7:30 PM at the Village Theater at Cherry Hill in Canton; and Sunday, January 20, 3:00 PM at Oakland University's Varner Recital Hall in Rochester Hills. The program features Mozart's masterful Clarinet Quintet, as well as an early Beethoven Quartet, Op. 18, No. 3 in D major, and American composer Ben Johnston's String Quartet No. 4, Variations on Amazing Grace.

Tickets range in price from $10 for students to $45 for premium seats, and are available by phone at 313-335-3300 or online at www.CMSDetroit.org.

Formed in 2008 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States, including the Plowman, Coleman and Fischoff International Chamber Music Competitions. They have performed across North America, Europe, and Asia in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Reinberger Recital Hall at Severance Hall, Merkin Hall, The Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. The Aeolus served as the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and previously served in a similar capacity at the University of Texas at Austin. The Quartet is currently based in New York City.

The Aeolus Quartet has released two critically acclaimed albums of classical and contemporary works through the Longhorn/Naxos label which are available on iTunes, Amazon, and major retailers worldwide. A third album of contemporary and classic American composers is schedule for worldwide release with Azica Records this year.

Dedicated to bringing music into the community, the Aeolus Quartet has been widely recognized for its highly innovative and engaging outreach programs, and has participated in award-winning educational projects in Stanford, metropolitan Washington, DC, throughout the state of Texas, and across metropolitan Detroit over several seasons under the auspices of the Chamber Music Society of Detroit.

Principal clarinet emeritus of The Cleveland Orchestra, Franklin Cohen has distinguished himself as one of the outstanding clarinetists of his generation. Franklin first gained widespread international acclaim at the age of 22, when he became the first clarinetist awarded top prize at the International Munich Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the Cleveland Orchestra in nearly 200 performances at well-known venues including Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and Blossom Music Center, and has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia.

Franklin Cohen began his professional career performing with the American Symphony Orchestra when Leopold Stokowski chose him as the principal clarinet. He subsequently served as principal clarinet with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Casals Festival Orchestra. He has participated in such major music festivals as Aspen, Casals, Santa Fe, and Marlboro, has been featured alongside such well-known string quartets as the Guarneri, Miami and Tokyo, and has made numerous recordings, two of which have won Grammy Awards. Since 1976, Cohen has been the chair of the clarinet department at the Cleveland Institute of Music.

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