Mar. 12-19 Jupiter String Quartet Presented by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music
Jupiter String Quartet Presented by
Arizona Friends of Chamber Music
as part of the Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival
Featuring the Arizona Premiere of
Stephen Andrew Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth
Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at www.jensenartists.com/jupiter-string-quartet
Sunday, March 12-19, 2023
Leo Rich Theater | 260 S. Church Ave. | Tucson, AZ
“The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
www.jupiterquartet.com
Tucson, AZ – The internationally acclaimed Jupiter String Quartet –– winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Banff International String Quartet Competition –– will perform as part of the 2023 Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, presented by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, taking place from Sunday, March 12-19, 2023.
The Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Nelson Lee and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Brought together by the ties both familial and musical, the Jupiter Quartet is now celebrating its 22nd year together.
On Sunday March 12, the Jupiter Quartet will perform in the festival’s opening concert with the Sitkovetsky Trio; pianist Bernadette Harvey; oboist Randall Ellis; clarinetist Alan R. Kay; bassoonist Frank Morelli; hornist David Jolley; and flutist Tara Helen O’Connor in a program featuring music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Julia Adolphe, Franz Schubert, and Johannes Brahms.
As part of the concert on March 14, the Jupiter Quartet will perform Eleanor Alberga’s String Quartet No. 2. On March 15, the group will perform Mozart’s String Quartet in F Major (“Prussian”), K. 590. The Quartet will be joined by Sitkovetsky Trio cellist Isang Enders on March 17, for a performance of Schubert’s String “Cello” Quintet in C Major. Then on March 18, as part of a festival fundraising event, the Jupiter Quartet will be joined by Alan R. Kay for a performance of Clarinet Quintet in B-flat Major, Op. 34 by Carl Maria Von Weber.
The festival will conclude on March 19, with a concert featuring the Jupiter Quartet in the Arizona premiere of Stephen Andrew Taylor’s work, Chaconne/Labyrinth, which was commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music in 2021 and premiered virtually that year in a concert presented online by AFCM. Chaconne/Labyrinth was Taylor’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He writes:
“‘Chaconne’ is an old-fashioned word for a repeating chord progression, like the 12-bar blues…The chords keep returning, only to point in new directions. This is how [I] felt over [2020]: stuck in a loop, but at the same time lost in a maze, desperately seeking the way out. At the center of this maze, like the Minotaur of Greek myth, lies a depiction of the coronavirus that has so profoundly changed our world. After this encounter—marked by strange, percussive sounds—the quartet traces their way, like following Ariadne’s thread, back through the labyrinth.”
More about the Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter String Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Music at Menlo, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
About Arizona Friends of Chamber Music: Arizona Friends of Chamber Music exists to ensure that the adults, students, and children of Tucson can experience the chamber music genre in its highest professional form. AFCM welcomes all people, no matter their age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, political status, or disability. AFCM endeavors to present excellent chamber music at a price below the actual cost of organizing performances of the world-class musicians (and for free to school children), by securing donations from individuals, businesses, and grant-conferring institutions. AFCM’s volunteers, Board members, and partners strive for excellence in all associated events, materials, communications, and personal interactions so that all about AFCM is of the same high caliber as the music.
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