Saratoga Springs, NY
Mozart, Mendelssohn, and BrahmsSun, July 14, 2024, 3:00 pm
Spa Little Theatre, Saratoga Performing Arts Center
Two hours, including intermission
Program
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
(1756–1791)Quartet for strings in B-flat major, K. 458, "Hunt"
Felix Mendelssohn
(1809–1847)Quartet No. 1 in E-flat major for Strings, Op. 12
(1829)Johannes Brahms
(1833–1897)Quintet in F minor for Piano, Two Violins, Viola, and Cello, Op. 34
(1864)Quick Note
Escher String Quartet
Anna Geniushene
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble appears frequently with CMS.
Highlights of the 2024–25 season find the Quartet performing in many of the great venues and organizations in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Shriver Hall Concert Series, Chamber Music Pittsburgh, University Musical Society at University of Michigan, Spivey Hall, and Chamber Music Houston. In addition to their North American engagements, the Quartet returns to Wigmore Hall for a BBC live broadcast recital as well as other engagements in Germany and continental Europe.
The Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. The Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, OKM Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals.
Beyond the concert hall, the Quartet is proud to announce the creation of a new nonprofit entity, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages. The quartet has also held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University and the University of Akron.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson String Quartet, the Escher quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival.
The Escher String Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M. C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
Anna Geniushene won the silver medal at the 2022 Van Cliburn International Piano Competition and is a current member of CMS’s Bowers Program. Born in Moscow in 1991, she made her recital debut just seven years later in the small hall of the Berlin Philharmonic. She has since developed a versatile career, with performances in major venues such as the Town Hall in Leeds, National Concert Hall in Dublin, Museum of Arts in Tel Aviv, Teatro Carlo Felice in Genova, Great Hall of Moscow Conservatory, and Sala Greppi in Bergamo. A dedicated chamber musician, she has performed piano duo repertoire with her husband, Lukas Geniušas, and has collaborated with the Quartetto di Cremona. Recent and upcoming engagements include debuts with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, Orquesta Filarmónica de Buenos Aires, Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Des Moines Symphony, Kristiansand Symfonieorkester, and Osaka Philharmonic. She also returns to the Taipei Symphony Orchestra and Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra.