Pittsfield — South Mountain Concerts caters to all tastes in chamber music, from the prim stylings of Franz Joseph Haydn to the most challenging works of the avant-garde pioneers. And the Pacifica String Quartet’s program on Sunday, September 3 runs the gamut. The group will perform a program of Dvořák, Prokofiev, and Beethoven, with one of the pieces considered among the greatest works of music ever composed.
The multi-GRAMMY Award-winning Pacifica Quartet has been together for nearly three decades—long enough (with many years to spare) to establish itself internationally as one of chamber music’s premiere ensembles. But others have done that as well. What makes the Pacifica different is its commitment to new music. And not just any new music, but that of such daring pioneers as Elliott Carter, Keeril Makan, Julia Wolfe, and Shulamit Ran. For example, the quartet has performed the complete Carter cycle in San Francisco, New York, Chicago, and Houston. They won a GRAMMY award in 2008 for their Naxos recording of Carter’s Quartets Nos. 1 and 5.
The Pacifica’s four-CD recording of the Shostakovich cycle includes other contemporary Soviet works, including a piece that appears on the group’s September 3 program, Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 2 in F Major.
But these players still enjoy performing the foundational works, having recorded, for example, the Brahms and Mozart clarinet quintets with clarinetist Anthony McGill and the Brahms quintet with piano legend Menahem Pressler.
The Pacifica Quartet members live in Bloomington, Ind., where they teach at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, serving as the school’s quartet-in-residence. They held down a similar gig at the University of Chicago for 17 years.
Violinist Simin Ganatra has won wide recognition for her performances throughout the United States and abroad. Critics have described her playing as “creating a miraculous sense of flow and otherworldly beauty.” Ganatra graduated from the Oberlin Conservatory, where she served as concertmaster of the Oberlin Conservatory Orchestra and received the Louis Kaufman Prize for outstanding performance in chamber music.
Violinist Austin Hartman has taught and performed throughout the United States and abroad in such venues as Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and the Baroque Art Hall in Seoul. He has collaborated with such artists as the Cleveland, Shanghai, Tokyo, Vermeer, and Juilliard Quartets as well as with Menahem Pressler, Sharon Isbin, and Anthony McGill. Hartman has earned Artist Diplomas from both the Yale School of Music and the Juilliard School, as well as degrees from the New England Conservatory and Cleveland Institute of Music.
Violist and Curtis graduate Mark Holloway has appeared at such festivals and series as Marlboro, Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Caramoor, Banff, Taos, Music from Angel Fire, Mainly Mozart, Alpenglow, Plush, Whittington, Olympic, Concordia Chamber Players, Kon-Tiki, Bay Chamber Concerts, and with the Boston Chamber Music Society. He performs regularly at festivals in France, Musikdorf Ernen in Switzerland, and at the International Musicians Seminar in Prussia Cove, England. Mr. Holloway studied under Michelle LaCourse at Boston University, where he received his bachelor’s summa cum laude. He received his diploma from the Curtis Institute of Music as a student of Michael Tree.
Cellist Brandon Vamos has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as the Taipei City Symphony, the Suwon Symphony in Seoul, the Samara Symphony in Russia, the New Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Collaborators include Paul Katz, Michael Tree, Yo-Yo Ma, Menahem Pressler, and the Emerson Quartet. Vamos studied at the Eastman School of Music, where he earned a Bachelor’s of Music Degree as a student of Paul Katz.
Here is the Pacifica Quartet’s program for September 3:
- Dvorak — String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96
- Prokofiev — String Quartet No. 2 in F Major, Op. 92
- Beethoven — String Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132 (considered among the greatest works of music ever composed)
Hear the Pacifica String Quartet perform a program of Dvořák, Prokofiev, and Beethoven on Sunday, September 3, 3 p.m., at South Mountain in Pittsfield. Ticket information is available here or by calling (413) 442-2106.
