The wonderful Lyris Quartet brings their charming European classical style back to Boston Court. This time with a program designed to elevate historically overlooked string quartets during the time of Mozart.
The evening will include one of the rare female composers of the time, Fanny Hensel Mendelssohn; selections from a series of short string quartets by the musical prodigy Joseph Bologne (Chevalier de Saint-Georges), one of the first prominent classical composers of African descent; and Mozart’s Dissonance String Quartet.
This concert is being presented for FREE as part of Boston Court’s commitment to make these awful 18 months just a little bit better. This is made possible through generous support from the Los Angeles Department of Arts & Culture, The Colburn Foundation, Pasadena Rotary, and Pasadena Showcase House for the Arts.
THE ARTISTS
The Lyris Quartet described as “radiant…exquisite… and powerfully engaged” by Mark Swed of the L.A. Times was founded in 2008.
Members of the quartet have won top prizes at the Tchaikovsky International Competition and Aspen Music Festival and have collaborated with renowned artists Natalia Gutman, David Geringas, Martha Argerich, Alban Gerhardt, Boris Pergamenschikov, Guillame Sutre, Myung-Whun Chung, and Richard Stoltzman. Lyris has collaborated closely with composers Krystof Penderecki, Andrew Norman, Oliver Knussen, Steven Mackey, John Adams, Bruce Broughton, Peter Knell, Kurt Rohde, Paquito D’Rivera, Wadada Leo Smith, and Gerard Schurmann.
They appeared alongside composer/pianist Billy Childs as part of the LA Phil’s Jazz and World music series at Disney Hall and with Steve Reich at LACMA’s Bing Hall. The quartet has appeared throughout North America, Europe, and Asia in a diverse range of ensembles including Grammy nominated groups Absolute Ensemble, Southwest Chamber Music, and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa as well as solo and chamber appearances in various festivals such as Ravinia, Brahms Festival in Madrid, Music Academy of the West, Banff Centre for the Arts, Czech SommerFest, and Oregon Festival of American Music among others.
This season, Lyris was invited by the LA Phil to perform on their Green Umbrella series and on their tribute concert to composer Steven Stucky. New projects include innovative multimedia concerts with artists Andrew Burke and Ana Prvacki as well as opening for Kraftwerk and Ben Harper. They also gave the west coast premiere of David Lang’s “The Difficulty of Crossing a Field”. This year will mark their fifth season as the resident ensemble for the critically acclaimed series Jacaranda: Music at the Edge. The Lyris Quartet is the founding resident ensemble of the Hear Now Music Festival which focuses on the music of living Los Angeles composers. As part of this series, they have collaborated with and premiered works by Stephen Hartke, Don Davis, Arturo Cardélus, and Veronika Krausas, among others.
The Lyris Quartet has recorded for Toccata Classics, ARS and Naxos.
