The 2022 winners of the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award make their much-anticipated debut at Chamber Music Detroit.
PROGRAM
MEMBERS OF THE AIZURI QUARTET
Schubert: Scherzo: Allegro from the Trio in B-flat major, D. 471
Mozart: Adagio and Fugue in D minor, K. 404a (after JS Bach, BWV 853)
Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson: Movement for String Trio
Gyorgy Kurtag: "Virág az ember, Mijakónak" and "Hommage à J.S.B." from Signs, Games, and Messages
Adolphus Hailstork: Three Spirituals
Caroline Shaw: Limestone and Felt
Beethoven: Adagio - Allegro con brio from String Trio in G major Op. 9 No. 1
“Elegant, inquisitive”
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Emma Frucht, VIOLIN
Miho Saegusa, VIOLIN
Brian Hong, VIOLA
Caleb van der Swaagh, CELLO
The Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing its music-making with infectious energy, joy, and warmth. The ensemble cultivates curiosity in listeners and invites audiences into the concert experience through its innovative programming and the depth and fire of its performances.
Praised by The Washington Post for “astounding” and “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was named the recipient of the 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award by Chamber Music America, and was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition.
The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” —I Care If You Listen), nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums of 2018. Aizuri’s follow-up album, Earthdrawn Skies, was released in 2023 and praised by NPR as an album that “convincingly connects the dots in wildly diverse music stretching over eight centuries…arousing solemn contemplation, cosmic curiosity, folksy delight and introspective scrutiny.”
The Aizuri believes in an integrative approach to music-making, in which teaching, performing, writing, arranging, curation, and role in the community are all connected. Formed in 2012 and combining four distinctive musical personalities into a powerful collective, the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing that is noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail. www.aizuriquartet.com
