The Cypress will perform selections of Haydn, Beethoven, Griffes, and Lees, and share their insights about these masterworks.
Known for its elegant performances, the Cypress String
Quartet (Cecily Ward, violin; Tom Stone, violin; Ethan Filner, viola; and
Jennifer Kloetzel, cello) has been praised by Gramophone for its “artistry of uncommon insight and cohesion,” and
its sound has been called “beautifully proportioned and powerful” by The Washington Post. The Cypress Quartet
was formed in San Francisco in 1996, and maintains a busy national and
international tour schedule, making appearances on concert series and in venues
including Cal Performances, Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Stanford
Lively Arts, Krannert Center, Ravinia Festival, and the 92nd Street
Y’s series at SubCulture in downtown New York.
Their collaborators include artists such as Leon Fleisher, Jon
Nakamatsu, Awadagin Pratt, Gary Hoffman, Atar Arad, James Dunham, and Zuill
Bailey. In addition to their touring
schedule, CSQ has added three CD’s to their ten-album discography within the
last three years, including the complete Beethoven Late Quartets, an all-Dvořák
album, and their American Album featuring
Barber, Griffes, and Dvořák.
Through its signature Call & Response program the
Cypress Quartet commissions and premieres new string quartets from both
emerging and celebrated composers. To
date, the Cypress Quartet has commissioned and premiered over 30 pieces, four
of which were chosen for Chamber Music America’s list of “101 Great
American Ensemble Works.” As part of its
efforts to support and promote Bay Area arts and music, the CSQ self-curates a
Salon Series held in intimate, exquisite spaces in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Palo Alto.
The Cypress Quartet members received degrees from many of
the world’s finest conservatories before coming together as a quartet. These
include The Juilliard School, Guildhall
School of
Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music (London),
The Cleveland Institute of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
After a residency at the Banff Centre and a fellowship at the Center for
Advanced Quartet Studies of the Aspen Music Festival, the Quartet coached
intensively in London
with the Amadeus Quartet. CSQ play
exceptional instruments including violins by Antonio Stradivari (1681) and
Carlos Bergonzi (1733), a viola by Vittorio Bellarosa (1947), and a cello by
Hieronymus Amati II (1701).
Visit www.cypressquartet.com
for more information.