University at Buffalo - The State University of New York

Published: September 15, 2005

By PHILIP REHARD
Reporter Contributor

The UB Department of Music is the only concert presenter in the world that annually programs the complete string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven. This year, UB will celebrate the golden anniversary of the landmark Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle with performances by three distinguished string quartets, each of which will perform two programs in the six-concert "cycle."

MUIR STRING QUARTET

The anniversary celebration will open with the insightful and powerful Muir String Quartet performing the first two programs at 8 p.m. Sept. 23 and Sept. 24 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall, North Campus.

The Guarneri String Quartet, which, according to The New York Times, "has no superior on the world's stages," will present the third and fourth concert of the cycle Oct. 28 and Oct. 30, while the lustrous Tokyo String Quartet will conclude the anniversary year with concerts on April 21 and April 23.

As part of the celebration, the first concert by each quartet will provide audience members with an opportunity to hear a pre-concert lecture by a distinguished UB faculty member beginning 45 minutes before the concert. Following that program, audience members are invited to a reception to meet that evening's artists in the Slee Hall lobby.

Before the quartets' second concert, members will informally discuss their careers and the string quartets of Beethoven. That discussion will begin 45 minutes before the beginning of the concert.

Master classes for UB music student will be taught by the Guarneri String Quartet—from 10 a.m. to noon on Oct. 29—and the Tokyo String Quartet—1-3 p.m. on April 22. Both of these classes, to be held in Baird Recital Hall, North Campus, will be free and open to the public.

The first performer in the cycle, the Muir Quartet is a favorite of Buffalo audiences, having performed as part of the Slee Beethoven Cycle at UB more than half a dozen times since 1990. Winner of the 1981 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the 1980 Evian International String Quartet Competition, the Muir first appeared on the scene in 1980, and was greeted with rave reviews and an extensive feature in The New Yorker.

The quartet has been in residence at Boston University's College of Fine Arts since 1983, and gives annual summer workshops at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI).

The Muir also has given master classes at schools nationwide, including the Eastman School of Music, the Curtis Institute, Oberlin Conservatory and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.

For more than a decade, the quartet has taught, coached and administered the Emerging Quartets and Composers Program at Deer Valley, originally through the Snowbird Institute, where the Muir works in tandem with composer Joan Tower.

Tickets for each concert in the Slee Beethoven String Quartet Cycle are $15 for the general public; $12 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, senior citizens and WNED members with card; and $5 for students.

Tickets can be purchased at the Slee Hall box office from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday, the Center for the Arts box office from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and at all Ticketmaster outlets. Tickets also may be obtained at Ticketmaster.com.