Members of the Harlem Quartet.
The Harlem Quartet advances diversity in classical music while showing off an exciting repertoire that includes minority composers. The ensemble will perform on Friday, Sept. 28 at 8 p.m. in Rosch Recital Hall in a special event presented by Rockefeller Arts Center and the Fredonia School of Music.
Since its public debut at Carnegie Hall in 2006, the quartet has thrilled audiences in 47 states as well as in the U.K., France, Belgium, Brazil, Canada and South Africa.
The musically versatile ensemble has performed with such distinguished artists as Itzhak Perlman, Ida Kavafian, Carter Brey, Fred Sherry, Misha Dichter, Jeremy Denk and Paquito D’Rivera. The quartet also collaborated with jazz masters Chick Corea and Gary Burton on the album “Hot House,” a 2013 multi-Grammy Award-winning release.
Based in New York City, the Harlem Quartet has been praised for its “panache” by The New York Times and hailed in the Cincinnati Enquirer for “bringing a new attitude to classical music, one that is fresh, bracing and intelligent.”
Critic Julian Haylock, reviewing a NAXOS recording of string quartets by Walter Piston, called the Harlem Quartet a “formidable ensemble whose members play highly demanding scores with infectious vitality, breezy confidence and (most importantly) affectionate warmth.”
The Harlem Quartet has been featured on WNBC, CNN, the Today Show and the News Hour with Jim Lehrer. In 2009 they performed for President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama at the White House.
Tickets are available through the Fredonia Ticket Office in the Williams Center at 716-673-3501 or online at www.fredonia.edu/tickets.
The Harlem Quartet will also offer master classes on Saturday, Sept. 29 at 11:30 a.m. in Rosch Recital Hall, and at 2 p.m. in Rosch, Diers Recital Hall and rooms 1051 and 1075, all in Mason Hall. The master classes are free and open to the public. During the classes, members of the quartet will coach students on performance technique and interpretation.
