Leipzig String Quartet
Saturday February 11
8 PM

The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem is pleased to welcome back the Leipzig String Quartet, who last appeared here six seasons ago. This mature German group tours internationally, has made numerous recordings, and has won many prizes. They will be bringing us a program of Haydn, Schubert, and Mendelssohn. The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem has been bringing world class ensembles to the Lehigh Valley since 1951. Sign up for email announcements of upcoming events and last minute changes.
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Leipzig String Quartet
Leipzig String Quartet

The 2011-2012 Season

8:00 PM Friday, Sep 30, 2011 at Foy Moscow String Quartet
  • Mozart String Quartet No. 21 in D Major, K. 575
  • Sofia Gubaidulina String Quartet No. 3 (1987)
  • Shostakovich String Quartet No. 2 in A Major Op. 68 (1944)
8:00 PM Friday, Oct 21, 2011 at Muhlenberg Carducci String Quartet
  • Haydn String Quartet No. 63 in B-flat Major Op. 76 #4, H. III:78 (Sunrise)
  • Shostakovich String Quartet No. 10 in A-flat Major Op 118 (1964)
  • Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 6 in f minor Op.80
8:00 PM Friday, Nov 11, 2011 at Faith Pacifica Quartet
  • Beethoven String Quartet No. 3 in D Major Op. 18 #3
  • Beethoven String Quartet No. 9 in C Major Op. 59 #3 (Hero)
  • Beethoven String Quartet No. 12 in E-flat Major Op. 127
8:00 PM Saturday, Feb 11, 2012 at Foy Leipzig String Quartet
  • Haydn String Quartet No. 27 in D Major, Op. 20, #4, H. III:34
  • Schubert String Quartet No. 13 in a minor, Op. 29 #1, D. 804 (Rosamunde)
  • Mendelssohn String Quartet No. 5 in E-flat Major, Op. 44 #3
8:00 PM Friday, Mar 16, 2012 at Foy Manhattan Piano Trio
  • Haydn Trio No. 28 in D Major H. XV:16
  • Behzad Ranjbaran Shiraz (2006)
  • Brahms Trio No. 1 in B Major Op. 8
8:00 PM Friday, Apr 13, 2012 at Faith Claremont Trio
  • Mozart Trio in B-flat Major, K. 502
  • Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel Trio in d minor Op. 11
  • Smetana Trio in g minor, Op. 15
3:00 PM Sunday, May 13, 2012 at Foy Wister Quartet with David Fay, contrabass and Natalie Zhu, piano
  • Rossini Duo for Cello & Contrabass in D Major (1824)
  • Louise Farrenc Quintet No. 1 in a minor, Op. 30
  • Schubert Quintet in A Major Op. 114, D. 667 (Trout)

Please note that for the 2011-2012 season, four of the seven concerts will be in Foy Hall, Moravian College in historic Bethlehem, two will be at Faith UCC Church in Center Valley. One will be at the Empie Theatre, Baker Center for the Arts, Muhlenberg College, Allentown. One of the concerts will be at 3 PM on a Sunday, one will be at 8 PM on a Saturday, and the other five will be at 8PM on Fridays.

You are invited to attend a reception after every performance, where you may mingle with the artists and fellow concert-goers.

Previous Seasons

Moscow String Quartet

This quartet was heartily embraced by our audience during their 2009 Foy Hall concert and we are delighted that they are able to return for a second appearance as part of a tour in celebration of the 80th birthday of Sofia Gubaidulina. The Moscow has worked closely with the composer, appearing in a BBC documentary dedicated to her life and work. She said of them, “Such tone, such phrasing, all played with the highest virtuosity and reverence to the music!” The members, graduates of the Moscow Conservatory and Gnessin Musical Institute met in the class of renowned cellist Valentin Berlinsky of the Borodin Quartet. After graduating, the quartet made its first recording jointly with the Borodin Quartet performing Shostakovich’s Octet for Strings, bringing special insights from having known the composer. They went on to gain international acclaim by winning the Leo Weiner International Quartet Competition in Budapest and, shortly thereafter, the First Prize for best performance of classical music and the Grand-Prix for its interpretation of contemporary music at the International Quartet Competition in Evian, France. The quartet has played to consistent critical acclaim in the historic concert halls of Europe, with regular performances at the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall in London, Palais des Beaux Arts in Brussels, and the Leipzig Gewandhaus in Berlin, among many others. In addition to performing in the major venues throughout North America, the ensemble appears at prestigious festivals around the world, including Lincoln Center’s Mostly Mozart Festival.

Carducci String Quartet

The Carducci Quartet is recognized as one of today’s most exciting young string quartets. Based in the UK, the quartet holds residency at Cardiff University and is visiting quartet in residence at Trinity College of Music in London and the Cork School of Music in Ireland. The quartet studied with members of the Amadeus, Alban Berg, Chilingirian, Takacs and Vanbrugh quartets and, as part of the ProQuartet professional training program in France, with Gyorgy Kurtag, Walter Levin and Paul Katz. Winners of the Concert Artists Guild Competition in New York, the Kuhmo International Chamber Music Competition in Finland and major prizes at the Bordeaux, London and Osaka competitions, the Anglo-Irish Carducci Quartet has established an enthusiastic international following performing over 90 concerts world-wide each year. Regulars at London’s Wigmore Hall, they perform throughout the UK, including their own festival in Highnam, Gloucester. Sigmund Nissel of the Amadeus Quartet praises their talent-“All four members have a great musical and technical gift. It is a beautifully balanced quartet.” The quartet is passionate about taking classical music to the next generation and run chamber music courses for young musicians in the UK, France and Ireland. Their educational outreach is supported by their own charity, the Carducci Music Trust.

Pacifica Quartet

Los Angeles Times has written, “There‘s no point in predicting future greatness for the young Pacifica Quartet. The future is already here!” Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has achieved international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. Recent honors include appointment as quartet-in-residence at New York‘s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the position held for 43 years by the Guarneri String Quartet. In 2009 the Pacifica was named Ensemble of the Year by Musical America and received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music‘s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and Chamber Music America‘s Cleveland Quartet Award. In 2006 the Pacifica was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming only the second chamber music ensemble to be so honored in the Grant‘s long history. Also in 2006 the Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone magazine and heralded as one of “five new quartets you should know about,” the only American quartet on the list. The ensemble can also be heard on many of the nation‘s most prominent radio broadcasts, including Chicago‘s WFMT, Boston‘s WGBH, New York‘s WNYC, and American Public Media‘s Performance Today and St. Paul Sunday The Pacifica Quartet members serve as resident performing artists at the University of Chicago and the Longy School of Music in Boston.

Leipzig String Quartet

Since its founding two decades ago, the Leipzig String Quartet has garnered the attention of international critics and audiences with its distinctive dark timbre and meticulously sculpted interpretations of a widely varied repertoire. Formed originally by the string principals of the renowned Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra, the Quartet continues to uphold the principles of sound and integrity ascribed to this great orchestra. They have won numerous prizes and awards that include the 1991 International ARD Munich competition and the Busch and Siemens prizes. Called “one of the towering and most versatile quartets of our time” by the Neue Zuercher Zeitung and lauded by The New York for presenting “rich, mellow, unadulterated beauty” and a true “Leipzig sound,” the Quartet is beyond doubt one of the world‘s great chamber ensembles. The Quartet performs widely throughout Europe, in Israel, Africa, Central and South America, Australia, Japan and Asia, including at many of the major festivals and tours annually throughout North America. Recent appearances include performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, the Frick Collection, Wolf Trap, the Library of Congress, and chamber music series in Baltimore, Boston, Cleveland, Chicago, Los Angeles, Ottawa, and Toronto. They enjoy collaborating with other artists to enrich and expand their already large repertoire. The ensemble has performed and recorded with Alfred Brendel, Marc-André Hamelin, Joseph Kalichstein, Christian Zacharias, Menahem Pressler, and acclaimed klezmer clarinetist Giora Feidman, among others.

Manhattan Piano Trio

Sun Times recently raved, “This Trio‘s classical sound is a life-changing experience!” Hailed by critics as a grand departure from the usual, the Manhattan Piano Trio (MPT) has quickly become one of the most creative, exciting, and dynamic young ensembles in the United States. Having presented more than 300 concerts, the MPT is one of the most active groups on the classical music scene, from major concert halls around the country to new concert series in smaller towns. Recent seasons have brought the group to such venues as Alice Tully and Merkin Concert Halls in New York, the Ravinia Music Festival in Chicago, Pro Musica Detroit, the Clark Memorial Library at UCLA, and Arizona‘s Chamber Music Sedona; and, in 2008, they toured South Africa in concert. Since its inception in 2004, the MPT has captured grand prizes at the Plowman Competition and at the Yellow Springs Competition; was runner-up at the Chesapeake Competition; and received the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Listeners‘ Choice Award in Melbourne. The Washington Post described the Trio as “impressive” and “outstanding,” while the Sarasota Herald Tribune said “one seldom is privileged to enjoy music of such a wide range of styles performed with self-effacing skill and relaxed assurance.” Strongly committed to educating new generations of musicians and music lovers, the MPT outreach programs include elementary and high school concerts and coaching of individual musicians and groups.

Claremont Trio

The Claremont Trio last performed on our series in 2009. They have been pleasing audiences for a decade. They are winners of the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson International Trio Award and the only piano trio ever to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. They are active in performing, recording, and teaching.

Wister Quartet with David Fay, contrabass and Natalie Zhu, piano

Our audience has a very special bond with the Wister. To our delight, they return during our 60th anniversary season for their ninth performance. They charmed our grateful audience on our 50th anniversary when they recreated the very first musical program presented to the Society by the Curtis String Quartet in 1951. Since its formation in 1987, the Quartet has earned high praise from critics and audiences alike for its superb musicianship and memorable performances, including those with guest artists Alicia de Larrocha, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Yo-Yo Ma. Daniel Webster of the Philadelphia Inquirer has written that the Wister Quartet “has become the foremost Philadelphia chamber music ensemble.” And David Patrick Stearns, also of the Inquirer , recently wrote, “Fierce, satisfying...this is a long-cultivated group personality for which there should always be a place, no matter how busy the musical community becomes.” The Philadelphia-based quartet has been in residence at Haverford College and has performed throughout Europe, China and the U.S. Since its earliest days, the Wister Quartet has been featured on the Philadelphia Orchestra‘s Chamber Music Series, and since 1991 in performances on the Lenape Chamber Players Summer Festival programs and on the Saratoga Performing Arts Center chamber series. In 1993, the Wister Quartet established its own Chamber Series of five Sunday afternoon concerts in the historic headquarters of the German Society of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and is a core group of the popular Philadelphia chamber ensemble, 1807 & Friends.
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts

The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency administering an annual state appropriation for grants to the arts and federal funding from the National Endowment for the Arts.


The Chamber Music Society of Bethlehem
P. O. Box 4336 Bethlehem, PA 18018-0336
phone: 610-435-7611
e-mail: chambermusic@cmsob.org

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