Arianna String Quartet with Anton Nel

The Arianna Quartet is the faculty quartet for Britt's String Quartet Academy. The members willl be joined by pianist Anton Nel on Sunday, August 3, at the OU Music Recital Hall.

Britt's faculty quartet-in-residence for the String Quartet Academy, the Arianna String Quartet was formed in 1992, and has quickly established itself as one of America's finest chamber ensembles. The Chicago Tribune wrote of them, "Quartet playing doesn't get much better than this."

Comprised of violinists John McGrosso and David Gillham, violist Robert Meyer and cellist Kurt Baldwin, the quartet captured the Grand Prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 1994, and First Prize in both the Coleman and Carmel national competitions. Highlights of recent seasons include successful debuts at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and Tokyo's Suntory Hall, and concerts at the Spoleto, Banff, Norfolk and Strings in the Mountains festivals. They have been heard in live nationally-broadcast performances in Osaka, Japan, and on Canada's CBC radio, several times as part of Chicago's prestigious Dame Myra Hess Series, and on National Public Radio's Performance Today.

In 1993, the quartet was invited by Isaac Stern to perform in his first-ever Carnegie Hall master classes, and in 1995, the quartet was Ensemble-in-Residence at the Tanglewood Music Center. From 1993-96, the ASQ was graduate quartet-in-residence at Northern Illinois University, studying with the Vermeer Quartet. The Arianna Quartet is also the quartet-in-residence for Britt Institute's String Quartet Academy for the fourth year.

After three years in residence at Eastern Michigan University, Arianna was appointed artist-teachers and string quartet-in-residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Their extensive lectures bring the timeless vitality of string quartet playing to public school students, community and retirement centers, and, of course, string students. Steeped in the belief that today's youth is tomorrow's audience, the Arianna String Quartet views its work in the public schools as invaluable.

Special guest Anton Nel, winner of the 1987 Naumburg International Piano Competition at Carnegie Hall, joins the Arianna String Quartet to perform Dvorák's Piano Quintet. Highlights of Nel's nearly three decades of concertizing include performances with the Cleveland Orchestra, the symphonies of Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Detroit and London, and many others. The New York Times describes Nel as, "An uncommonly elegant pianist." Learn more about Anton Nel at www.antonnel.com.

The Arianna String Quartet and Anton Nel will perform a recital of Mozart, Janácek and Dvorák on Sunday, August 3 at the SOU Music Recital Hall in Ashland.