The four members of Escher String Quartet
Accolades include five stars in The Guardian with “Classical CD of the Year,” a Recommendation in The Strad, “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb International and a nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award.

Escher String Quartet

August 3, 2022 | Polsky Theatre

Past Event

The Escher String Quartet will serve as artists-in-residence for the 2022 Heartland Chamber Music Festival at the Midwest Trust Center.

Appearing as part of the Heartland Chamber Music Festival.

A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York City, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS), where it has presented the complete Zemlinsky Quartets Cycle. Escher is one of five quartets chosen to collaborate in a complete presentation of Beethoven’s string quartets. Last season, the quartet toured with CMS to China.

The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, performing at venues such as Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Auditorium du Louvre and Les Grand Interprètes series in Geneva.

In addition to the August 3 concert, the quartet will mentor students as part of the Heartland Chamber Music Festival July 28 through August 6 at MTC.

Program

  • Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 76, No. 4 “Sunrise” by Joseph Haydn
  • Quartet No. 3, Sz. 85 by Béla Bartók
  • Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 51 by Antonin Dvořák

Performers

  • Adam Barnett-Hart, violin
  • Brendan Speltz, violin
  • Pierre Lapointe, viola
  • Brook Speltz, cello

Biography

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. The 2021-22 season finds the quartet touring the U.S. extensively, performing in numerous cities and venues, including Lincoln Center and Rockefeller University, La Jolla, Detroit, Buffalo, Palm Beach (with soprano Susanna Phillips), New Orleans and Savannah, among others.

With a strong collaborative approach, the group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. The upcoming season sees the quartet return to its longtime London home of Wigmore Hall, following debuts in Bilbao, Spain, and recordings in Vienna, Austria, with pianist Andreas Haefliger. 

In the fall of 2021, the quartet released its latest album, the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber, on the BIS label. Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn Quartets, released on BIS in 2015-17, were received with the highest critical acclaim. Escher’s most recent recording – quartets of Dvořák, Borodin and Tchaikovsky – was met with equal enthusiasm. Its recording on the Naxos label of the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes has been received with accolades, including five stars in The Guardian with “Classical CD of the Year,” a Recommendation in The Strad, “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb International and a nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award. 

The Heartland Chamber Music Festival is a partnership with JCCC Midwest Trust Center Arts Education.

Enjoy the Escher String Quartet’s August 2019 performance at the Tippet Rise Art Center before you attend.