Dynamic Pacifica String Quartet Returning To Newtown

For the first concert of 2004, Newtown Friends of Music will welcome the exciting and crowd-pleasing Pacifica String Quartet back to Edmond Town Hall’s stage. On Sunday, February 22, at 3 pm, Pacifica Quartet will perform a program of three brilliant and moving works: Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet, Hindemith’s Quartet Opus 22 Number 3, and Mendelssohn’s Quartet Opus 44 Number 1.

The Pacifica Quartet has won the hearts of audiences around the world with its impassioned interpretations and unique musical voice. The New York Times wrote, “its sound, individually and as a group, is pure, lyrical, and educated…remarkable,” and The Los Angeles Times wrote, “there’s no point in predicting future greatness for the young Pacifica Quartet. That future has arrived.”

They were cited by The Denver Post for their “zest for performance that carries the listener along breathlessly, passionately.” Less than ten years old, the quartet burst onto the music scene when it captured three of chamber music’s most important awards in succession: Grand Prize at the 1996 Coleman Chamber Music Competition, top prize at the 1997 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and the 1998 Naumberg Chamber Music Award.

Honors and accolades continued. In September 2002, the Quartet received Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, with benefits including concerts in eight of America’s most important venues. In spring 2002, the ensemble was appointed Resident Quartet of Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society Two. This appointment involves the quartet in performances in Alice Tully Hall and on tour, in community partnerships, and in the Chamber Music Society’s educational activities.

After their very first visit to Newtown, the audience and the press were equally enthusiastic, saying, among other plaudits, “…their expressive dynamics, creatively impassioned interpretations and magnificent tonality set this ensemble apart.” (The Newtown Bee).

The upcoming Newtown program should display the versatility of the talented Pacifica Quartet particularly well. The Harp quartet received its nickname from a harp-like pizzicato figure in the first movement. Although written at a time when Vienna was being bombarded by the French and Beethoven’s personal life was characterized by poverty and rejection, the composition often conveys tranquility, spirituality, emotional richness, and even optimism.

In contrast, the Hindemith work is very much a product of the Germany of the 1920s, a country in great turmoil, pervaded by hopelessness and disillusion. Serene and lyric sections are juxtaposed with savage, disjointed rhythms and flamboyant cadenzas.

The Mendelssohn quartet, the composer’s own favorite, will bring the program to an emotionally satisfying close, with its spirited first movement, gentle inner movements, and a finale in which a fiery dance contrasts with a soft and lyrical theme.

On the Monday following the concert, the Pacifica Quartet will present a school outreach program for music students at Newtown High School. The students are being given a unique opportunity to work with talented musicians who are also outstanding educators, part of NFoM’s Outreach Program.

Members of this group – Masumi Rostad on viola, violinists Simin Ganatra and Sibbi Bernhardsson, and cellist Brandon Vamos – are personal as well as musical friends. They took their name from the awe-inspiring Pacific Ocean of their West Coast origins, and strive to be, in the words of the American author James Montgomery, “distinct as the billows, yet one as the sea.”

Free parking and handicap access are available at Edmond Town Hall. Light refreshments will be served following the performance to give the audience an opportunity to speak with the artists in an informal setting.

Tickets are $15 for all adults. Children between the ages of five and 14 are welcome and admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult.

For reservations call 426-6470 or visit www.NewtownFriendsOfMusic.org. Tickets will also be available at the box office of Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street (Route 25) in Newtown, one hour before the start of the concert.

Further information is also available by writing to Newtown Friends of Music, PO Box 295, Newtown CT 06470-0295, sending email to FriendsOfMusic@snet.net, or by visiting the website.