March 18, 2014

Chiara combines performance, CD release

The Chiara String Quartet includes (from left) Jonah Sirota, Hyeyung Julie Yoon, Rebecca Fischer and Gregory Beaver.
Courtesy photo

Courtesy photo
The Chiara String Quartet includes (from left) Jonah Sirota, Hyeyung Julie Yoon, Rebecca Fischer and Gregory Beaver.

The Chiara String Quartet will close out the 2013-2014 Hixson-Lied Concert Series with a 7:30 p.m., March 20 performance in Kimball Hall.

The concert celebrates the quartet’s new album, “Brahms by Heart,” which will be released March 25. The album features Brahms’ String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 67, String Quartet in a minor, Op. 51, No. 2, and Sextet in B Flat Major, Op. 18 with UNL’s Clark Potter and Karen Becker on violin and cello, respectively.

Members of the Chiara String Quartet are the Hixson-Lied Artists-in-Residence at UNL’s Glenn Korff School of Music.

A CD release party will follow the concert. Advance copies of the album will be available for purchase.

“We are thrilled to play an all-Brahms concert in celebration of our CD,” said Gregory Beaver, the Chiara’s cellist. “Since we have been in residence at UNL, the Lincoln community has embraced our performances of Brahms quartets, and we are excited to finally bring recordings of these works to the public. It is only fitting that we welcome our UNL colleagues, Karen Becker and Clark Potter, to join us in Brahms’ wondrous B-flat sextet.”

The Chiara Quartet recorded all of Brahms’ string quartets on the album entirely from memory, without any printed sheet music.

“The act of performing from memory has been challenging for us,” Beaver said. “Each member must find a way to know the music inside and out. But the payback for each of us is equally rewarding, bringing us that much closer together in our music-making.”

Now in their 14th season performing together, the Chiara String Quartet includes Beaver on cello; Rebecca Fischer and Hyeyung Julie Yoon on violins; and Jonah Sirota on viola. The Chiara has established itself as among America’s most respected ensembles. They are also Harvard University’s Blodgett Artists-in-Residence.

Tickets, available at the Lied Center for Performing Arts box office or by calling 402-472-4747, are $20 general admission, $10 senior citizens and $5 students.

The 2013-2014 Hixson-Lied Concert Series closes out with a March 20 performance by the Chiara String Quartet. The concert will include a celebration of the quartet's new CD.
Courtesy
The 2013-2014 Hixson-Lied Concert Series closes out with a March 20 performance by the Chiara String Quartet. The concert will include a celebration of the quartet's new CD.