NEWS
Jan 31, 2013
The Brentano Quartet is preparing to premiere a new work by Steven Mackey at Carnegie Hall on February 12, 2013. The piece was commissioned to commemmorate the 50th anniversary of the assassination of John F. Kennedy. Now that Mackey has heard the piece, he had plenty to say about it.
Nov 2, 2012
A Late Quartet opens today in select theaters! So far, the critics all agree on one thing: the Brentano String Quartet's music is an essential element of the film: Rolling Stone describes the Brentano Quartet's playing as "heaven sent," and the New York Times calls their Beethoven "ravishing." The San Francisco Chronicle also published a very favorable review of the film.
Oct 24, 2012
Brentano String Quartet provides Beethoven Opus 131 for independent film A Late Quartet
The film, directed by Yaron Silberman and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Christopher Walken and Mark Ivanir, opens in theaters November 2 in New York, Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, Washington DC, and San Francisco. The story is centered around a string quartet whose cellist (Christopher Walken) is diagnosed with early stages of Parkinson's disease. As the string quartet prepares to play Beethoven’s Opus 131 for what might be the members’ last concert together, the seven movements of the piece echo their own tumultuous journey.
Brentano String Quartet gets the "Gramophone Choice" treatment!
Gramophone has selected the Brentano Quartet's Beethoven recording as one of the month's 12 best in its March 2012 issue. This reinforces what is already common knowledge: the Brentano Quartet is simply among today's finest!
The Brentano String Quartet's long awaited recording of late Beethoven quartets is here!
Van Cliburn Competition Welcomes Brentano Quartet
The Brentano Quartet has been invited to the Fourteenth Van Cliburn International Piano Competition, which will take place May 24–June 9, 2013 at Fort Worth’s Bass Performance Hall. Since its inception in 1962, the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition has been committed to showcasing both the extraordinary talent of its competitors in recital performance as well as their ability to successfully and beautifully collaborate with other musicians. During the Semifinal Round, each pianist performs a quintet with an outstanding chamber ensemble—in this case, the Brentano Quartet!.
Fragments….coming together!
The Brentano Quartet are assembling a program called “Fragments” which takes as its model the highly successful project they organized nearly 10 years ago around Bach’s “Art of Fugue”.
The concept for “Fragments”, as described by Mark Steinberg, is “to commission several composers to write pieces related to, either finishing or accompanying, fragmentary works by earlier composers. We'll wind up with a full-length program that will feature the incomplete works along with the newly written pieces.” The Fragments are works by Dufay, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Shostakovich. The participating composers are Charles Wuorinen, Sofia Gubaidulina, John Harbison, Vijay Iyer, Bruce Adolphe, and Stephen Hartke.
As with “Art of Fuge”, the Brentanos have built a consortium of presenters (12 so far) from around the country, and these presenters will enjoy the opportunity to present the project during 2011/12. “Fragments” will premiere in summer, 2011, and we are all looking forward to hear what transpires!