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2 April 2012
In perhaps the most high-profile appearances of their 22 year career, the St. Lawrence String Quartet joined forces with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas to unleash John Adams’ latest work, “Absolute Jest”. It was a thrill to be in the audience for all three San Francisco performances, and then again (following appearances in Chicago and Ann Arbor) at Carnegie Hall, for a piece which confirms Adams as today’s master of classical composition – effortlessly weaving snippets of late Beethoven into a grand tapestry which is uniquely his own. As the New York Times confirmed: “This 25-minute work takes about a half dozen motifs from Beethoven scores, mostly scherzos from the late quartets and piano sonatas, and uses them as raw materials to generate a pulsing, fidgety one-movement work that is Adams through and through. The brilliant St. Lawrence String Quartet dispatched the bustling solo parts, and the audience erupted in bravos.”
October 2011
The St. Lawrence String Quartet premiered a new work by Osvaldo Golijov at Stanford University. The work, entitled "Kohelet," was inspired by the Book of Ecclesiastes.
7 April 2011
Nonesuch to Release John Adams’s "Son of Chamber Symphony / String Quartet" on May 31Nonesuch Records will release John Adams’s String Quartet, performed by St. Lawrence String Quartet (for whom the work was composed in 2008), on May 31, 2011. The album is Nonesuch 523014, and will also include Adams' "Son of Chamber Symphony" performed by the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), led by the composer. This is the first recording of both works.
14 October 2010
John Adams is composing a large scale work for the SLSQ, which they will premiere with the San Francisco Symphony in spring, 2012.
25 February 2010
SLSQ proves that music has no boundaries--even behind bars
Violinist Scott St. John reports from the road:
What a great experience! While in Anchorage, we visited a women's prison-- the only prison in the US with a string orchestra program.
Getting ready for the visit was part of the experience, as we had to send copies of our drivers license for security checks. The night of our visit to the Hiland Mountain Correctional Center, even weather was an adventure-- roads were icy, there were a half-dozen SUVs overturned in the center median of the highway. A surly guard confiscated our wallets, coats and cell phones. We all filed into the "airlock" chamber and entered a hospital-like hallway. No one had told us what to expect, so I was a bit apprehensive as we found our way to the big multi-purpose gym room.
Seated in front of music stands were about 16 women of varying ages, all looking very colorful in their orange prison outfits. And they went nuts when we arrived, cheering and clapping! The mood was suddenly almost giddy. We got out our instruments, Geoff made introductions, and we launched into some Haydn. Within about 5 seconds we knew that we had a dream audience-- the ladies were reacting immediately to the sound, emotion & joy of the Haydn. They laughed at the unexpected bars of rest, some had tears in their eyes-- very rarely have we had such a strong immediate reaction!
As we continued our program, there was lots of dialogue and insightful commentary from the group. Now it was their turn to play for us! The women became very serious, and you could immediately feel the intensity of their commitment to the orchestra. Knowing that many of them only started their string studies at the prison, it was quite a miraculous performance. And it certainly makes one ponder the whole question of the human spirit while imprisoned...
Thanks so much to the Anchorage Concert Association for helping to arrange our visit, and kudos to Gabrielle Willis, the music teacher who directs the prison orchestra.
October 2009
SLSQ has just finished recording John Adams's "String Quartet" at the Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada for Nonesuch Records. The piece, which was written expressly for SLSQ, was
co-commissioned by The Juilliard School, Stanford Lively Arts, and the Banff Centre. There are no details yet regarding the release of the recording, so stay tuned for details.
This October, SLSQ embarks on a 10-city tour of New Zealand, which will include stops in New Plymouth, Hamilton, Hawkes Bay, Wellington, Auckland, Manawatu, Southland, Christchurch, Nelson, and Dunedin. The programs in each city will feature John Adams's "String Quartet," composed for SLSQ and premiered by the quartet last January, in addition to works by Haydn, Dvorak, and Mendelssohn.
The St. Lawrence String Quartet’s latest recording (Haydn and Dvorak) is also a first – the first classical project to be issued via the innovative ArtistShare company.
The project was profiled in a five-page cover story in the August, 2009 issue of The Strad, highlighting the SLSQ’s 20 year history and reputation for seeking out new ways to connect music with audiences.
The article can be accessed in full here.
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“An ensemble that [projects] an irresistible exuberance in performances, and [links] that sense of joy with artistry of subtlety and finesse....who would prefer bland polish over this group’s style of vital risk-taking?"
— The Boston Globe
"A masterful performance"
— Gramophone
“These are fearless musicians whose spontaneity stretches past conventional interpretation and probes the music's imaginative limits.”
— The Washington Post
“A sound that has just about everything one wants from a quartet, most notably precision, warmth and an electricity that conveys the excitement of playing whatever is on their stands at the moment.”
— The New York Times
“A freshness and élan rich in the very lightness of being…the St. Lawrence Quartet made a convincing case for being the top quartet of the post-Emerson generation.”
— MusicalAmerica.com
(Wes Blomster)
“Faultless, instantly compelling performances”
— BBC Music Magazine [Awarded 5 stars]
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