Emerson String Quartet

(Jin Magazine)
Updated: 2012-06-21

The Emerson String Quartet stands alone in the history of string quartets with an unparalleled list of achievements over three decades: more than thirty acclaimed recordings since 1987, nine Grammy® Awards (including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group), three Gramophone Awards, the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and cycles of the complete Beethoven, Bartók, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich string quartets in the world's musical capitals, from New York to London and Vienna. The Quartet has collaborated in concerts and on recordings with some of the greatest artists of our time. After 35 years of extensive touring and recording, the Emerson Quartet continues to perform with the same benchmark integrity, energy and commitment that it has demonstrated since it was formed in 1976.

The Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. The Quartet has performed numerous benefit concerts for campaigns against AIDS, hunger and juvenile diabetes. The Quartet members were honored by the Governor of Connecticut for their outstanding cultural contributions to the state, and in 1994 received the University Medal for Distinguished Service from the University of Hartford, where they were quartet-in-residence for two decades until 2002. In 1995, each member was awarded an honorary doctoral degree by Middlebury College in Vermont. They have also received a Smithson Award from the Smithsonian Institution. In 2006, the Quartet received an honorary doctorate from Wooster College, where it has performed frequently, and in May 2009, the four musicians were honored with a doctorate from Bard College. This season, the Emerson is honored with a doctorate from the University of Hartford.

The Emerson String Quartet has an unparalleled list of achievements: nine Grammy® Awards (including two for Best Classical Album, an unprecedented honor for a chamber music group), three Gramophone Awards, the coveted Avery Fisher Prize and an international reputation for groundbreaking chamber music projects and correlated recordings. In addition to a career which has been unrivaled by any string quartet, Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton and David Finckel are respected for their integrity, the tireless effort with which they reach out to others on behalf of the music they serve, and a unique generosity of spirit and enthusiasm which has remained untarnished for thirty-three years.

The Emerson Quartet announced what will be its first member change in 34 years when cellist Paul Watkins replaces David Finckel at the end of the 2012-2013 concert season. Mr. Finckel, who joined the Emerson Quartet in 1979, will leave the group to devote more time to his personal artistic endeavors.

Time:19:30 on June 22

Venue: Tianjin Grand Theatre

Add: Tianjin Cultural Center, Yue Xiu Lu, Hexi District

地址：河西区越秀路天津文化中心

Ticket price: RMB 580/480/380/280/180/80

Ticket hotline: 83882000 23320068