The Pacifica Quartet
String Theory, in partnership with Lee University and the Hunter Museum of American Art, will continue its sixth season with a concert on Dec. 18 at 6 p.m., featuring the Pacifica Quartet in its Chattanooga debut, along with Gloria Chien.
String Theory, founded in 2009 by pianist and Artistic Director Chien, brings acclaimed chamber musicians from around the world to perform in the intimate setting of the Hunter Museum in Chattanooga. This concert is funded in part by grants from South Arts in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts and the Tennessee Arts Commission.
Musical Dialogues, a pre-concert event, will take place at 6 p.m. from the concert stage and will feature an in-depth conversation with the evening’s performers on their lives, inspirations, and the masterpieces being performed at the String Theory concerts.
The concert will consist of Mendelssohn’s Quartet in F Minor and Brahms’ Piano Quintet in F Major.
Review for the Pacifica Quartet:
Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices over the past two decades, the Pacifica Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The quartet is composed of Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello.
The Quartet has received the Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance, the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Naumberg Chamber Music Award, and has been named “Musical America” Ensemble of the Year. The group tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, performing regularly in the world’s major concert halls.
The Pacifica Quartet held the position of quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from 2009-2012, an honor that has otherwise been held only by the Guarneri String Quartet. In 2006, the Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone and heralded as one of “five new quartets you should know about,” the only American quartet to make the list.
The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Bloomington, In., where they serve as quartet-in-residence and full-time faculty members at the Jacobs School of Music. Prior to their appointment, the Quartet was on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana from 2003 to 2012. The group also serves as resident performing artist at the University of Chicago.
Dr. Chien, who began playing piano at the age of five in her native Taiwan, has been called “a coat-of-many-colors pianist.” She holds a doctor of musical arts, and a master’s and a bachelor’s degree from the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. She is a Steinway Artist.
A prize winner of the World Piano Competition, Harvard Musical Association Award, and the San Antonio International Piano Competition, Dr. Chien has presented solo recitals at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Harvard Musical Association, Sanibel Musical Festival, Caramoor Musical Festival, Salle Cortot in Paris, and the National Concert Hall in Taiwan. She has been praised by “The Strad” for “super performances…accompanied with great character.”
Dr. Chien was appointed the director of the Chamber Music Institute at Music@Menlo, a chamber music festival and institute in the San Francisco Bay Area, and has participated there for six years. She has been a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center since 2012, and now frequently plays at Alice Tully Hall in New York as well as other venues around the country with CMS on Tour.
Individual concert tickets are $25 for Hunter members, $35 for non-members, $10 for students with a valid student ID and $25 for groups of 20 or more people. Season subscriptions are available for $130 for Hunter members and $180 for non-members.
For more information on String Theory at the Hunter or to purchase tickets, call 267-0968 or visit www.stringtheorymusic.org.
Dr. Gloria Chien