Pacifica Quartet, a Grammy award-winning string quartet, will perform Sunday, Oct. 13, at 3 p.m. in the Richard and Lucille Ice Auditorium, located in Melrose Hall at Linfield College.
The performance, part of the Linfield Lively Arts series, will feature works by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Benjamin Britten and Maurice Ravel.
Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The group tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia, performing regularly in the world’s major concert halls. Named the quartet-in-residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music in March 2012, the Pacifica Quartet was also the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art (2009–2012) and received the 2009 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.
Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music’s top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center’s CMS Two, and in 2006 was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming only the second chamber ensemble so honored in the grant’s long history. In 2009, the Quartet was named “Ensemble of the Year” by Musical America.
An ardent advocate of contemporary music, the Pacifica Quartet commissions and performs many new works, including those by Keeril Makan and Shulamit Ran to be premiered during the 2013-14 and 2014-15 seasons. In 2012, Cedille Records released the second of three volumes comprising the entire Shostakovich cycle, along with other contemporary Soviet works, to rave reviews.
The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Bloomington, Ind., 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 Urbana- Champaign from 2003 to 2012. The Pacifica Quartet also serves as resident performing artist at the University of Chicago.
The concert is sponsored by the Linfield Lively Arts Series and presented in partnership with Friends of Chamber Music. The Linfield Lively Arts music series features guest artists in concerts and in outreach activities, including master classes, open rehearsals and “Meet the Musicians” events with students and local audiences.
Tickets are $10 at the door and free for Linfield students with current ID. For more information, call 503-883-2275 or visit www.linfield.edu/arts.
