|  The
Arianna String Quartet has firmly established itself as one of America’s
finest chamber ensembles. Formed in 1992, they captured the Grand
Prize in the 1994 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and
First Prize in both the Coleman and Carmel National Competitions.
They were also Finalists in the 1999 Bordeaux International String
Quartet Competition. From 1993-1996, the Arianna Quartet studied
with the Vermeer Quartet at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb,
IL.
Praised by critics for their warmth and
polish, the Chicago Tribune
recently
said
“the silken refinement of the playing was achieved with no loss of
expressive vitality or spontaneity. Quartet playing doesn’t get much
better than this.”
The Arianna Quartet has concertized throughout the United States, Mexico,
Japan, Canada and France, and has given successful debuts at Orchestra Hall
in Chicago
and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall. They have collaborated with artists such
as Paul Katz, Gilbert Kalish, Bernard Greenhouse, Andres Cardenes, Richard
Stoltzman,
and the Vermeer Quartet. The Arianna Quartet has recorded for the Centaur,
Albany,
and Urtext classical labels.
The
Arianna String Quartet has been featured in concerts at the Spoleto,
Banff, Norfolk, and Strings in the Mountains
festivals, was Ensemble-in-Residence
at the Tanglewood Music Center, and was invited by Isaac Stern to perform
in his
first ever Carnegie Hall master classes. They have been heard on live nationally
broadcast performances in Osaka, Japan, and on Canada’s CBC radio,
several times as part of Chicago’s prestigious Dame Myra Hess Series,
and on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” program.
After being awarded a Chamber Music America Residency Grant in 1996, the
Arianna String Quartet performed
more than four hundred outreach concerts in four years in southeast Michigan
as Eastern Michigan University’s quartet-in-residence. In 2003, The
ASQ was a recipient of a Chamber Music America Residency Grant for their
outreach
work in St. Louis.
The
Arianna String Quartet was recently appointed Faculty Artist Teachers
and Quartet-in-Residence in the music
department
at the University
of Missouri-St. Louis.
They will also continue their concert series at Eastern Michigan
University, where they were Artists-in-Residence from 1996 to 2000.Steeped
in the belief that today´s youth is tomorrow´s audience, the Arianna
String Quartet performed over four-hundred outreach concerts in
southeast Michigan between 1996 and 2000. The quartet is excited
to now make St. Louis its home, and looks forward to continuing
its educational outreach and co-curricular work on behalf of the
University of Missouri-St. Louis. |
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VIOLINIST
JOHN McGROSSO has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony
and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra. He received his bachelor's
and master's degrees from Juilliard, and holds a Performer's
Certificate from Northern Illinois University. His teachers
have included Dorothy Delay, Shmuel Ashkenasi, Joyce Robbins,
and Gerald Beal, and he has studied chamber music with members
of the Juilliard, Tokyo, and Vermeer Quartets. From 1992 to
1999 Mr. McGrosso was a member of the Saint Louis Symphony
Orchestra. He joined the Arianna String Quartet in 1998.
Email:
John_McGrosso@umsl.edu
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VIOLINIST
DAVID GILLHAM holds his Bachelor's degree from the University
of Manitoba, Master’s degree from the Peabody Conservatory,
and Performer's Diploma from Indiana University. His teachers
have included Franco Gulli, Martin Beaver, David Stewart and
David Zafer, and he has studied chamber music with members
of the Juilliard and Tokyo String Quartets. Since 1998, he
has been performing with his wife, pianist Chiharu Iinuma.
The duo’s recent performances have included concerts
in China, Canada and the United States. He has served on the
faculties of Memorial University and the University of Central
Arkansas. In 2003, David was awarded the prestigious Queen
Elizabeth Golden Jubilee medal in recognition of his outstanding
contributions to the arts.
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VIOLIST
ROBERT MEYER began playing the viola in the public school
strings program in New Rochelle, New York. While in high school,
he studied at the Manhattan School of Music, and holds degrees
from the University of Michigan and Rice University in Houston,
Texas. His primary teachers were Yizhak Schotten, Wayne Brooks,
and Karen Ritscher, and he has studied chamber music with
Andrew Jennings, Norman Fischer, Paul Katz, members of the
Juilliard String Quartet, and the late Isaac Stern. An experienced
and versatile chamber musician, Mr. Meyer was a founding member
of the New Fromm Players, a contemporary music ensemble in
residence at the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts.
From 2001-2003, he performed as the Assistant Principal Violist
of the Richmond Symphony, where he was active in the symphony's
outreach programs. Email: meyerro@umsl.edu
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| KURT
BALDWIN began his CELLO studies in Iowa City, Iowa, in the
public schools at the age of 12. His first teachers included
Candace Wiebener, Margaret Brooke, and at Augustana College,
Janina Ehrlich. He received his Bachelor of Music degree
from the San Francisco Conservatory, where he studied with
Irene Sharp. He then earned a Master of Music degree
from the New England Conservatory, studying with Bernard Greenhouse,
and a Performer's Certificate from Northern Illinois University
studying with Marc Johnson. As a founding member of the Arianna
String Quartet, Mr. Baldwin has won Grand Prizes in the Fischoff,
Coleman, and Carmel competitions, and has given concerts throughout
the United States and Japan. For several summers, Mr. Baldwin
was the principal cellist of the Spoleto Festival in Italy
and the United States.
Email:
Kurt_Baldwin@umsl.edu
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