Season Preview: Emerson String Quartet

The Emerson String Quartet stands apart in the history of string quartets with over four decades of an unparalleled list of achievements: more than thirty acclaimed recordings, nine Grammys® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, Musical America’s "Ensemble of the Year", and collaborations with many of the greatest artists of our time. With a repertoire that spans three centuries of chamber music, the Emerson also looks towards the future by collaborating with today’s most esteemed composers and premiering new works, thus proving their commitment to keeping the art form of the string quartet alive and more relevant than ever.

The coming season, beginning with a seven-city tour in Australia, reflects all aspects of the Emerson’s venerable artistry with high-profile projects, collaborations and tours. North American highlights of the 2019-2020 season include the Emerson’s three-concert series at Lincoln Center’s Great Performers Series pairing Beethoven’s “Razumovsky” Quartets with the complete Bartók cycle, its 41st series at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and appearances at the Park Avenue Armory in New York, Friends of Chamber Music in Vancouver, Wharton Center for Performing Arts, South Mountain Concerts, Friends of Music Concerts, Wooster Chamber Music, Chamber Music Cincinnati and Chamber Music Louisville. Overseas, the Emerson Quartet performs the complete Beethoven Cycle at the Seoul International Music Festival, and embarks on three European tours throughout the season in Serbia, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Poland and Spain.

"... with musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity."— The Times (London)

"The performances were everything we have come to expect from this superb ensemble: technically resourceful, musically insightful, cohesive, full of character and always interesting."— The New York Times

October 15 & 17, 2019 at 7:30 pm
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Ave, New York, NY 10065

Schoenberg: String Quartet No.2

Tuesday, March 31, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Great Performers Series
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY

Bartók: Quartet No. 3
Beethoven: “Razumovsky” Quartet, Op. 59, No. 1
Bartók: Quartet No. 1

Tuesday, April 21, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Great Performers Series
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY

Bartók: Quartet No. 2
Beethoven: “Razumovsky” Quartet, Op. 59, No. 2
Bartók: Quartet No. 5

Tuesday, May 5, 2020 at 7:30 pm
Great Performers Series
Alice Tully Hall, New York, NY

Bartók: Quartet No. 4
Bartók: Quartet No. 6
Beethoven: “Razumovsky” Quartet, Op. 59, No. 3

Formed in 1976 and based in New York City, the Emerson was one of the first quartets whose violinists alternated in the first chair position. The quartet, which took its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, balances busy performing careers with a commitment to teaching and serves as Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University. In 2013, cellist Paul Watkins, a distinguished soloist, award-wining conductor, and devoted chamber musician, joined the original members of the Emerson Quartet. The reconfigured group has been praised by critics and fans alike around the world. In spring 2016, full-time Stony Brook faculty members Philip Setzer and Lawrence Dutton received the honor of Distinguished Professor, and part-time faculty members Eugene Drucker and Paul Watkins were awarded the title of Honorary Distinguished Professor.

The Emerson Quartet enthusiastically endorses Thomastik strings.