MUSIC

Houston Friends of Music presents the Leipzig String Quartet, Thursday, February 26.

Although Houston Friends of Music has presented the Leipzig String Quartet to Houston audiences before, this concert will be the quartet’s first in Houston with new violinist Stefan Arzberger, formerly an assistant principal of first violins for the Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig.

Founded in 1988, the Leipzig String Quartet is widely acclaimed as one of the most exciting string quartets in the world. Three of its members have been first-chair players in the famous Gewandhaus Orchestra of Leipzig. The quartet has toured throughout Europe, Israel, Africa, Southeast Asia, Central and South America.

In 2007, Washington Post listed the Leipzig Quartet as one of the top 10 live performances in the Washington area.

Engagements in North America have included Weill Recital Hall, the Frick Collection, and the Library of Congress, and a well-remembered concert for HFM in November 2003.

The quartet has made more than 60 CDs, including, notably, the complete Schubert quartet literature.

“Certain musical evenings leave an indelible impression. Last night...everything, but absolutely everything, was perfect.”– Le Devoir

"All major quartets are exceedingly comfortable with the essential quartet literature... But the Leipzig seemed to add something else: that elusive quality that Americans call roots...It was possible not to care about anything more than the fabulous sound and sense of style."– Houston Chronicle

Scheduled Program:

Mendelssohn: Quartet No. 2 in A Minor, Op. 13
Heinrich Isaac: Sequentia (from Choralis Constantinus, 1508)
Beethoven: Quartet No. 15 in A Minor, Op. 132

Houston Friends of Music is funded in part by grants from The City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance.