MUSIC

Houston Friends of Music presents the Pavel Haas Quartet, Thursday, November 12, in Stude Concert Hall on the Rice University campus.

The quartet takes its name from Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944) who was imprisoned at Theresienstadt in 1941 and tragically died in Aushwitz three years later. His legacy includes three wonderful string quartets. As well as Haas, the Quartet is passionately committed to the Czech repertoire while their performances of Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Beethoven and Mozart have also received extraordinary acclaim.

In Spring 2005 the Pavel Haas Quartet won the Paolo Borciani competition in Italy, and were launched onto the international stage. Since then the Quartet has performed at the world’s most prestigious concert halls, receiving great acclaim from audiences and critics alike. In 2007 the Quartet were awarded a Gramophone Award for their debut CD of works by Janacek and Haas and were named Newcomer of the Year in the 2007 BBC Music Magazine Awards. In the 2008/9 season the Quartet will embark on major tours of Australia, USA and Japan as well as return tours of the UK and Germany.

In the UK the Quartet returns for concerts at the Wigmore Hall, the City of London Festival and the Cheltenham Festival. In Europe they will appear at Le Louvre in Paris, the Salzburg Mozarteum and Palais des Beaux-Arts, Brussels. Other future highlights include their debuts at the Lucerne Festival and Berlin Konzerthaus as well as two returns to the Concertgebouw.

Based in Pargue, the Pavel Haas Quartet has studied with some of the masters of the quartet world. The quartet has toured extensively in Europe, Austrailia, Japan, and the USA.

"Take note: this is one of the most polished and musically exciting young string quartets in the world today." The Washington Post

Veronika Jaruskova, violin
Eva Karova, violin
Pavel Niki, viola
Peter Jarusek, cello

Scheduled Program includes:

Britten: Three Divertimenti
Hayden: Quartet in D minor, Op. 76 No.2
Haas: Quartet No. 2, Op. 7