Acclaimed quartet to play at Purdue

By Jenny Schuster
Staff Writer

Loeb Playhouse will come alive on April 5 with the sounds of a four-time Grammy-winning chamber ensemble — the Emerson String Quartet.

The critically-acclaimed chamber group, named for American transcendentalist author Ralph Waldo Emerson, will perform its program at 7:30 p.m. Formed in 1976, the group includes violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, alternating as first chair; violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel. The members of the quartet have served as faculty at the University of Hartford's Hartt School of Music since 1980. They also travel all over the country performing and holding master classes at universities and conservatories in order to help young musicians.

The ensemble has won Grammys for in the Best Classical Album and Best Chamber Music Performance categories. This February the quartet's five-CD recording of Dmitri Shostakovich's string quartets won Grammys in both of those categories. The quartet's recordings are available on the Deutsche Grammophon recording label.

All of the group's members have performed at benefit concerts for a wide range of charitable causes ranging from nuclear disarmament to the fight against AIDS, world hunger and children's diseases. The musicians have been the recipients of a number of awards and honorary degrees. In 1994, they received the University Medal for Distinguished Service from the University of Hartford. In 2000, Time magazine named the Emerson Quartet's Shostakovich recording one of the top 10 recordings of the year. In honor of their artistic achievements and their recent Grammy awards, Connecticut governor John Rowland proclaimed Feb. 26, 2001, to be Emerson String Quartet Day in Connecticut.

Highlights of the quartet's 2000-01 touring season include performances in Carnegie Hall's "Perspectives: Maurizio Pollini" series, as well as concerts with the Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center in New York and other performances all over the United States, Canada, Mexico, Europe, Hong Kong and Singapore. The quartet also recently worked with acclaimed stage director Simon McBurney on a multimedia performance piece titled "The Noise of Time." The show featured film clips, choreography, taped readings and live performances of Shostakovich's 15th Quartet by the Emerson String Quartet.

Tickets to the Emerson String Quartet's performance at Loeb Playhouse are $27 for the general public and $18 for Purdue students and are available at all Purdue box offices or by calling 494-3933. Those seeking more information about the quartet can visit its official Web site at www.emersonquartet.com, which features in-depth biographical information about the members of the quartet as well as tour information.

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