06/08/11 -  

  The Friends of Music at Queens University of Charlotte recently announced the Summer Serenades 2011 concert schedule. The series will be dedicated to long-time supporter Carol Douglas of Charlotte.

 

This summer's guest performers are the Jasper Quartet who have been hailed as "sonically delightful and expressively compelling" (The Strad) and as "powerful" (The New York Times). They play "with sparkling vitality and great verve, ...polished, engaged, and in tune with one another" (Classical Voice of North Carolina). 

Concerts will be held July 2, 9 and 16 in Dana Auditorium, 1900 Selwyn Ave., at 7 p.m. Tickets are $20 per concert or $50 for the three-event series. More details available here.

July 2, 7 p.m.

Keyboard Quintet: J. S. Bach

Variations on a theme by Handel: Johannes Brahms, Arr. Mark Popkin

String Quartet in D minor, "Death and the Maiden:" Franz Schubert

 

July 9, 7 p.m.

String Quartet Op. 76 No. 4 "Sunrise:" Franz Joseph Haydn

Quintet in A flat for Woodwinds: Gustav Holst

Fantasy on a Fugue of J. S. Bach for Piano and Winds: Lowell Liebermann

String Quartet No. 1: Jay Kernis

July 16, 7 p.m.

String Quartet in C Major, Op. 59 No. 3: Ludwig van Beethoven

Sextet Op. 81b for 2 Horns and String Quartet:  Ludwig van Beethoven

Quartet No. 1 in c minor, op. 15:  Gabriel Fauré

Based in New Haven, Conn., the Jasper Quartet enjoys prestigious appointments as Quartet-in-Residence at Oberlin Conservatory (Oberlin, Ohio), Ensemble-in-Residence at Classic Chamber Concerts (Naples, Fla.), and the 2009-11 Ernst C. Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and Arts (Katonah,N.Y.).

After winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Jaspers went on to win the Grand Prize at the 2008 Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs 2008, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. They were the first ensemble to win the Yale School of Music's Horatio Parker Memorial Prize (2009), an award established in 1945 and selected by the faculty for "best fulfilling... lofty musical ideals." And in 2010, they joined the roster of Astral Artists after winning their national auditions.

They are named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada. Barrett Vantage Artists represents the quartet throughout the world and Astral Artists represents the quartet in Pennsylvania. For more information, please visit Jasperquartet.com or Facebook.com/jasperstringquartet.