QUARTET 212 REPLACES SIMÓN BOLÍVAR STRING QUARTET; Announcing a change to the Gustavo Dudamel Artist-in-Residency Concert Series

QUARTET 212 REPLACES SIMÓN BOLÍVAR STRING QUARTET

Announcing a change to the Gustavo Dudamel Artist-in-Residency Concert Series

Due to an unfortunate combination of injury and recently escalated geopolitical circumstance, the Simón Bolívar String Quartet, (scheduled to perform at Princeton University Concerts on Sunday, December 2, 2018 at 2PM in Richardson Auditorium, Alexander Hall), is unable to perform as part of the Gustavo Dudamel: Artist-in-Residence series. Maestro Dudamel—making his Metropolitan Opera debut this season—has invited Quartet 212, an ensemble featuring principal members of the MET Orchestra, to replace them. 

Concertmaster David Chan, principal cellist Rafael Figueroa, violinist Catherine Ro and violist Dov Scheindlin will bring a program reflecting the diverse range of chamber music. The four players translate their long experience in the operatic world into an expressive vocal quality imbuing all of the music that they perform. From the origins of the string quartet to a newly commissioned work by Princeton University Professor Donnacha Dennehy, from a rare chamber work by operatic composer Guiseppe Verdi to Ottorino Respighi’s setting of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s poem “The Sunset” with mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, this concert promises to remind us of music’s intimate relationship with the human voice, and of chamber music’s innate communicative power.

The concert will be followed by a public discussion between Maestro Dudamel and musicologist Don Michael Randel to discuss art as a vehicle for social change throughout the world. Dr. Randel is currently Chair of the Board of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and has previously served as the president of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and the University of Chicago, among other prestigious positions. The public discussion is free to all ticketholders.

Tickets are $30 General/$10 Students, available online at princetonuniversityconcerts.org or by phone at 609-258-9220.

Further details about Gustavo Dudamel’s residency at Princeton University Concerts, consisting of three extended visits throughout the year in which the Maestro will participate in panel discussions, public talks, events featuring students of El Sistema programs, art exhibits, celebrations of Latin American culture and much more, will be announced in the coming weeks.

ABOUT QUARTET 212

Quartet 212 is an exciting new ensemble on the international scene. Comprising four leading players from the legendary MET Orchestra in New York City, the quartet was formed at the Musique et Vin au Clos Vougeot festival in the Burgundy region of France. The quartet’s name pays homage not only to the group’s Manhattan roots (212 is the area code for New York City), but also to the town of Beaune, France (postal code 21200), where the quartet played its first concert in 2012.

Quartet 212’s playing is notable for its uncommon vitality, vivid characterization, remarkable unanimity of attack, and above all the expressive and vocal quality derived from the players’ long experience in the world of opera. Quartet 212 has collaborated with many of today’s greatest artists including ‪Yo-Yo Ma, Gary Hoffman, ‪Cho-Liang Lin, Matthew Polenzani, ‪Menahem Pressler, and Jean-Yves Thibaudet. Individually, the members of the quartet are distinguished soloists and teachers in their own right, and have been prize winners at the Tchaikovsky, Piatigorsky, Casals, and Indianapolis international competitions.

Quartet 212’s repertoire ranges from the classics of Mozart, Beethoven, and Schubert to Debussy, Ravel, Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich and the Second Viennese School. The players also share a passion for mentoring leading instrumentalists and singers of the younger generation, and for the fine wines of Burgundy. Their first recording, a disc of the Mozart and Weber clarinet quintets with French clarinetist Pierre Génisson, has won numerous awards including the UK Sunday Times “Album of the Week” and the prestigious “Choc de l’Année” award from the French press.

ABOUT EMILY D’ANGELO, mezzo-soprano

Italian-Canadian mezzo-soprano Emily D’Angelo, from Toronto, Canada, is in her first year of the Lindemann Young Artist Development Program.  She recently sang the role of Second Lady in excerpts of Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte with the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Gustavo Dudamel in Walt Disney Concert Hall. She made her European debut in the 2016 at the Spoleto Festival dei Due Mondi as Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro under the baton of James Conlon, as well as her North American debut in 2016 with the Canadian Opera Company as Second Lady in Die Zauberflöte, also covering the title role in Ariodante. In June 2017 she made her American debut with Opera Theatre of St. Louis as Annio in La clemenza di Tito. She will debut Rosina in Il Barbiere di Siviglia this summer at Glimmerglass Festival in a new production by Francesca Zambello.

Ms. D’Angelo has been the recipient of numerous awards: 2^nd Prize at the 2017 Neue Stimmen Competition and 1^st Prize at the 2016 Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions, 2017 Gerda Lissner International Voice Competition, 2017 Canadian Opera Company Quilico Awards Competition, 2016 American National Opera Association Competition, and the 2015 Canadian Opera Company Centre Stage Competition.  She is a graduate of the Canadian Opera Company’s Ensemble Studio and was a two-time fellow at the Ravinia Steans Institute.