J Freivogel & Sae Chonabayashi, violins | Sam Quintal, viola | Rachel Henderson Freivogel, cello

Winner of the 2012 Cleveland Quartet Award, the Jasper String Quartet has been hailed as ‘sonically delightful and expressively compelling’ (The Strad) and as ‘powerful’ (The New York Times). Based in Philadelphia, the Jaspers are the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians. From 2015-2017 the Quartet will premiere their commission of Aaron Jay Kernis’ 3rd Quartet across the world, including at Carnegie Hall and Wigmore Hall.

After winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Jaspers went on to win first prize at numerous competitions’the 2008 Coleman Competition, the 2008 Chamber Music Yellow Springs, as well as the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music competitions, among others.

Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Quartet served as Ensemble-in-Residence in 2010-12. They originally studied at Rice University as the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence and later trained with the Tokyo String Quartet as Yale University’s Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2012, they were awarded a Chamber Music America grant through its Residency Partnership Program for work in Philadelphia schools and have brought well over 100 outreach programs into schools.

They have performed throughout the United States and abroad. Currently, they record exclusively for Sono Luminus and have released three highly acclaimed albums ‘ Beethoven Op. 131, The Kernis Project: Schubert, and The Kernis Project: Beethoven. The Jaspers perform music ranging from Haydn and Beethoven through Berg, Ligeti, and living composers and have have commissioned works from some of today’s up-and-coming composers. The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.

‘The Jaspers’ match their sounds perfectly, as if each swelling chord were coming out of a single, impossibly well-tuned organ, instead of four distinct instruments’ (New Haven Advocate)

‘(They play) with sparkling vitality and great verve” The Classical Voice of North Carolina

”incisive and tightly wound, took the listeners from their casual setting into a world of keenly felt emotion and fathomless despair.’ ‘ The Oregonian

PROGRAM

HAYDN: Quartet in G major, Op. 76, No. 1
SHOSTAKOVICH: Quartet in C minor, No. 8
MENDELSSOHN: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80 (change in program)

Tickets: $34, $28, $19
(fees may apply)