MOUNT VERNON – The Community Concert Association of Knox County will presents "Thalea String Quartet" on Friday, Oct. 29, at 7:30 p.m. at the Knox Memorial Theater.
Tickets may be purchased at http://www.ccaofknoxcounty.org or at the door.
The Thalea string quartet brings together artists of Nigerian, Venezuelan, Japanese and Canadian heritage. With a repertoire as diverse as its members, and every bit as exuberant, Thalea connects with audiences on a musical, emotional and personal level, from first-time listeners to chamber music aficionados.
Top prize-winners at both the 2018 Fischoff and Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions, Thalea was founded in 2014 and made its U.S. début at the Kennedy Center in 2016. It has since performed across North America and in Italy, France, Belgium and China, and was chosen by Canada's Début Atlantic to give a two-week tour of Eastern Canada in 2020-21.
Thalea was quartet-in-residence at Caramoor in 2019-20, joining an elite roster of quartets, including the Calidore and the Dover, who have held the position. Caramoor has commissioned a work by Paola Prestini ("one of the top female composers in classical music," the Washington Post said), for Thalea to premiere in 2020.
Thalea co-commissioned, with pianist Michelle Cann, a chamber version of the Piano Concerto by Florence Price, contributing to the resurgence of interest in this neglected African-American composer. The quartet performed the work with great success at Caramoor, at Washington DC's Dumbarton Concerts, and on a tour of the West Coast.
Beginning August 2020, Thalea has been in residence at University of Maryland as the Graduate Fellowship Quartet. For the previous two years, it was the Young Professional Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas-Austin's Butler School of Music, and prior to that it was the inaugural quartet-in-residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Thalea has shared the stage with the Borromeo Quartet in the Mendelssohn Octet, with Pulitzer Prize-winning composer/vocalist Caroline Shaw, with Geoff Nuttall of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and with pianist Tao Lin.
Thalea participated in the 2017 Kronos Festival and has been Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel Associated Artists under the mentorship of the Artemis Quartet. Other mentors include the Miró Quartet and members of the Juilliard, Kronos, Takács, Pacifica and Danish string quartets. During multiple residencies at the Banff Centre, it worked with Gilbert Kalish, Mark Steinberg, Alasdair Tait and the JACK and Miró quartets.
Individual members also perform jazz, compose for interactive visual art, sing with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, dance ballet and occasionally act on a hit TV show.
"Just when I thought our society was falling apart, along came the Thalea quartet's vivid, expansive performances. Their beautifully textured sound is enveloped by thrilling individual brilliance and highlighted by a rare, magnetic quartet sense emanating from every note they play. Hearing them makes me feel very happy and gives me hope for the future. They are great ambassadors for music," David Harrington wrote for the Kronos Quartet
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