Highlights
Highlights
Join the FSQ for
The Complete String Quartets
of Ludwig van Beethoven
Fall 2008
The Fry Street Quartet & Robert Winter
Concert Cycle: October 2-4 & 9-11, 2008 Presented by The Caine School of the Arts College of Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences Utah State University
“The seventeen string quartets of Beethoven are to chamber music what the plays of Shakespeare are to drama and what the self-portraits of Rembrandt are to portraiture.”* Beethoven's quartets go beyond even his symphonies in the scope of his output, and provide an incredible overview of his creative development.
Any Beethoven Cycle is a rare event, but here in Logan, Utah the Caine School of the Arts is thrilled to present this Beethoven Cycle performed by the Fry Street Quartet alongside lectures with renowned scholar/pianist/media author Robert Winter, as well as additional lectures, demonstrations, and supplementary events for an unforgettable journey into the world of Beethoven. Mark your calendars now!
* The Beethoven Quartet Companion , Robert Winter and Robert Martin (University of California Press 1994), Introduction, pg. 1.
For more information about tickets and the Cycle visit: http://caineschool.usu.edu/artsandlectures.aspx
About
the area visit: http://caineschool.usu.edu/aboutcachevalley.aspx
Accomodations in the Logan area: http://caineschool.usu.edu/accommodations.aspx
Local Restaurants (including FSQ menu and restaurant recommendations!): http://caineschool.usu.edu/dining_cachevalley.aspx#fsq%20Recommendations
Joseph
Haydn String Quartets
Order the quartet's latest CD, recorded with the
stunning sound of IsoMike technology in Super Audio CD Hybrid
format.
Cairns
Artist Management
The Fry Street Quartet is proud
to announce that it has signed on with Cairns Artist Management,
making it one of just a few quartets in the world with an exclusive management
agreement.
news & events
News & Events
Announcing the FSQ's new violinist
The Fry Street Quartet is pleased to announce that William Fedkenheuer has accepted the position of first violinist, ending an intensive search process that gave the quartet the rare opportunity to rehearse and perform with some of the most exciting violin talents of this generation. After collaborating with many outstanding candidates over the past six months, Mr. Fedkenheuer’s dazzling virtuosity and magnetic character proved a perfect match for the FSQ’s “luminous, vibrant and dynamic” sound and engaging personality.
Recently retired from six years as a member of the internationally acclaimed Borromeo String Quartet, Mr. Fedkenheuer has thrilled audiences throughout the world. Winner of the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award, the Canadian native has distinguished himself as a versatile artist with performances as soloist, chamber musician, orchestral musician and fiddler that grab “the audience’s undivided attention for every note” . Mr. Fedkenheuer’s touring in the US has included performances at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall Presents, San Francisco Performances and the National Gallery. Abroad, he has performed at the American Academy in Rome, Fountainbleu, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, Taipei National University of the Arts and in Austria at the famed Esterhazy Castle during the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt.
Mr. Fedkenheuer began his studies at age four at the Conservatory of Music, Mount Royal College in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. His performing career was launched at age seven as the youngest member of the world-renowned Calgary Fiddlers, performing for audiences of thousands around the globe, and earning national acclaim as the Fiddling Champion of Canada in his early teens. Making his solo violin debut with the Calgary Philharmonic in 1994, Mr. Fedkenheuer went on to receive a Bachelor of Music degree from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Kathleen Winkler and continued his studies with Miriam Fried at Indiana University. Throughout his musical career, Mr. Fedkenheuer has combined his love of chamber music with a passion for promoting new music, collaborating with composers in a variety of genres, and also has enjoyed mentoring students and championing new ways of connecting with audiences.
Hailed by the New York Concert Review as “endowed with everything that makes for a striking and unqualified success,” the Fry Street Quartet is poised to bring a new level of excitement to the classical music world. Fans of the Fry Street Quartet’s “pure Technicolor” sound will be delighted to hear their “perfect marriage of ageless wisdom and youthful freshness” combine with Mr. Fedkenheuer’s “passionately intelligent and intelligently passionate” playing. Joining the Quartet on the faculty of the Caine School of the Arts at Utah State University, Mr. Fedkenheuer will reside in Logan, UT with his wife, violinist Yi Ching Fedkenheuer and their Maltese dog “Archibald.”
August 8, 2006
©Cairns Artist Management
1 Deseret Morning News
2 Strad Magazine
3 New York Concert Review
4 The Times Union
5 New York Concert Review
6 Boston Globe
Spring 2006
The FSQ Engages Exclusive Management!
The Fry Street Quartet is proud to announce that it has signed on with Cairns Artist Management, making it one of just a few quartets in the world with an exclusive management agreement.
“I'm thrilled to be representing an ensemble of this caliber,” notes Meg Cairns, founder of CAM. “The Fry Street Quartet is poised to enter the upper echelon of chamber music performers, and we have some wonderful ideas about taking the Quartet to the next level.”
Bookings, media inquiries, composer submissions, and requests for information about the quartet may be directed to: bookings@frystreetquartet.com .
Fall 2005
Coachings begin at Logan High!
The first day of coachings with the Fry Street Quartet was an exciting one for the chamber ensembles at Logan High School. Read more and see photos here.
The FSQ in Pennsylvania
The members of the FSQ were Weinstock Artists-in-Residence at Lehigh University in late September, reuniting with frequent collaborator Eugene Albulescu. The quartet then made a stop in Reading for the Pennsylvania premiere of "st qt." View pictures of the trip here. Click here to read their rave review from the Reading concert.
The 2005-2006 Logan concert series begins at Logan High School
The FSQ gave its first performance of the season in Logan on September 22 at Logan High School, performing music of Haydn, Martinu, and Dvorak. The concert was given at LHS in part to celebrate the start of the new Chamber Music Mentoring Program (see below). View photos.
The Fry Street Quartet kicks off the Chamber Music Mentoring Program!
On September 21 the FSQ visited the orchestra students at Logan High School to celebrate the start of the new Chamber Music Mentoring Program, sponsored by the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation and the Utah Arts Council. As part of the program, the LHS students will rehearse regularly with their chamber music ensembles and receive coachings from Utah State University string students, as well as the members of the FSQ. The program will also include a short-term residency by the Miro Quartet, sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Logan, and will culminate in a gala final concert on May 9th.
Summer 2005
The FSQ Workshop at Music in the Mountains
In mid-June six outstanding chamber music ensembles gathered in Emory, Virginia, for the Fry Street Quartet Workshop at Music in the Mountains. View pictures and details of the workshop here.
Spring 2005
The FSQ in Sedona
The quartet recently enjoyed a residency in Sedona, AZ, as part of the Sedona Arts and Heritage Days, sponsored by Chamber Music Sedona and the Sedona Historical Society. Events ranged from concerts in schools to performances at art galleries to a jam session with the Custom Country Band. The quartet capped off its residency with a packed performance at St. John Vianney Church, and joined forces with Sedona native Virginia Kron for a performance of Schubert's Cello Quintet. View pictures here. Find out more about Chamber Music Sedona at www.chambermusicsedona.org.
Winter 2004-2005
The FSQ celebrates the release of "Voices of Modernism and the String Quartet"
On January 20, the FSQ celebrated the release of a new Two-CD set of music by Beethoven, Stravinsky, Rorem, and Scearce, with a release concert and celebration. Recorded using cutting edge IsoMike™, SACD, and DSD technology, the CD was edited and mastered by Grammy award winning Graemme Brown (www.zenmastering.net). To learn more about the IsoMike™ click here.
To order your copy now, and to read more about the CD and its creation, click here.
View pictures of the CD celebration here.
FSQ collaborates with Joseph Kalichstein
The quartet performed Schumann's Piano Quintet with the renowned pianist as part of the Juniper Winter Chamber Music Festival at the Ellen Eccles Theatre in Logan, UT. This year's festival also included performances by guest artist Pinchas Zukerman who joined forces with Marjorie Bagley, Brant Bayless, Russell Fallstad, and Michael Carrera in a performance of both sextets by Brahms. Click here to view photos.
Fall 2004
The FSQ's European Tour
The FSQ recently returned from a European tour that included performances with the Prague Chamber and Trutnov Autumn Festivals in the Czech Republic, the ProQuartet Academy at Pont-Royal, Provence, and the Mozart Gaminder Series in Klagenfurt, Austria. The quartet has already been engaged for return performances in the Czech Republic and Austria in 2006. Participation of The Fry Street Quartet was made possible in part through support from The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions, a public-private partnership of the National Endowment for the Arts, the U.S. Department of State, and The Rockefeller Foundation, additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and administered by Arts International.
The Eighth Banff International String Quartet Competition
The FSQ returned from this prestigious competition as prizewinners. click here to read more
Spring 2004
The Fry Street Quartet receives fellowship grant
The Fry Street Quartet is the recipient of the Marie Eccles Caine Foundation Young Scholar Fellowship. The fellowship, set at $30,000.00 is an annual award established to promote teaching, research, and community outreach related to the fine arts.
The FSQ wishes to thank the foundation, particularly Manon Russell and Kathryn Wanless, for their sincere interest in music and their generous support. Their extraordinary contributions to the arts in Cache Valley truly inspire us all to live better and work a little harder.
The Fry Street Quartet Collaborates with pianist Misha Dichter
At the Wasserman Piano Festival at Utah State University this past March, the FSQ had the pleasure of performing the Brahms Piano Quintet in f minor with internationally renowned pianist Misha Dichter. Click here to read the review.
Winter
2004
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The Fry Street Quartet presents the World Premiere of Thomas McFaul's ‘st qt' at the Caine Lyric Theatre in Logan, UT, on February 19, 2004.
Thomas McFaul has written some of the most widely recognized melodies in the world's history of music. Read on to find out why you might not recognize his name…
Beginning his musical career in musicology at the University of Illinois during its heyday, McFaul was exposed to all the great compositional minds of the time. His career in academia took a wild left turn when he left to play in a rock band called “Think Dog.” After some years of struggling with the band in New York, he took a job writing jingles and spent the next thirty years writing all the jingles you hum. Meow Meow Meow Meow , GE , we bring good things to life , AT &T's Reach Out and Touch Someone barely begins the list. Always writing classical music as well, Tom recently completed his Mass in c minor . His Mass is a colossal masterpiece that involves solo voices, a choir, and orchestra. His ‘st qt' (a nod to his start in musicology, as “st qt” is the abbreviation for “string quartet” in the Grove dictionary) was written for the Fry Street Quartet in the spring of 2003. It is an exciting piece that begins with a rich first movement, and continues with a short and furious second movement. The third is a beautiful and simple March, the fourth a gorgeous slow movement, and the fifth is a blazing double fugue.
Read the composer's remarks about ‘st qt':
It is a great privilege for any composer to work directly with musicians toward an interpretation and performance of a new piece. St qt was written for The Fry Street Quartet, a sublimely musical group of gifted and ambitious young players with whom I have had previous associations. They participated in the production and recording of my Mass in C minor. We were able to work on st qt together for five successive days in the summer of 2003.
St qt combines discrete, seemingly opposing melodic, and rhythmic elements in a harmonic framework that ranges from very traditional to highly chromatic. Influences range from the Landini cadence of the fourteenth century, to 18th century contrapuntal conventions, Romantic notions, as well as the Modernism and Post Modernism of my own age.
I think of the piece as a kind of musical battlefield where tonality and post-tonality meet. In the case of this skirmish, tonality is clearly victorious.
~T. McFaul
For more information about
the composer click here and to read a review of the FSQ's performance
of st qt click here.
The Juniper Winter Chamber Music Festival comes to Utah State University from January 26-30 with guest artists Orli Shaham, Paul Katz, Paul Rosenthal, and Claudine Bigelow. Performances take place on Thursday, January 29 and Friday, January 30, and will include works by Beethoven, Brahms, Mendelssoh, Strauss, and Stravinsky. The festival will present solo and chamber music master classes at USU, in addition to outreach performances by Festival artists at area schools. click here to view photos!
The FSQ performs the complete string quartets of Benjamin Britten at the Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art in Logan, UT on January 8, 15, and 22 at 12:00 noon. Benjamin Britten (1913-1976) wrote some of the greatest string quartets of the 20th century, a time period that produced a wealth of masterpieces for the genre. Though Britten was British, he was living in Los Angeles when he wrote the first quartet, which was commissioned by the American patroness Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. The second quartet was completed after a 1945 tour of Germany with violinist Yehudi Menuhin, where they performed for concentration camp survivors. The third quartet was written shortly before his death and was inspired by Thomas Mann's Death in Venice. The FSQ will offer a lecture/discussion of each work in addition to the performances. Click here to read about Benjamin Britten's string quartets.
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