The Viano Quartet is one of the most sought-after young string quartets today. The group achieved incredible success in its formative years with an unbroken streak of top prizes at major competitions. Since soaring to international recognition as winners of the 13th Banff International String Quartet Competition (2019), they have performed at major concert halls around the world.

The Viano Quartet are currently in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as members of its prestigious Bowers Program. Dedicated music educators, the Viano have worked with students at universities across the U.S. and Canada. This season, the quartet will return to the University of Victoria for several weeks of residency. They have previously held residencies at the Curtis Institute, Colburn Conservatory, and the Meadows School of the Arts at SMU.

The Sunset Center program features two one-movement gems, a highly imaginative piece by a young Canadian composer, and two established masterpieces of the string quartet literature.

The String Quartet in F Major op. 77 no. 2 (1799) by Joseph Haydn (1732–1809) opens the program. Haydn, often called the father of the string quartet, composed 83 such works over the almost 40 years of his composing career. Opus 77 no. 2 was Haydn’s final string quartet, although he did continue to compose larger works. This piece represents the culmination of his mastery of the form. The second work is the Andante Cantabile from String Quartet No. 2 (1935) by Florence Price (1887–1953). The work of this African-American composer has long been overlooked, but her stock has been rising in recent years, with this quartet having been published only recently. The Andante Cantabile presents a lovely, lyrical, blues-tinged tune. String Quartet No. 5, The Train to Improbable Places (2023), by Kevin Lau (b. 1982) comprises a series of musical sketches inspired by a train ride through Ontario. This virtuosic and dreamlike work contains locomotive imitations, musical quotations of other composers, and an ending that “evokes a flash mob of Celtic fiddlers.” The Viano Quartet premiered the work in 2023. The Quartettsatz in C Minor, D. 703 (1820) by Franz Schubert (1797–1828) is a one-movement masterpiece. Schubert intended this movement to be the first within a longer string quartet. The quartet was left unfinished, but this movement has the substance to stand alone as a composition. Though brief, the piece is among the finest in the repertoire. String Quartet No. 2, op. 92 (1941) by Sergei Prokofiev (1891–1953) was composed after a hasty evacuation of prominent cultural figures from Moscow to the faraway North Caucasus as the German army approached. Prokofiev absorbed local folk materials into the quartet: “I felt that the combination of new, untouched Oriental folklore with the most classical of classic forms, the string quartet, would yield interesting and unexpected results.” The three-movement work was completed in five weeks and premiered in 1942.

The concert will be preceded by a 30-minute presentation by expert musicologist Derek Katz. The talk begins at 6:30 and will provide ticketholders with deeper insight into the evening’s program.

Individual tickets are available for $25–$63. CMMB’s Kids Up Front & Free! program offers free tickets for young music lovers (grades 3–12) and music teachers. Discounted tickets ($15) are available for chaperones. Active military members are also eligible for discounts.

Ticket purchase and pricing details can be found online at www.chambermusicmontereybay.org or by calling the office at 831-625-2212. The office is open Monday through Friday, 10am to 3pm.

Chamber Music Monterey Bay remains committed to its mission of enriching the cultural life of the community through high-quality chamber music and educational outreach programs.

Contact:
Chamber Music Monterey Bay
Phone: 831-625-2212
Email: info@chambermusicmontereybay.org
Website: www.chambermusicmontereybay.org