Performers

VIANO STRING QUARTET

• LUCY WANG, violin

• HAO ZHOU, violin

• AIDEN KANE, viola

• TATE ZAWADIUK, cello

Program

SAMUEL BARBER String Quartet, Op. 11

WU MAN Glimpses of Muqam Chebiyat

BEETHOVEN String Quartet in E Minor, Op. 59 No. 2

Praised for their “virtuosity, visceral expression, and rare unity of intention” (Boston Globe), the Viano Quartet are one of the most sought-after performing ensembles today and currently in-residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Bowers Program. Since winning First Prize at the 2019 Banff International String Quartet Competition, they have traveled to nearly every major city across the globe, captivating audiences in New York, London, Berlin, Vancouver, Paris, Beijing,Toronto, Lucerne, and Los Angeles.

Their Bay Chamber program places the music of Beethoven alongside the American composer Samuel Barber’s ravishing string quartet. The adagio from Barber’s quartet is universally loved after its use in the film Platoon. It was also played at the funeral of Albert Einstein, can be heard in many commercials, and has become a modern day hit among trance music pioneers. Beethoven’s Op. 59 String Quartets are part of the groundbreaking music of Beethoven’s “heroic” middle period. Carl Czerny, a student of Beethoven, reported that the inspiration for the second movement of the E Minor Quartet came to the composer “while contemplating the starry sky and thinking of the music of the spheres.”

In between these two monumental string quartets, Viano perform “Glimpses of Muqam Chebiyat”, a two-movement suite inspired by traditional music in China, including Uyghur Maqam of Xinjiang province, a pipa scale from the 9th century, and the Silk-and-Bamboo music, or teahouse music, from the composer’s hometown of Hangzhou.

Tickets: Age 35+: $38 | 22-34: $20 | 21 & Under: Pay What You Wish

Honorary Concert Sponsors: John and Susan Jackson