Internationally recognized as one of the world’s finest quartets, the American String Quartet has spent decades honing the luxurious sound for which it is famous. The quartet is celebrating its 38th anniversary in 2013-14, and, in its years of touring, has performed in all fifty states and has appeared in the most important concert halls worldwide.

Their presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim, and their Music Masters Complete Mozart String Quartets, performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius, on loan from the Smithsonian, are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.

Newtown Friends of Music will proudly host a performance by the quartet on stage at the Edmond Town Hall on Sunday, April 13, at 3 pm.

Formed when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the American String Quartet’s career began with the group winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. Their performance, resident and outreach work has grown and spread across the globe since then.

Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and at the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, ASQ has also served as resident quartet at Taos School of Music, Peabody Conservatory, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet’s diverse activities have also included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, including a recording for the BBC in May 2012; tours of Asia; and performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony, and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

Highlights of the Quartet’s 2013-14 season include performances of an all-sextet program with Roberto and Andrès Díaz, a tour of South America, and performances of the complete Beethoven cycle of string quartets in Israel – the ensemble’s fourth visit to the country in as many years.

The American String Quartet — violinist Peter Winograd, violinist (and founding member) Laurie Carner, violist Daniel Avshalomov and cellist Wolfram Koessel — is also a favorite with Newtown Friends of Music audiences, who were fortunate to hear them the first time in 1980 and on half a dozen occasions since then.

For the program on April 13, the musicians have chosen Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Opus 54, No.1; the Brahms Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 67; and, after intermission,  Beethoven’s Quartet in F Major, Opus 69, No. 3, “Razumovsky.”

An informal reception following the concert will offer concert goers the opportunity to meet and mingle with the musicians.

Advance reservations are strongly recommended. Tickets are $25, and may be reserved by sending a check and self-addressed, stamped envelope to Newtown Friends of Music, PO Box 295, Newtown CT 06470-0295.

The box office at Edmond Town Hall will open at 2 pm on the day of the concert. Remaining tickets will be sold that afternoon, cash or check only.

Students K-12 are admitted free of charge when accompanied by a ticket-holding adult. College students with valid student ID are also admitted free of charge. 

Parking is free behind Edmond Town Hall, and the facility is handicap accessible.

For additional information visit newtownfriendsofmusic.org or call 203-426-6470 to reserve your tickets today.