Jupiter String Quartet

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Jupiter String Quartet
Background information
OriginUnited States
GenresClassical
Years active2001–present
Members
  • Nelson Lee (violin)
  • Meg Freivogel (violin)
  • Liz Freivogel (viola)
  • Daniel McDonough (cello)
Websitewww.jupiterquartet.com

The Jupiter String Quartet (sometimes referred to as the Jupiter Quartet) is an American classical music ensemble founded in 2001. It is a string quartet consisting of Nelson Lee (violin); sisters Meg Freivogel (violin) and Liz Freivogel (viola); and Daniel McDonough (cello), who is Meg Freivogel's husband.

They perform worldwide and direct the chamber music program at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they have been quartet-in-residence since 2012.[1] They have premiered many works by contemporary composers, and released more than a dozen albums, including live recordings and recordings with collaborators such as Jeremy Denk.

Founding and early recognition[edit]

The members of the quartet studied with members of the Cleveland Quartet and at the Aspen Music Festival and School.[2] They formed the Jupiter String Quartet in 2001,[3][4] in Cleveland.[5] adopting their name[6] because the planet Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of their formation, and because Jupiter's astrological symbol is similar to the number four.

Having spent formative summers of 2003 and 2004 on fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival's Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, in years since they have returned to Aspen to teach newer classes of fellows.[7] During the 2000s they were based at the New England Conservatory in Boston.[3]

In 2004 they won the grand prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition[8][9] and the grand prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition,[5] and in 2005 won the Young Concert Artists International auditions.[10] In 2007 they won Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award, and in 2008 received an Avery Fisher Career Grant.

In 2010 The New Yorker wrote that they were "a new group that plays with both technical finesse and rare expressive maturity."[11]

Residencies, touring, recording[edit]

From 2007 to 2010 the Jupiter String Quartet held a residency at the Chamber Music Two series of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.[12] Since 2012 they have held a residency at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.[1]

The quartet has performed in North and South America, Europe, and Asia at venues including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, Wigmore Hall, Boston's Jordan Hall, the Palacio de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Esterhazy Palace, the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia presented by the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society,[13] Maverick Concerts in Woodstock multiple times,[14][15] and the Seoul Arts Center.[16] They have appeared at music festivals including the Banff Centre,[17] the Seoul Spring Festival, the Aspen Music Festival and School,[2] the Rockport Music Festival multiple times[18] beginning in 2009,[19] multiple times at the Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival[20] beginning in 2005,[21] Bowdoin International Music Festival, Music@Menlo, Caramoor International Music Festival, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Yellow Barn Festival, Encore Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Athens.[22]

Their recordings, many of them on Marquis Records,[23] include music by classical, modern, and contemporary composers, including Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Fauré, Shostakovich, Ravel, Chausson, Gunther Schuller, Benjamin Britten, Osvaldo Golijov, Dan Visconti,[24] Su Lian Tan, and Stephen Andrew Taylor. Their three live "Music@Menlo" recordings in the "Maps and Legends" series include music by Poulenc, Turina, Debussy, Dvořák, Gershwin, Milhaud, Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Harry Burleigh, William Bolcom, and others.[12]

2009–2018: Premieres[edit]

In 2009 the Jupiter String Quartet premiered Ramshackle Songs, a piece by composer Dan Visconti commissioned by the Fromm Foundation.[25]

In 2013 they premiered Total Internal Reflection by Hannah Lash at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival[26] and gave, with Thomas Hampson, the Boston premiere of Aristotle by Mark Adamo, which had been commissioned for the Jupiter and Hampson.[27]

In 2015 they premiered the String Quartet No. 7 of Canadian-American composer Sydney Hodkinson.[28]

In 2018 they gave the world premiere of "Imprimatur" by Kati Agócs at the Aspen Music Festival and School.[7] Their 2019 album Alchemy featured world premiere recordings of three pieces: Pierre Jalbert’s Piano Quintet; Steven Stuckey’s Piano Quartet; and the Fantasia for Piano Quintet by Carl Vine.[29]

2019–present: More premieres, touring[edit]

In 2019 the Jupiter collaborated with pianist Bernadette Harvey on the album Alchemy, which included four commissions of Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, three of which were world premiere recordings.[30] In 2020 the quartet marked Beethoven's 250th-anniversary year with a series of Beethoven concerts and released an album, Metamorphosis, that paired Beethoven's Op. 131 with the String Quartet No. 1 of Ligeti.[31]

In July 2020 at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic they livestreamed the world premiere of To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores by Michi Wiancko, a piece that had been commissioned for them,[32] and the following year they premiered Chaconne/Labyrinth by Stephen Andrew Taylor, a piece meant to convey the experience of the pandemic.[33]

Their 2021 collaborative album with the Jasper String Quartet included the world premiere recording of Eternal Breath by Dan Visconti,[34] a piece written for the 40th wedding anniversary of Meg and Liz Freivogel's parents. The Arts Fuse called the album "striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution."[24]

On October 3, 2023 the Jupiter premiered Medusa, which Nathan Shields had written for them during a Guggenheim Fellowship.[35] The same month, with marimba player William Moersch, they premiered Rock Galaxy by Zack Browning.[36]

In addition to their extensive touring schedule, the Jupiter continues to perform at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts[37] at the University of Illinois where they are quartet-in-residence, and at the Cleveland Chamber Music Society[38] in the city of their founding.

Awards and honors[edit]

  • 2004: Grand prize, Banff International String Quartet Competition
  • 2004: Grand prize, Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition
  • 2005: Winner, Young Concert Artists International auditions
  • 2007: Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America
  • 2008: Avery Fisher Career Grant
  • 2009: Fromm Foundation grant to commission a quartet from composer Dan Visconti[39]

Discography[edit]

Album Release Date Label Collaborator(s)
Felix Mendelssohn: Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20; Dan Visconti: Eternal Breath; Osvaldo Golijov: Last Round 5 February 2021 Marquis Records Jasper String Quartet
Metamorphosis 12 June 2020 Marquis Records
Alchemy 10 May 2019 Marquis Records Bernadette Harvey
Revelations 16 June 2017 Arsis Audio Bruce Brubaker
Windows in Time (Chamber Music for Horn and Strings) 1 May 2017 Opening Day Entertainment Bernhard Scully, Rebecca Gitter
Rootsongs 30 September 2016 Azica Ollie Watts Davis
Ravel: Intimate Masterpieces 29 October 2013 Oberlin Music Ellie Dehn, Richard Hawkins, Yolanda Kondonassis, Spencer Myer, Alexa Still
Music@Menlo Live: – Maps & Legends Discs V, VI, VII 14 December 2010 Music@Menlo Various
Mendelssohn: Quartet, Op. Post. 80; Beethoven: String Quartet, Op. 135 15 September 2009 Marquis Music
Chausson: Concert in D major; Fauré: Violin Sonata No. 1 (EP) 8 July 2008 Soovin Kim, Jeremy Denk
Shostakovich: Quartet No. 3; Britten: Quartet No. 2 8 November 2007 Marquis Music

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b The Jupiter Quartet to Perform with Pianist Soyeon Kate Lee in Williamsburg, Williamsburg Yorktown Daily, 22 January 2024, retrieved 13 February 2024
  2. ^ a b On stage at Aspen: The Jupiter String Quartet and Alisa Weilerstein, Your Classical, 31 July 2015, retrieved 19 February 2024
  3. ^ a b Richard Knisely (7 February 2008), The Jupiter String Quartet: Orbiting Perfection, NPR, retrieved 13 February 2024
  4. ^ Classical music review: Jupiter String Quartet delivers a polished program of Haydn, Golijov and Brahms, The Dallas Morning News, 15 March 2010, retrieved 13 February 2024
  5. ^ a b Fred Child (5 August 2004), NPR at Aspen: The Jupiter Quartet, NPR, retrieved 13 February 2024
  6. ^ Stephen Brookes (27 March 2017), "Jupiter String Quartet delivers on its name with an out-of-this-world performance", The Washington Post, retrieved 13 February 2024
  7. ^ a b Andrew Travers (27 June 2018), Jupiter String Quartet to open Aspen Music Festival season, Aspen Times, retrieved 13 February 2024
  8. ^ BISQC History, Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, retrieved 13 February 2024
  9. ^ Young string quartets head to Banff for international competition, The Strad, 23 August 2019, retrieved 13 February 2024
  10. ^ JUPITER STRING QUARTET, '05, Young Concert Artists, retrieved 13 February 2024
  11. ^ "South Mountain Concerts (Jupiter String Quartet)", The New Yorker, retrieved 14 February 2024
  12. ^ a b Jupiter String Quartet at AllMusic
  13. ^ Tom Purdom (20 January 2014), Jupiter and Jasper quartets at the Perelman, Broad Street Review, retrieved 19 February 2024
  14. ^ Jupiter String Quartet, Pianist Daniel Gortler in Concert at Maverick Concert Hall in Woodstock on Aug. 5, Daily Freeman, 27 July 2018, retrieved 19 February 2024
  15. ^ Leslie Gerber (26 August 2014), Another Maverick Marathon, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, retrieved 19 February 2024
  16. ^ Do Je-hae (17 October 2011), Inaugural festival at IBK Chamber Hall, The Korea Times, retrieved 19 February 2024
  17. ^ Bill Rankin (7 September 2017), A String Quartet Competition Spawns A Festival, Classical Voice America, retrieved 19 February 2024
  18. ^ Sudeep Agarwala (20 June 2011), Jupiter's Genius Pairing of Beethoven, Bartók, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, retrieved 19 February 2024
  19. ^ Elizabeth Perten (28 June 2009), Solid Performance from Jupiter String Quartet at Rockport Chamber Music Festival, The Boston Musical Intelligencer, retrieved 19 February 2024
  20. ^ Sarah Hookey (2 July 2019), Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival Presents JUPITER AND ONE JON Concerts, Broadway World, retrieved 19 February 2024
  21. ^ Anna Crebo (12 March 2005), Reaching for the stars, Cape Cod Times, retrieved 19 February 2024
  22. ^ Jupiter String Quartet, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, retrieved 13 February 2024
  23. ^ Jupiter String Quartet, Marquis Classics, retrieved 14 February 2024
  24. ^ a b Jonathan Blumhofer (31 January 2021), Classical Album Review: Jasper & Jupiter Quartets play Mendelssohn, Visconti, and Golijov, The Arts Fuse, retrieved 20 February 2024
  25. ^ Daniel Visconti, Fromm Music Foundation, retrieved 21 February 2024
  26. ^ Hannah Lash's Total Internal Reflection Debuts at Great Lakes and Aspen Music Festivals, Schott Music Group, 3 June 2013, retrieved 21 February 2024
  27. ^ David Wright (27 April 2013), Hampson, Jupiter Quartet eloquent in Adamo premiere, Wolf songs, Boston Classical Review, retrieved 19 February 2024
  28. ^ Leslie Gerber (5 August 2018), Jupiter Quartet and Pianist Generally Satisfy, Boston Musical Intelligencer, retrieved 21 February 2024
  29. ^ Laurence Vittes (3 July 2019), Jupiter String Quartet Releases New Album with World Premieres, Strings Magazine, retrieved 20 February 2024
  30. ^ Laurie Niles (23 May 2019), For the Record, Op. 86: Hilary Hahn's García Abril 6 Partitas; Soloists of the NY Phil; Jupiter Quartet, Violinist, retrieved 13 February 2024
  31. ^ Laurie Niles (19 June 2020), For the Record, Op. 122: Lisa Batiashvili; Goat Rodeo returns; Arabella Steinbacher; Jupiter String Quartet, Violinist, retrieved 13 February 2024
  32. ^ Chamber Music Conversations from the Clark: Jupiter String Quartet, UCLA Center for 17th- & 18-Century Studies, 16 May 2021, retrieved 20 February 2024
  33. ^ Jodi Heckel (1 April 2021), Illinois composer's new work, performed by the Jupiter String Quartet, depicts pandemic experience, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign News Bureau, retrieved 21 February 2024
  34. ^ Jupiter String Quartet, University of Idaho, retrieved 20 February 2024
  35. ^ Kathleen McGowan (6 October 2023), Strings and strife: Jupiter Quartet tackles socio-political themes in stunning fall concert, Smile Politely, retrieved 21 February 2024
  36. ^ Zack Browning (2 August 2023), William Moersch and Jupiter String Quartet premiere Rock Galaxy on October 29, 2023 at the University of Illinois, Zack Browning, retrieved 20 February 2024
  37. ^ John Frayne (30 October 2023), John Frayne: Jupiter String Quartet's violent 'Upheaval' hits close to home, The News-Gazette, retrieved 13 February 2024
  38. ^ Jacqueline Gerber (11 November 2022), John Frayne: Jupiter String Quartet's violent 'Upheaval' hits close to home, Ideastream Public Media, retrieved 13 February 2024
  39. ^ Great Artists Series 19–20: Jupiter String Quartet, Washington University in St. Louis, 21 February 2020, retrieved 14 February 2024
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