Chiara Quartet at Chandler March 15

The Chiara Quartet includes, from left, Jonah Sirota, Julie Yoon, Gregory Beaver, and Rebecca Fischer. Rebecca's father, cellist Norman Fischer will join the quartet for Schubert's famous string quintet.

On Saturday, March 15 at 7:30 p.m., the Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Julie Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; and Gregory Beaver, cello) will perform at Chandler Music Hall in Randolph.

Their concert program will feature the world premiere of composer Erik Nielsen’s String Quartet, specially commissioned by Chandler Center for the Arts’ centennial. A Brookfield resident, Nielsen has been composing for 30 years and his catalog includes works for chorus, orchestra, wind ensemble, solo instruments, chamber music of many configurations and electronic music. In 2002 he received the National Symphony Orchestra's composition prize for Vermont. The resulting commissioned work was premiered at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. in March 2004, and performed at Chandler by Chiara with Alex Fiterstein in October 2005.

The March 15 concert will also include Chiara’s performance of Beethoven’s Grosse Fuge and Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, with cellist Norman Fischer. father of Chiara’s violinist Rebecca Fischer.

Chiara (key-ARE-uh) is an Italian word, meaning "clear, pure, or light." The quartet has forged a new path for the string quartet medium. The group presents contemporary works—through their club tours and New Voice Singles recordings—to a growing circle of newcomers and committed chamber music fans alike, while exploring more established repertoire with fresh ears.

Recently, the ensemble was named the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University, a post they will begin in the fall of 2008, in addition to their ongoing artist residency at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Their honors include the Guarneri Quartet Residency Award for artistic excellence by Chamber Music America, a top prize at the Paolo Borciani International Competition, winning the Astral Artistic Services National Audition, and winning first prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

In addition to performing in concert halls such as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall, the American Academy in Rome, Philadelphia’s Kimmel Center, and Harris Hall in Aspen, Colo., Chiara devotes much of its performance season to reaching new audiences through concerts in non-classical venues. The quartet has performed at Caffe Vivaldi in New York's West Village, Kansas City’s The Brick, Houston’s Mucky Duck, Lincoln’s The Chatterbox, Wichita’s The Artichoke, and Chicago’s The Hideout, among many others. They have premiered works by Gabriela Lena Frank, Jefferson Friedman, Michael Wittgraf, Randall Snyder, and Nico Muhly, among others.

The Chiara Quartet has taught at the Juilliard School, and been artists-in-residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln since 2005. In the summer, the quartet is in residence at Greenwood Music Camp, the University of Nebraska-Lincoln's Chamber Music Institute, and the Red River Chamber Music Festival, a summer study and performance festival founded by the quartet in Grand Forks, N.D. Currently, the quartet is developing a program in music entrepreneurship at the School of Music of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

Chiara trained at the Juilliard School, mentoring for two years with the Juilliard Quartet as recipients of the Lisa Arnhold Quartet Residency, at the Yellow Barn Music School and Festival, and at the Aspen Music Festival.

For tickets to the March 15 concert, call the Chandler box office at 728-6464.

____________