EMERSON STRING QUARTET
CHAMBER MUSIC
Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer – violins
Lawrence Dutton – viola; Paul Watkins – cello
EMERSON STRING QUARTET
CHAMBER MUSIC
Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer – violins
Lawrence Dutton – viola; Paul Watkins – cello
ABOUT
The Emerson String Quartet have completed “The Final Season”, disbanding after more than four decades as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles. “With musicians like this,” wrote a reviewer for The Times (London), “there must be some hope for humanity.” The Quartet has made more than 30 acclaimed recordings, and has been honored with nine GRAMMYs® (including two for Best Classical Album), three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, and Musical America’s “Ensemble of the Year” award. As part of their larger mission to keep the string quartet form alive and relevant, they have commissioned and premiered works from some of today’s most esteemed composers, and have partnered in performance with leading soloists such as Renée Fleming, Barbara Hannigan, Evgeny Kissin, Emanuel Ax, Mstislav Rostropovich, and Yefim Bronfman, James Galway, Edgar Meyer, Menahem Pressler, Leon Fleisher, André Previn, and Isaac Stern, to name a few.
In its final season, the Quartet gave farewell performances across North America and Europe, including San Francisco’s Herbst Theater, Chicago’s Orchestra Hall, Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music, Vienna’s Musikverein, Prague’s Rudolfinum, London’s Southbank Centre for the completion of its acclaimed cycle of Shostakovich quartets, and more, before coming home to New York City for its final series there with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, in a trio of programs entitled Emerson Dimensions where the Quartet performed some of its most storied repertoire. They also gave several performances of André Previn’s Penelope with Renée Fleming and Uma Thurman, including at the Los Angeles Opera, and appeared at Carnegie Hall with Evgeny Kissin to perform the Dvořák Quintet as part of a benefit concert for the Andrei Sakharov Foundation. The final performance as the Emerson String Quartet took place October 2023 in New York City, and was filmed for a planned documentary by filmmaker Tristan Cook.
The Quartet’s extensive discography includes the complete string quartets of Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Bartók, Webern, and Shostakovich, as well as multi-CD sets of the major works of Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Dvořák. In its final season, the Quartet will record Schoenberg’s Second Quartet with Barbara Hannigan for release in 2023, with the sessions video documented by Mathieu Amalric for a short film. Deutsche Grammophon will also reissue its box set of the Emerson Complete Recordings on the label, with two new additions. In October 2020, the group released a recording of Schumann’s three string quartets for the Pentatone label. In the preceding year, the Quartet joined forces with GRAMMY®-winning pianist Evgeny Kissin to release a collaborative album for Deutsche Grammophon, recorded live at a sold-out Carnegie Hall concert in 2018.
Formed in 1976 and based in New York City, the Emerson String Quartet was one of the first quartets whose violinists alternate in the first violin position. The Quartet, which takes its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, balances busy performing careers with a commitment to teaching, and serves as Quartet-in-Residence at Stony Brook University. In 2013, cellist Paul Watkins—a distinguished soloist, award-wining conductor, and devoted chamber musician—joined the original members of the Quartet to form today’s group.
In the spring of 2016, the State University of New York awarded full-time Stony Brook faculty members Philip Setzer and Lawrence Dutton the status of Distinguished Professor, and conferred the title of Honorary Distinguished Professor on part-time faculty members Eugene Drucker and Paul Watkins. The Quartet’s members also hold honorary doctorates from Middlebury College, the College of Wooster, Bard College, and the University of Hartford. In January of 2015, the Quartet received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, Chamber Music America’s highest honor, in recognition of its significant and lasting contribution to the chamber music field.
The Emerson String Quartet enthusiastically endorses Thomastik strings.
RECENT PRAISE
THE BOSTON GLOBE
The Emerson performances represented an extraordinary fusion of experience and authority with audacity and freshness.
THE TIMES
With musicians like this there must be some hope for humanity.
THE NEW YORK TIMES
Let’s make one thing perfectly clear: The “old” Emerson String Quartet never phoned one in. But this new group — Mr. Watkins alongside the violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, and the violist Lawrence Dutton — complemented their customary power, finesse and unanimity with a fresh, palpable vigor at Tully, and it was electrifying.
BACHTRACK
This performance was everything that a string quartet should be – an intelligent conversation between four distinct characters.
FINANCIAL TIMES
From the start the most enduring attribute has been the sheer technical excellence of the quartet’s playing. For precision and unanimity it is second to none… [They] performed with every ounce of the taut, incisive grip that is the mark of the Emerson String Quartet at its best … so perfectly in tune that it was almost uncanny. Forty years on, the Emerson String Quartet remains at the top of its game.
NEWS
Albums from Bell, Emersons & Lark Named to Violinist Magazine’s Holiday Gift Guide
Violinist magazine has released their 14th annual Holiday Gift Guide and have highlighted recent releases from Joshua Bell, Emerson String Quartet and Tessa Lark amongst their seasonal treats. They write: Butterfly Lovers Joshua Bell, violin Singapore Chinese Orchestra, Tsung Yeh conducting “Here is an original and beautiful version of the
Emerson String Quartet, Vladimir Jurowski and Mitsuko Uchida Named Amongst The New York Times Best Classical Performances of 2023
The New York Times has released their list of the best classical performances of the year. Honouring the Emerson String Quartet’s farewell season, Zachary Woolfe writes: “After nearly a half-century of warm, vibrant performances and definitive recordings, this classic American ensemble bid farewell at Alice Tully Hall in October. Its
Congratulations to our 2024 ICMA Nominees!
IMG Artists would like to congratulate our 2024 International Classical Music Awards Nominees! The finalists will be announced by 11 December. The winners of the prestigious ICMA Awards will be revealed on 18 January 2024. The Award Ceremony and Gala concert will take place at the Palau de la Musica
Emerson String Quartet Embark on “Their Final Farewell” in Europe & US, October 7 – 22
The storied Emerson String Quartet will give their final, sold-out concerts in October 2023. For more than four decades, the Emersons have been celebrated as one of the world’s premier chamber music ensembles. Their “performances represented an extraordinary fusion of experience and authority with audacity and freshness” (The Boston Globe)
The Emerson String Quartet to release their final album, Infinite Voyage, on September 8 with Alpha Classics
One of the greatest string quartets of the last four decades, the Emerson String Quartet disband in October 2023 after 47 years of award-winning music-making at the highest level. Together with soprano Barbara Hannigan, they have recorded their final album, Infinite Voyage (Alpha Classics), featuring one of the most important chamber music works of the
CONTACT
LINDA PETRIKOVA
GENERAL MANAGEMENT
+1 212 994 3512
EMAIL
ROMANA JAROFF
NORTH AMERICAN
CONCERT & RECITAL BOOKING
T: +1 212 994 3518
C. +1 646 228 7690
EMAIL
JOHN STAPLETON
ASSOCIATE ARTIST MANAGER
+1 212 994 3545
EMAIL