Program
String Quartet Op. 51, No. 2 in A Minor
Johannes Brahms (1833 - 1897)
Allegro non troppo
Andante moderato
Quasi minuetto: Moderato - Allegretto vivace
Finale: Allegro non assai - Piu vivace
INTERMISSION
Langsamer Satz
Anton Webern (1883 - 1945)
The Four Seasons of Buenos Aires
Astor Piazzolla (1921 - 1992)
Verano Porteño (Buenos Aires Summer)
Invierno Porteño (Buenos Aires Winter)
Primavera Porteño (Buenos Aires Spring)
Otoño Porteño (Buenos Aires Autumn)
Great Wall Quartet
The members of the Great Wall String Quartet, from different educational and cultural backgrounds, share a vision to connect with immediacy to audiences and to give guidance to the next generation of chamber musicians. When not playing or teaching together, all four members of The Great Wall String Quartet hold tenured positions with world-class professional orchestras. Great Wall’s first violinist, Wei Lu is Concertmaster for Deutsches Symphony-Orchester, Berlin, a position he won after a 17- round audition process, making him one of the youngest concertmasters among the world’s leading orchestras today. He is the Berlin Philharmonic’s first ever Chinese guest Concertmaster, and he has been invited as guest Concertmaster for Orchestre Symphonique De Montréal, Bayerische Staatsoper, Munich and Seoul Philharmonic. The Quartet’s second violinist Qi Zhou, was invited to join the Philharmonie der Nationen as their Principal Second Violin prior to his appointment with the Munich Philharmonic. He is a member of the Munich Philharmonic’s prestigious chamber orchestra, Philharmonisches Kammerorchester München, and also a frequent guest principal violinist for Hangzhou Philharmonic and Singapore Symphony Orchestra. Violist Xu Wenbo is the current viola and chamber music instructor at the North German Radio Symphony Orchestra Academy in Hamburg. Hailed in New York Concert Review as “a superb cellist with intense and sensuous sound,” Yao Zhao performs with a dynamism that has secured him a successful career as the principal cello of the San Diego Symphony Orchestra.