Emerson String Quartet Makes Their Third Louisville Beethoven Festival Appearance March 1

The Chamber Music Society of Louisville presents the Emerson String quartet in the third of six concerts on March 1st celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Ludwig van Beethoven's birth. The Louisville Beethoven Festival is a program of international proportion and one of very few presentations of all 16 of Beethoven's string quartets in one cycle in the U.S. in 2020, and, it's all coming to Comstock Concert Hall, 105 W. Brandeis Ave in Louisville, KY.

The Emerson String Quartet is widely recognized as the greatest living string quartet and secures that view with an unprecedented nine Grammy Awards in classical music. Grammy Award #5 was as for their 7-CD box set recording of all 16 Beethoven String Quartets. Eugene Drucker, Emerson co-founder and violin for the ESQ says of their Louisville Beethoven Festival appearance: "When we last played for the Chamber Music Society in Louisville, we were presented with four 'Louisville Slugger' baseball bats. Mindful of having been honored with such a recognizable symbol of excellence from your city, we hope to hit it out of the park with our upcoming Beethoven cycle. At the very least, we can rely on the greatness of the music: there's no doubt that Beethoven hit it out of the park!"

This third concert continues to define Beethoven's development as a quartet composer. The first two pieces written early in his Vienna career contain huge references to Mozart but differ with that inspiration producing growing modern themes and techniques. The closing piece for this concert is from Beethoven's middle years with the third of the famous Razumovsky quartets. Beethoven had written in the sketches for this piece, Opus 59 No. 3, "Make no secret of your deafness, not even in art". It is believed that this was a defining moment, coming to terms with his affliction and the basis for its spectacular finale. (Robert Simpson for Hyperion) Despite the drama, the Razumovsky quartets hold their place in history as the pieces that were written by Beethoven for the future of quartets and for Beethoven's place in history.

Tickets may be purchased at the door, or in advance, online, at: http://louisvillechambermusic.eventbrite.com/. General Admission Adult tickets are $40.00, Senior tickets (65+) are $35.00, with student tickets available for $5.00 (age limit applies). A pre-concert talk will precede the performance at 2 PM, adjacent to Comstock Hall. Free parking is conveniently available next to the University of Louisville School of Music at 105 W. Brandeis Avenue.

The Chamber Music Society of Louisville was founded in 1938 and is Kentucky's oldest chamber music organization. The Chamber Music Society of Louisville also sponsors the Macauley Chamber Music Competition to encourage an interest in chamber music among young musicians in the Kentuckiana area. The Chamber Music Society of Louisville is an all-volunteer, 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and operates with the support of its longtime partner, the University of Louisville School of Music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSb86IJdrHs