Concerts
International Memphis
CONCERTS
INTERNATIONAL
presents our
Season 51
Fall 2023 - Spring 2024
51 Seasons of Extraordinary Chamber Music
Escher Quartet
Modigliani Quartet
Brentano Quartet
Zhenni Li-Cohen
& Matthew Cohen
Balourdet Quartet
10-3-2023
11-7-2023
2-27-2024
3-19-2024
4-2-2024
“Eloquent, full-blooded playing ... The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord”
– BBC Music Magazine
“One of today’s best quartets in the world... Balance, transparency, symphonic comprehension, confident style, their performance reached a very high and inspiring level –Süddeutsche Zeitung
“The Brentano String Quartet...is something special…. Their music making is private, delicate and fresh, but by its very intimacy and importance it seizes attention.”
–The New York Times
Zhenni Li-Cohen “…a thrillingly good pianist”
- The New Yorker
Matthew Cohen "...immaculate technique and feeling.” –ConcertoNet.com
“"... an exceptionally talented group... With bows flying and notes swirling, this quartet has a bright future ahead." –Ponca City News
Escher Quartet
Modigliani Quartet
Brentano Quartet
Zhenni Li-Cohen & Matthew Cohen
Balourdet Quartet
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Founded in 2003, the Modigliani Quartet is recognized as one of today’s most sought-after quartets, featuring regularly in prominent international series and on the world’s most prestigious stages.
In addition to annual tours in the United States and in Asia, the quartet’s numerous European tours have brought them to Wigmore Hall, the Paris Philharmonie, the Théâtre des Champs- Elysées, the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, the Saint-Petersburg Philharmonia and the Elbphilharmonie in Hamburg.
Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.”
Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and was also honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. Since then, the Quartet has concertized widely, performing in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House.
Pianist Zhenni Li-Cohen is a Steinway Artist whose riveting presence and passionate performances have brought audiences to their feet around the world. Hailed for her “torrents of voluptuous sound...Li-Cohen impresses as an artist of tremendous conviction, who fascinates even as she provokes“ by Gramophone Magazine, “a thrillingly good pianist” by The New Yorker and for her "...big, gorgeous tone and a mesmerizing touch" by The Philadelphia Inquirer.
Ukrainian-American violist MATTHEW COHEN is a dynamic and versatile artist whose captivating performances have made him one of the most sought-after violists of his generation. A special prize winner at the prestigious Primrose International Viola Competition, he was also awarded top prizes at the Citta di Cremona International Viola Competition in Italy, Vivo International Music Competition and the Art of Duo International Competition.
The Balourdet Quartet, based in Boston, Massachusetts, is currently in residence at the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program. The quartet received the Grand Prize at the 2021 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, as well as prizes in international competitions including the Banff, Paolo Borciani, and Carl Nielsen competitions. They were also awarded the Gold Medal at the 2020 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the 2021 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.