Published January 15, 2008
The Belcea String Quartet, which has wowed audiences from New York City
to San Francisco, opens the University of Wyoming Cultural Programs'
spring concert series Friday, Jan. 25.
The first of four spring concerts begins at 7:30 p.m. in the Fine Arts
Center concert hall. Tickets cost $16 for the public and $13 for senior
citizens and students.
"We first learned about the Belcea Quartet from Bob Chilcott, formerly
of The King's Singers, and we tried to book the ensemble just as it won
the Gramophone Award for best debut recording. That was in 2001," says
Cedric Reverand, UW Cultural Programs director. "But we couldn't get the
dates to work out. Now we're booking Belcea only after it has appeared
at Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, in San Francisco, New York,
Boston and so on."
He adds, "But, remember, we discovered them first."
Belcea was named quartet-in-residence at London's Wigmore Hall in 2001
and, in 2004, received the United Kingdom's prestigious Royal
Philharmonic Society award for chamber music.
"We are pleased to introduce you to this fresh, young quartet with its brilliant technique
and big, lush sound," says Reverand.
The 2008 spring season will also feature pianist Piotr Anderszewski,
winner of the Gilmore Award (the musical equivalent of the MacArthur
"Genius" award) (Feb. 24); the Imani Winds, a Grammy-nominated wind
quintet that recently won an award from Chamber Music of America (March
12); and Irish pianist Barry Douglas, the 1986 Gold Medalist of the
Moscow Tchaikovsky International Competition, with his all-Irish
orchestra Camerata Ireland (March 27).
For ticket information, call the Fine Arts Center box office at (307) 766-6666 or
visit www.uwyo.edu/finearts on the Internet.
