Four of the most talented, young classical musicians will take to the concert stage at the Clarke Theatre when Classical Mission presents the second concert in its 10th anniversary season.
The Afiara String Quartet performs Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8 p.m.
The group is the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Juilliard School in New York, but they all happen to be Canadian. This is how they fit into Classical Mission’s theme for the season: Celebrating Canada from Sea to Sea.
The Afiaras will stop in Mission as part of their 2010-11 tour which includes such venerable concert halls as NYC’s Lincoln Center, D.C.’s Kennedy Centre, Amsterdam’s Musiekgebouw and Toronto’s Glenn Gould Studio where they appear as the Royal Conservatory of Music’s visiting-quartet-in-residence.
They will also perform at Vancouver’s well-known Music in the Morning series, but Mission residents can hear this seasoned and celebrated group in their own back yard.
Perennial participants at the Banff Centre’s residency programs (known internationally for string quartet excellence), the Afiara String Quartet won the Best Performance of Beethoven Award at the Banff International String Quartet competition.
Naturally, their Mission concert program contains one of the classical master’s most famous works, the “Razumovsky” quartet, Op. 59 No. 1. The other masterpiece on the program is Schubert’s Quartettsatz, a stunning and all-embracing single movement work. Wolf’s Italian Serenade (one of the few works by this composer not written for the voice), and the recently composed String Quartet No. 2 by Juilliard composer Brett Abigana rounds out the program.
Tickets are $28 and available from King’s Music in Abbotsford, Murdoch’s Book Shoppe in Mission, or through the Clarke Theatre by calling 604-820-3961.
Classical Mission, part of the national eyeGO to the Arts Program, is granting high school students special $5 tickets when they present their student cards at the box office.