In between teaching duties at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music in Ohio, members of the Verona Quartet squeeze in performances across America and abroad. Just last week, they performed in Nova Scotia, Canada. On Sept. 14, the musicians will perform in Telluride, and in between, they managed to schedule two performances here in the Four Corners.
Thank you, San Juan Symphony.
At 7 p.m. Friday and at 2 p.m. Saturday, the quartet will perform in the symphony’s extended chamber music series known as Beyond the Concert Hall. This is a real coup for Music Director and Conductor Thomas Heuser.
If you go
WHAT: The Verona Quartet, Oberlin Conservatory of Music Faculty in concert.
WHEN: 7 p.m. Friday (Durango) and 2 p.m. Saturday (Farmington).
WHERE: St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, 910 East Third Ave., Durango, and Connie Gotsch Theatre, 4601 College Blvd., Farmington.
TICKETS: General admission $30, students $10.
MORE INFORMATION: Visit www.sanjuansymphony.org or call 382-9753.
“When we learned from our friends in Telluride that the Verona Quartet was planning a performance there, we jumped at the chance to broaden their exposure to the Four Corners,” he said.
The twin concerts in Durango and Farmington, “will include a delicious post-concert reception and a chance to mingle with our guest artists,” Heuser said.
He said the quartet will perform “the heartfelt Lullaby of George Gershwin combined with new arrangements of popular music from The Great American Songbook. The jazz influence of these standards finds its way into the String Quartet of Maurice Ravel from 1903, a showcase of string writing of shocking nuance that was clearly part of an ongoing dialogue with American jazz harmonies.”
Hailed as “outstanding” by The New York Times, the Verona Quartet won the 2015 Concert Artist Guild competition and has performed repeatedly at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and major venues in Europe. You can watch various performances on YouTube, some of which include music from a recent Bright Shiny Things album titled “SHATTER.” Members of the Verona Quartet are on the Oberlin faculty and are in residence as the Conservatory’s chief ensemble.
Judith Reynolds is an arts journalist and member of the American Theatre Critics Association.
