Kontras String Quartet to Perform at Elmhurst on November 22

November 12, 2014 | by the Office of Marketing and Communications

Elmhurst College will host the Chicago-based Kontras Quartet for the group’s first recital of the season, Geselligheid: Works of Beethoven, Tchaikovsky and Turina.

The concert will begin at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, November 22, in Buik Recital Hall, located in Irion Hall. Tickets are $20 in advance, and also may be purchased at the door. Admission is free for Elmhurst College students, faculty and staff with presentation of their JayPass.

This program is part of Elmhurst College’s World Music Series, and includes celebrated pieces from the string quartet literature: Beethoven’s Opus 59 No. 1 “Rasumovsky,” Tchaikovsky’s First String Quartet and Turina’s La Oracion Del Torereo.

Hailing from four continents, violinists Dmitri Pogorelov (Russia) and Francois Henkins (South Africa), violist Ai Ishida (Japan) and Elmhurst native and resident cellist Jean Hatmaker present a global perspective on music making. Ishida and Hatmaker are Elmhurst College faculty members, and the quartet currently has residencies with the Ars Viva Symphony of Skokie, the Chicago Youth Symphony Orchestra and Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, Mich.

The group’s name, which means “contrasts” in Afrikaans, reflects its diverse programming and mission to celebrate music from all over the world, including the members’ home countries. Their ensemble has garnered acclaim on Late Night with David Letterman and at MerleFest and the IBMA World of Bluegrass festival. The group is working on its first commercial album, Origins, a collection of quartets from Russia, South Africa, Japan and the United States, to be released on MSR Records in the spring of 2015.

Visit the ensemble’s website for more information.

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