Artaria String Quartet
Ray Shows, violin
Nancy Oliveros, violin
Annalee Wolf, viola
Laura Sewell, cello
Johannes Brahms (1833-1897)
Quartet No. 3 in B-flat major, Op. 67
Vivace
Andante
Agitato. Allegretto non troppo
Finale. Poco allegretto con variazioni
Lorelei Giddings, oboe
Nancy Thompson, piano
Francis Poulenc (1899-1963)
Sonata for Oboe & Piano, Op. 185
Elégie (Paisiblement, Sans Presser)
Scherzo (Très animé)
Déploration (Très calme)
About the Artists:
A warm, rich sound is the hallmark of the Artaria String Quartet. Named after the Italian family that published the premier issues of many of the Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven quartets, Artaria's refined and thoughtful playing has brought them critical acclaim in Europe and throughout the United States. The Boston Globe has described Artaria as "exquisitely balanced and sonorous" and opined that "their musical understanding was first-rate".
Formed in Boston in 1986, the quartet was mentored by the renowned Budapest, La Salle, Kolisch, Juilliard, and Cleveland Quartets. They were featured on a Peter Jennings World News Tonight broadcast, have given numerous live performances on WGBH Boston and Minnesota Public Radio stations, and have performed at celebrated venues across the United States including the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, the Schneider Concerts in NYC, Dame Myra Hess in Chicago, and the Phillips Collection and Cosmos Club in Washington, D.C. They have also been featured at the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L'Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center. They are recipients of the prestigious McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians.
Nationally recognized as dynamic teachers and for their commitment to education, the Artaria String Quartet served as Ensemble-in Residence and Artist/Teachers at the world-renowned Tanglewood Institute and were awarded two highly sought after "Millennium Grants" for outreach activities from the National Endowment for the Arts and Chamber Music America. They possess the rare ability to offer outstanding performances in both concert and educational outreach settings and have performed hundreds of programs to thousands of students throughout the United States.
Participants in the inaugural Rural Residency Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts to live and work in rural Georgia, the quartet also partnered in a three-year CMA grant to enhance string education in Sioux City, Iowa. In the mid-1990's, Artaria held dual residencies at Boston College and Viterbo University.
The quartet is now based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where they present a chamber music series in Sundin Hall at Hamline University. In addition, they have established the Artaria Chamber Music School, a year-round quartet program, Stringwood, a summer camp, and Winterstrings and Winterstrings in July; two retreats for adult amateurs. Members of the quartet also maintain active careers in performing and teaching on the faculties of St. Olaf College and the University of Minnesota.
Firmly rooted in the tradition of chamber music masterpieces, the Artaria String Quartet is also a staunch advocate of contemporary composers. With the American Composers Forum, League ISCM, and through their own initiative, they have premiered a wide array of new works and have numerous dedications to their credit. The quartet's performances are recorded on Centaur Records and Aequebis Recordings.
Violinist Ray Shows made his solo debut with orchestra in his native Atlanta. As a founding member of the ARTARIA STRING QUARTET, he has performed in major concert halls in New York, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Atlanta, Minneapolis across the U.S. and in Europe. A 2004 winner of a prestigious McKnight Performing Artist Fellowship, Ray is a highly regarded chamber musician who has concertized with many renowned artists including Arnold Steinhardt (Guarneri Quartet), Eugene Drucker (Emerson Quartet), Paul Katz (Cleveland Quartet), and Raphael Hillyer (Juilliard Quartet). He was featured as a concerto soloist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra, where he served as interim Concertmaster and Principal Second Violin. Other professional performance engagements include the Boston Ballet, Boston Pops Esplanade and the Boston Opera Company. Ray is passionate about 20th century music and has performed and recorded music of today's leading composers, including Gunther Schuller, Augusta Read Thomas, Marjorie Merryman and Thomas Oboe Lee, commissioning solo and chamber works for his own New Music Festivals. An Artist/Teacher in Residence at the Tanglewood Institute and a 3-time recipient of prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Ray has held teaching residencies at Boston College, Viterbo University, Florida State University and Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory. He received the coveted Director's Award and graduated with distinction from Boston University with his Master's Degree in Violin Performance under the tutelage of Carl Flesch protege Roman Totenberg. His BM Magna Cum Laude was received from Florida State University studying with Gerardo Ribeiro. Studies in Chamber Music were mentored by Eugene Lehner (Kolisch Quartet) and members of the Budapest, Juilliard, Emerson, Cleveland, LaSalle, Muir, and Colorado Quartets. Since 2000 Ray has been a member of the faculty of St. Olaf College and co-directs the Artaria Chamber Music School in St. Paul. Ray plays on a rare Italian violin made in Rome by David Tecchler in 1726.
A founding member of the critically acclaimed ARTARIA STRING QUARTET and a 2004 McKnight Fellow, violinist Nancy Oliveros has performed at renowned venues in New York, Boston, Atlanta, Cleveland, Philadelphia, Chicago, and throughout the United States and Europe. She is a multi-year recipient of grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, and the Heartland Fund for performance and educational outreach projects. She has appeared with members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Pops, Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets, and performed in Boston with the Pops "Cameo", Ballet, Opera and Pro Arte Chamber Orchestras. Prior to co-founding Stringwood, a unique summer chamber music program, she was an Artist/Teacher in Residence at the world-renowned Tanglewood Institute. With the ASQ, other festival performances include Banff, Hampden-Sydney, and the L'Epau Festival in France. She was awarded past fellowships to Aspen, Kneisel Hall, the Florida Festival, and Brevard. Nancy was a graduate teaching assistant at The Florida State University, and Boston University where she received a Director's Award for post-graduate violin and chamber music studies with Roman Totenberg, Eugene Lehner, Raphael Hillyer, and the Muir Quartet. Further studies in chamber music were mentored by members of the Budapest, Emerson, Cleveland, LaSalle, and Colorado Quartets. Major violin teachers include Roman Totenberg, Gerardo Ribeiro, Karen Clarke and Robert Gerle. She has served on the faculty at Carleton College and Viterbo University. Nancy resides in St. Paul, Minnesota where she co-directs the Artaria Chamber Music School and maintains a private studio. She plays on a rare 1819 violin by Joseph Ceruti.
A native of Minnesota, Violist Annalee Wolf received her undergraduate degree from St. Olaf College. After completing her Master of Music degree at the North Carolina School of the Arts, she earned a Premier Prix in viola performance from the Royal Conservatory in Brussels, and subsequently studied chamber music and the humanities at the European Mozart Academy. She has performed with the North Carolina, Greensboro, Charleston, and Savannah Symphonies, as well as the European Philharmonic Orchestra. As a chamber musician, Annalee has participated in numerous national and international festivals, including the Quartet Program, the Winter Institute for String Quartets, the Kneisel Hall, Hampden-Sydney, Brandeis, Domaine Forget (Quebec) festivals, and the Cours International de Musique in Morges, Switzerland. She has frequently performed as guest artist with the West End Chamber Ensemble and the Ciompi String Quartet, and in 1995 appeared as soloist at the Eduard Tubin Music Festival in Tallinn, Estonia. Other European appearances have included concerts in Rome, Warsaw, Brussels, Budapest, Prague, Bulgaria, Croatia, and a performance for the president of Romania at his palace in Bucharest. Annalee has taught viola and chamber music at the North Carolina School of the Arts and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She has been a student of Andrea Een, Roland Vamos, Toby Appel, and Ervin Schiffer, and has studied chamber music with members of the Juilliard, Takacs, Mendelssohn, Lydian, and Haydn String Quartets. Annalee is currently teaching at the University of Minnesota and the MacPhail Center for Music.
Cellist Laura Sewell founded the award-winning Lark Quartet in 1984 and was its cellist for five years, performing over 80 concerts a year in most of America’s major cities, as well as in Europe and the Far East. During her tenure in the group, the quartet was a top prize winner in the Banff International String Quartet Competition, was quartet-in-residence at San Diego State University and served as teaching assistants to the Juilliard String Quartet at the Juilliard School. Since leaving the group and returning to the Twin Cities, Ms. Sewell has played as a substitute cellist with the Minnesota Orchestra and the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, she appears regularly with the Chamber Music Society of Minnesota and performs in a duo with jazz pianist Butch Thompson, with whom she has recorded a cello and piano CD. She has been on the faculties of the MacPhail Center for the Arts, Augsburg College and the Madeline Island Music Camp, and currently serves as the Chair of Chamber Music America, the national service organization for chamber musicians. Ms. Sewell received her training at the Juilliard School and the Cleveland Institute of Music, and her teachers have included Leonard Rose and Jacqueline duPre.
Lorelei Giddings has undergraduate and graduate degrees in oboe performance from the University of Minnesota. She plays principle oboe with the Civic Orchestra of Minneapolis, and is a member of Prevailing Winds Woodwind Quintet, the Lake Harriet Trio, and has performed with Chamber Music Winona, Bloomington Civic Orchestra, Wayzata Symphony Orchestra, La Crosse Symphony Orchestra, Rochester Symphony Orchestra, and the 33rd Army Band in Heidelberg, Germany. Her principal oboe studies were with Carl Holub of the Minnesota Orchestra. She teaches oboe and oboe reed making in her home studio.
Nancy Thompson is a pianist and teacher in the Twin Cities area. She has an Master's degree in piano performance from the University of Minnesota, where she studied with Paul Freed. She has performed locally as both soloist and collaborative pianist at the Minneapolis Institute of the Arts, the Walker Art Center, the American Swedish Institute, Orchestra Hall and many other places. She is currently preparing a recital and a recording project for the Minnesota Angel Foundation, which offers financial assistance to cancer patients.