Aizuri String Quartet – Blueprint
February 21, 2020 | 7:00pm
Sedona Performing Arts Center
995 Upper Red Rock Loop Rd, Sedona, AZ 86336
Grand prize winners of the coveted M-Prize, the Aizuri Quartet is quickly skyrocketing to being one of the top quartets in the world. They will play a dynamic program that traverses five centuries, from Gesualdo’s haunting madrigals to Sibelius’s intoxicating “Voces Intimae,” and also features the signature piece from their 2019 GRAMMY-nominated album, “Blueprint,” by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw.
About the artists
Praised by The Washington Post for “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was awarded the Grand Prize and the CAG Management Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, along with top prizes at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. The Quartet has performed extensively throughout North America, as well as in Europe, Japan, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, and Abu Dhabi. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records and nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award.
Formed in 2012, the Aizuri Quartet merges four distinctive musical personalities into a unique whole. Current members include violinists Ariana Kim and Miho Saegusa, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellist Karen Ouzounian.
Program
Hildegard von Bingen: “Columba Aspexit”
Carlo Gesualdo: two madrigals
Joseph Haydn: Op. 64 No. 2
Caroline Shaw: “Blueprint”
Intermission
Dvorak: “Cypresses”
Sibelius: “Voces Intimae”
