Events Calendar

The concert will feature Beethoven’s “String Quartet in B flat, Op. 130, with Grosse Fuge, Op.133” and Osvaldo Golijov’s spectacular work for string quartet and klezmer clarinet, “Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind.”

The quartet has inspired audiences across the globe with recent tours of North America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand. Their recordings have garnered critical acclaim, drawing Grammy nominations and winning Canada’s Juno Award and Germany’s Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik. The Boston Globe praised the quartet, writing, “The St. Lawrence String Quartet plays with imagination, sensitivity, sensational physical abandon, and a complete lack of emotional inhibition.” The Washington Post called the group “fearless musicians” who probe “music’s imaginative limits.” While not neglecting standard repertoire, the quartet is passionately committed to championing the work of contemporary composers. The St. Lawrence String Quartet is ensemble-in-residence at Stanford University.

Internationally acclaimed clarinetist Todd Palmer is winner of the Young Concert Artists International Auditions and the Concorso Internazionale di Musica in Italy. Palmer’s diverse artistic accomplishments include winning a grant from the National Foundation of Jewish Culture to make the Grammy-nominated recording of Golijov’s chamber music works. His playing has been praised by Fanfare and the American Record Guide as “extraordinary in its range and emotional depth.”

Composer Golijov is the recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship and has been composer-in-residence at the Spoleto USA Festival, the Los Angeles Philharmonic Music Alive Series, Marlboro Music, Ravinia, the Chicago Symphony and the 2007 Mostly Mozart Festival at Lincoln Center.

The quartet will present a master class for strings Tuesday, Nov. 6, from 11:30–2:30 p.m. and Palmer will offer a master class for woodwinds Sunday, Nov. 4, from 7–9 p.m. Both classes are free and will be in Hudson Hall on the Willamette campus.