| BIOGRAPHY Celebrating their 25th anniversary season, The Penderecki String Quartet has become one of the most celebrated chamber ensembles of their generation. The Quartet’s performing schedule takes them annually to concert stages across the Americas, Europe and Asia. The four Penderecki musicians (now originating from Poland, Canada, and USA) bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail). Recent concert appearances include New York City’s Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall, Los Angeles’ REDCAT at Disney Hall, and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw. The PSQ appears extensively in Canada, participating in this country’s foremost concert series such as the Ottawa Chamber Music Festival, Festival of the Sound, the Banff Centre, and Toronto Luminato Festival. Their 25th anniversary season is a highly active one with appearances at festivals in Brazil, USA, Spain, Ukraine, Germany, Poland, China, and guest teaching at the Hong Kong Academy, Indiana University at Bloomington, and their partner university in Osnabrück, Germany. To this day the Quartet is a devoted champion of the music of our time, having premiered over 100 new works from composers in Canada and abroad. This anniversary season sees the Quartet with seven world premieres funded by the Canada Council and the Ontario Arts Council for composers Glenn Buhr, Michael Matthews, John Burge, Piotr Grella-Mozejko, Jeffrey Holmes, Marc Sabat, Eric Morin, Norbert Palej, as well as the Canadian premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s String Quartet No.3 at Vancouver New Music. The Penderecki Quartet has performed with such eminent classical artists as Martin Beaver, Atar Arad, Antonio Lysy, Jeremy Menuhin, James Campbell and excels in exploring new music collaborators, recently appearing with jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, Brazilian jazz pianist Egberto Gismonti, pipa virtuoso Ching Wong, Dancetheatre David Earle, Pentaedre Wind Quintet, actor Colin Fox, and New York turntable artists DJ Spooky and DJ P-Love. Described by Fanfare Magazine as “an ensemble of formidable power and keen musical sensitivity”, the Penderecki Quartet’s large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Johannes Brahms on both the Marquis and Eclectra labels, as well as the first all-Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets under the auspices of Chamber Music in Napa Valley. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition. Formed
at the Szymanowski Academy of Music in Katowice, Poland in 1986,
the group found quick success as winners of the Penderecki Prize
at the National Chamber Music Competition in Lódz, Poland.
In the same year, they received scholarships to further their
studies as assistants to the Fine Arts Quartet at the University
of Wisconsin. In 1991, the Penderecki Quartet moved to Waterloo,
Ontario to become the Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier
University. Now 20 years later, the Penderecki Quartet continue
as active members of the Faculty of Music at Laurier and have
built the string program to be one of the top programs in Canada,
attracting an international body of students. |
