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Acclaimed for its powerful communication, dramatic energy, and beauty of sound, the New Zealand String Quartet performs more than 75 concerts each year in New Zealand and abroad.DATE: October 10 2004, 3 PM
SITE: The BTI Center for the Performing Arts Map
TICKETS: $22 General Public; $8 Students
The Guild is pleased to offer four ways to purchase tickets: by mail, by phone, at the door, or online. Ticket Info
PROGRAM
Acclaimed for its powerful communication, dramatic energy, and beauty of sound, the New Zealand String Quartet performs more than 75 concerts each year in New Zealand and abroad.
The quartet regularly tours North America, Europe and Asia and in 2000 made its debut at London's Wigmore Hall.
The group has been featured on North America's popular public radio programme "St Paul Sunday", and has recorded for Deutsche Welle, CBC in Canada, and Australia's ABC, as well as regularly appearing on Radio New Zealand's Concert FM. Deeply committed to New Zealand music, the quartet has premiered more than 20 works by New Zealand composers.
Distinguished artists with whom the group has collaborated include Anton Kuerti, Alexander Lonquich, Michael Houstoun, Diedre Irons and Hariolf Schlichtig; the Lafayette, Lindsay and Goldner quartets, as well as jazz greats Mike Nock and Jim Hall. The quartet has also performed with The BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and the NZSO.
The New Zealand String Quartet has been awarded three years sole performing rights to Zoltáaacute;aacute;n Székely's recently discovered 1937 string quartet, premiered by the group in 1999. Székely, a composition student of Kodáaacute;aacute;ly, was Bartók's long-time sonata partner and leader of the Hungarian String Quartet.
Dedicated teachers as well as performers, the quartet has been Quartet-in-Residence at Victoria University of Wellington since 1991. In North America it has been guest faculty at the Banff Centre, Quartet Fest West, and the Quartet Programme at Bucknell in Pennsylvania.
Highlights to date include the performance of Bartok's cycle of six string quartets, which was released on CD in 1998. More recently, the quartet has presented more than 6 performances of Beethoven's complete cycle of 16 string quartets to both critical and public acclaim.
Rolf Gjelsten began cello in his native state Victoria, Canada, with James Hunter and Janos Starker at the age of 15. At 21 he became the youngest member of the Berlin Symphony Orchestra.
Rolf returned to North America to study with Zara Nelsova which led to further study with the members of the La Salle, Hungarian, Vermeer, Cleveland and Emerson string quartets.
As a member of the Laurtentian Quartet for almost a decade he toured internationally, made five CDs and taught cello at Sarah Lawrence College in New York. He was also a member of the New York Piano Trio.
Rolf furthered his studies in 1990 with the great Casals protégé Bernhard Greenhouse at Rutgers University from where he received his doctoral degree in cello.
Rolf joined the New Zealand String Quartet in May 1994 and became a New Zealand citizen in 1997.
Gillian Ansell was born in Auckland, New Zealand and began violin and piano lessons at an early age. At 16 years she made her concerto debut with the Auckland Symphonia (now the Auckland Philharmonia).
An Associated Board Scholarship to study violin, viola and piano took Gillian to the Royal College of Music in London where she won several prizes. She then took up a German Academic Exchange (DAAD) scholarship for further study in Germany at the Musikhochschule Cologne with Igor Ozim and the Amadeus Quartet.
After working professionally in London for three years she returned to New Zealand to become a founding member of the New Zealand String Quartet. She was second violinist for two years before taking up the position of violist of the group. In 2001 she became Artistic Director, with fellow quartet member Helene Pohl, of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music.
A native of Kansas, USA, Douglas Beilman studied with Dorothy Delay and Hyo Kang at the Julliard School and the New England Conservatory of Music. He then completed his Master of Music degree with Isadore Tinkleman at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.
Before joining the New Zealand String Quartet in 1989 he was first violinist of the Sierra String Quartet, the first resident quartet at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Chamber Music Centre. The Sierra Quartet was a prizewinner at the 1988 Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition (now the London International String Quartet Competition) and performed widely throughout the USA.
Douglas was a co-founder of the New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music and was its artistic Director until 2001. He has been soloist and guest leader of the NZ Chamber Orchestra and has performed concertos with other NZ orchestras. As both a founding member of the 20th century ensemble CadeNZa and as an individual he has participated extensively in premiere performances of NZ and international compositions.
Born in Ithaca, New York to German parents, Helene Pohl spent her childhood on both sides of the Atlantic and began her musical studies at age four. At 17 she was accepted for tertiary study at the Musikhochschule Cologne. She continued her studies with members of the Cleveland Quartet at the Eastman School of Music and at Indiana University with Josef Gingold.
As first violinist of the San Francisco based Fidelio String Quartet (1988-1993), Helene performed extensively in the USA, Germany, England, Italy and South America. The Fidelio Quartet was prizewinner in the 1991 London International String Quartet Competition and quartet in residence at both the Tanglewood and Aspen Music Festivals.
Helene joined the New Zealand String Quartet as first violinist in February 1994 and became a New Zealand citizen in 1997. In 2001 she became Artistic Director, with fellow quartet member Gillian Ansell, of the Adam New Zealand Festival of Chamber Music.
Artist Website: www.nzsq.co.nz