Emerson String Quartet
| Emerson String Quartet | |
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The Emerson String Quartet in 2014
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| Background information | |
| Also known as | The Emerson Quartet |
| Origin | New York City, United States |
| Genres | Classical |
| Occupation(s) | String quartet |
| Instruments | 2 violins, 1 viola, 1 cello |
| Years active | 1976–present |
| Labels | Deutsche Grammophon, New World, Sony Classical |
| Website | www |
| Members | Eugene Drucker Philip Setzer Lawrence Dutton Paul Watkins |
| Past members | Guillermo Figueroa Eric Wilson David Finckel |
The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, is a professional string ensemble – in residence at the Stony Brook University. The musical ensemble was previously in residence at The Hartt School located in West Hartford, Connecticut. Choosing American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson as namesake, the quartet formed at the Juilliard School as a student ensemble. They turned professional in 1976, with both of their violinists having studied under the tutelage of the renowned Oscar Shumsky, alternating as first and second violinists. When it was formed, the Emerson Quartet was one of the first with the two violinists alternating chairs.
The Emerson Quartet was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2010. As of May 2014[update], they have released more than thirty albums and won nine Grammy Awards, as well as the prestigious Avery Fisher Prize.
Long-time cellist David Finckel was replaced at the end of the 2012/13 concert season by Paul Watkins. Corinna da Fonseca-Wollheim of the New York Times writes:
One of the characteristics of the Emerson Quartet is that its players (the violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer and the violist Lawrence Dutton in addition, now, to Mr. Watkins) all have the ability and the instruments to produce a sweet and glossy sound — but do so sparingly. Instead, they establish a chromatic scale of timbres that range from dry and tart over clean and zesty all the way to lustrous and singing. Listening to them pass tiny rhythmic motifs around the group, I was struck by how evenly calibrated these timbres were.
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