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Zehetmair String Quartet to perform at MIT Nov. 16

Cambridge, MA... The award-winning Zehetmair String Quartet, known for playing entirely from memory and programming rarely performed masterpieces in combination with more standard repertoire, will present a free concert at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology on Friday, Nov. 16 at 8 p.m. in Kresge Auditorium (48 Massachusetts Ave.)

The ensemble, led by Austrian violinist Thomas Zehetmair includes Kuba Jakowicz, second violin; Ruth Killius, viola; and Ursula Smith, cello. They will perform Mozart's String Quartet in G major K. 156, Hindemith's String Quartet No. 4 op. 22, and Schumann's String Quartet No. 1 in a minor op. 41.

Founded in autumn 1994, the Zehetmair Quartet embarked on its first concert tour in spring 1998 followed by invitations to the United States (2001 and 2003) and Japan (2002) to complement the Quartet’s annual European tours. In the summer of 2004 the Zehetmair Quartet was guest at the Edinburgh Festival, the Helsinki Festival, the Schleswig Holstein Musik Festival and others. In 2005 the Zehetmair Quartet gave a master class in Bern.

In 2000 the Quartet recorded its debut album on the ECM label, performing Bartók’s Fourth and Karl Amadeus Hartmann’s First, winning the quarterly German Record Critics Prize. Their 2004 release of Schumann quartets received Gramophone’s Record of the Year Award, the Diapason d’Or, the Edison Classical Music Award (Netherlands), two Belgian awards: the Caecilia Prize the Klara Prize for the year’s best international release, and countless appearances on Best of the Year lists including the New York Times.

Of their latest CD of Hindemith’s 4th and Bartók’s 5th string quartets, released on ECM this past spring, The London Times wrote, "The players' 'shock and awe' approach has unrivalled energy and vitality, and the result is compelling and exhausting: a reminder just how innovative and dangerous Bartók's quartet writing can still sound."

For more information, call 617/253-2826.