“A group to which I owe some of my greatest musical experiences.”—The Guardian on the Takács Quartet

One of the world’s most celebrated string quartets is making a welcome return to Athens for a collaboration with an equally lauded piano virtuoso. Sunday, March 24 at 3 p.m. the Takács Quartet appears at Hodgson Concert Hall with pianist Marc-André Hamelin.

Their program extends our season-long look at Antonin Dvořák with his Piano Quintet, Op. 81. It includes the second work on the Franklin College Chamber Music Series by 20th century Black American composer Florence Price, her Piano Quintet No. 2. And Hugo Wolf’s beguiling Italian Serenade for quartet begins the compelling afternoon.

TAKÁCS QUARTET

The world-renowned Takács Quartet is now entering its 49th season. Edward Dusinberre, Harumi Rhodes (violins), Richard O’Neill (viola) and András Fejér (cello) are excited about the 2023-2024 season that features varied projects including a new work written for them. Nokuthula Ngwenyama composed Flow, an exploration and celebration of the natural world. The work was commissioned by nine concert presenters throughout the USA. July saw the release of a new recording of works by Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and Dvořák for Hyperion Records, while later in the season the quartet will release works by Schubert including his final quartet in G major. In Spring 2024 the ensemble will perform and record piano quintets by Price and Dvořák with long-time chamber music partner Marc-André Hamelin.

As Associate Artists at London’s Wigmore Hall the Takács will perform four concerts featuring works by Hough, Price, Janáček, Schubert, and Beethoven. During the season the ensemble will play at other prestigious European venues including Berlin, Geneva, Linz, Innsbruck, Cambridge, and St. Andrews. The Takács will appear at the Adams Chamber Music Festival in New Zealand. The group’s North American engagements include concerts in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, Vancouver, Ann Arbor, Phoenix, Berkeley, Los Angeles, Portland, Cleveland, Santa Fe, and Stanford. The ensemble will perform two Bartók cycles at San Jose State University and Middlebury College and appear for the first time at the Virginia Arts Festival with pianist Olga Kern.

The members of the Takács Quartet are Christoffersen Fellows and Artists in Residence at the University of Colorado, Boulder. For the ’23-’24 season the quartet enters into a partnership with El Sistema Colorado, working closely with its chamber music education program in Denver. During the summer months the Takács members join the faculty at the Music Academy of the West, running an intensive quartet seminar.

MARC-ANDRÉ HAMELIN

“A performer of near-superhuman technical prowess” (The New York Times), pianist Marc-André Hamelin is known worldwide for his unrivaled blend of consummate musicianship and brilliant technique in the great works of the established repertoire, as well as for his intrepid exploration of the rarities of the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. He regularly performs around the globe with the leading orchestras and conductors of our time, and gives recitals at major concert venues and festivals worldwide.

Highlights of Mr. Hamelin’s 2023-2024 season include a vast variety of repertoire performed with the Philharmonisches Orchester Hagen (Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 3), Netherlands Radio Philharmonic (Reger’s Piano Concerto), and Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (music by Franck and Boulanger). Recital and chamber music appearances take Mr. Hamelin to Prague, Poland, Oslo, Hamburg’s Elbphilharmonie, London’s Wigmore Hall, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, Portland Piano International, Cleveland Chamber Music Society, Cliburn Concerts and Brevard Music Center with Johannes Moser, and across the U.S. with the Takács Quartet. Festival appearances include Tanglewood, Le Festival de Lanaudière, Grand Teton Music Festival, Tuckamore Festival, Schubertiade, and Rockport Chamber Music Festival.

Mr. Hamelin is an exclusive recording artist for Hyperion Records, where his discography spans more than 70 albums, with notable recordings of a broad range of solo, orchestral, and chamber repertoire. In September 2023, the label released Mr. Hamelin’s recording of Fauré’s Nocturnes and Barcarolles, including the four-hand Dolly Suite, played with his wife, Cathy Fuller. In 2022, he released both a two-disc set of C. P. E. Bach’s sonatas and rondos and a two-disc set of William Bolcom’s complete rags that both received wide critical acclaim.

Born in Montreal, he is the recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award from the German Record Critics’ Association, and has received 7 Juno Awards, 11 Grammy nominations, and the 2018 Jean Gimbel Lane Prize in Piano Performance from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music. In December 2020, he was awarded the Paul de Hueck and Norman Walford Career Achievement Award for Keyboard Artistry from the Ontario Arts Foundation. Mr. Hamelin is an Officer of the Order of Canada, a Chevalier de l’Ordre national du Québec, and a member of the Royal Society of Canada.

PERFORMANCE TALK

Join us for a free pre-performance talk by Theresa Chafin in Ramsey Concert Hall from 2:15-2:45 pm.

SUPPORTED BY

Marty Farnsworth
Jed Rasula and Suzi Wong

THREE WAYS TO ORDER TICKETS

1. Purchase tickets online 24/7 online here.
2. Call the Performing Arts Center Box Office at (706) 542-4400, Mon.-Fri., 10:00 a.m.-5:00 p.m.
3. Visit the UGA Performing Arts Center Box Office, Mon.-Fri., 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (5 minute parking is available in the drop off circle at the Performing Arts Center for purchasing or picking up tickets.)

Photo: Amanda Tipton