Crescent Classical is thrilled to welcome the New Orleans Friends of Music as they feature performances from the Escher String Quartet!
Tune In:
- Friday, October 3rd at 7pm
- Sunday, October 5th at Noon
- Listen on 104.9 FM New Orleans | 90.5 FM KTLN Thibodaux-Houma | 89.5 FM WCWD Covington-Mandeville | WWNO HD2| online from anywhere at wwno.org
Program
Samuel Barber - Adagio for Strings (1936)
Recorded in April 2025
Dmitri Shostakovich - String Quartet No. 7 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 108 (1960)
Recorded in January 2009
Ludwig van Beethoven- String Quartet No. 11 in F Minor, Op. 95, Serioso (1810)
Recorded in January 2009
New Orleans Friends of Music
New Orleans Friends of Music has been bringing the finest chamber musicians in the world to our community since 1955. In addition to a full season of public concerts at Dixon Hall, in partnership with Tulane University, NOFOM provides training and music education activities for both artists and audiences.
A volunteer-led organization, NOFOM supports the full range of chamber music repertoire through performances and commissions, curates educational activities that encourage all ages to appreciate the art form, and showcases exceptional emerging chamber musicians.
Their 2025-2026 season kicks off with the Complete Schubert Piano Trios performed by Benjamin Beilman, Violin; David Finckel, Cello; Wu Han, Piano. Tuesday, October 7, 2025 at 7:30pm at Tulane's Dixon Hall. More information can be found at https://www.friendsofmusic.org/
Escher String Quartet
Adam Barnett-Hart, violin
Brendan Speltz, violin
Pierre Lapointe, viola
Brook Speltz, cello
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
Highlights of the 205-2026 season find the Escher Quartet performing in many of the great venues and organizations in the United States, including Alice Tully Hall, The Morgan Library, Ensemble Music Society Indianapolis, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, Arte Musica Montreal, Clark Library Los Angeles, and the Savannah Music Festival, among others. In addition to their North American engagements, the quartet returns once again to Wigmore Hall for a BBC live broadcast recital as well as other engagements in Germany and continental Europe.
The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. The group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival, and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, OKM Festival, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals.
The Escher Quartet achieved critical success last season in their performances of the entire cycle of string quartets by Bela Bartok in single concert format, both at Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival. Their Bartok project was featured in the New Yorker in a substantial report by Alex Ross. Recently, the Escher quartet has had successful releases of multiple albums -including string quartets by Pierre Jalbert and the Escher’s studio recording of the complete Janacek quartets and Pavel Haas quartet no. 2 with multi award winning percussionist Colin Currie (BIS Label). Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received with the highest critical acclaim, with comments such as “...eloquent, full-blooded playing... The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2019, DANCE, an album of quintet’s with Grammy award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was enthusiastically received. In 2021, the Escher’s recording of the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber was met with equal excitement, including “A fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine). The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and 2014.
Beyond the concert hall, the Escher Quartet is proud to announce the creation of a new nonprofit, ESQYRE (Escher String Quartet Youth Residency Education). ESQYRE’s mission as a non-profit classical music organization is to provide a comprehensive educational program through music performance and instruction for people of all ages. In addition to their non-profit work, the quartet has also held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and the University of Akron, OH.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist's summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
Biography provided by Escher String Quartet
Thanks to Jenni Lawson and Thomas Walsh for making the recordings used in this episode of Crescent Classical. This show couldn’t have come together without the help of Christian Aldridge and Jenny Windstrup, both from New Orleans Friends of Music. A big thank you goes out to both of them.
Crescent Classical was made possible thanks to support from local classical music lover Dr. Bob Watzke.
