Rolston String Quartet - Press Kit (03.28.18) Quartet Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival,...

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ROLSTON STRING QUARTET Luri Lee, violin; Emily Kruspe, violin;

Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello

Biography

A monumental year, 2016 saw Canada’s Rolston String Quartet earn attention and gain recognition from international audiences and critics alike. The year culminated with a First Prize win at the 12th Banff International String Quartet Competition (BISQC). A winner of Astral’s 2016 National Auditions and the Grand Prize Winner of the 31st Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition, they were also prizewinners at the 2016 Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition and the inaugural M-Prize competition. Named among the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation’s “30 Hot Canadian Classical Musicians Under 30” in 2016, the Rolstons are the 2018 recipient of, and the first international ensemble chosen for, the prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America. On the heels of their Banff win, the Rolston String Quartet immediately embarked upon the BISQC Winner’s Tour, with over 60 concerts that take them to Germany, Italy, Austria, Canada, and the U.S. As L u d wig van T o r o n to .o r g states, “they performed with a maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world.” In the 2017-2018 season, the Rolstons tip a 100-concert milestone with performances throughout Canada, the U.S., Germany, Belgium, Italy, and Israel. Other highlights include appearances in such venues as the Smithsonian, the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Koerner Hall, and Esterhazy Palace. The Rolston String Quartet began as the Yale School of Music’s fellowship quartet-in-residence in the fall of 2017. They have also served as the graduate

quartet-in-residence at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, and have participated in residencies and fellowships at the Académie musicale de Villecroze, the Aspen Music Festival, Banff Centre, McGill International String Quartet Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Robert Mann String Quartet Institute, St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar, and the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Festival. The quartet members are intensely involved with chamber coaching and teaching within their Yale residency, and have also taught at the Bowdoin and Tuckamore music festivals, and others. The Rolston String Quartet has collaborated with such notable artists as Andrés Díaz, Gilbert Kalish, Mark Morris, Arthur Rowe, Donald Palma, Alexander Korbin, Jon Kimura Parker, and Miguel da Silva. Additionally, their innovative projects have involved songwriter Kishi Bashi, and composers John Luther Adams and Brian Current. Primary mentors include the Brentano Quartet, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith, with additional guidance from the St. Lawrence String Quartet, Barry Shiffman, and Alastair Tait. The Rolston String Quartet – Luri Lee (1st violin), Emily Kruspe (2nd violin), Hezekiah Leung (viola), and Jonathan Lo (cello) – was formed in the summer of 2013 at the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity’s Chamber Music Residency. They take their name from Canadian violinist Thomas Rolston, founder and long-time director of the Music and Sound Programs at the Banff Centre. Luri Lee plays a Carlo Tononi violin, generously on loan from Shauna Rolston Shaw. The Rolston String Quartet is endorsed by Jargar Strings of Denmark. For presenters, please include: “Rolston String Quartet appears courtesy of Astral Artists.” When editing, please do not delete references to Astral. MARCH 2018 (Please destroy any previously dated material.)

Photo: Tianxiao Zhang Visit astralartists.org to download hi-res images of this ensemble.





ROLSTON STRING QUARTET Luri Lee, violin; Emily Kruspe, violin;

Hezekiah Leung, viola; Jonathan Lo, cello

Acclaim “It took but a few measures of music…for the Rolston String Quartet to justify their first-prize win at last year’s Banff International String Quartet Competition all over again….they performed with a maturity and cohesion rivaling the best string quartets in the world….The performance [of Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major] was exquisite, filled with luminosity and pulsing with life. Here the foursome showed off their subtle side, as well as unerring unity of purpose. The music was at once sensual and muscular, elegant and purposeful. Just this one interpretation was worth the price of admission….The Rolstons served up a highly articulated rendering [of Beethoven’s Op. 59 String Quartet in E minor]….Here, as in all the music they performed, the balance between the instruments was impeccable...” —Musical Toronto "With enormous emphasis did the four tackle Bartók, painfully longing in the opening Lento [of the first String Quartet by Bartók], followed by a feigned cool tone in the middle movement, yet blazing under the surface. The finale then, with its folkloric borrowings did not ring out with dance-like lightness, but sounded insistently emphatic. An impressive interpretation marked by profound seriousness. With respect to the Ravel Quartet, the Canadians developed the contrasts in a long lasting and fathoming fashion. It was elastic, showing a careful use of vibrato, and maintained a consistently high energy level. The extremely refined Pianissimo was magnificent, the Forte powerful and space filling. The second movement, far from being a somewhat timid Scherzo was played dashingly, with a dream-like midsection. The Très lent did not sound sentimental, certainly not sweet, but highly sensitive and delicately transparent. A delightfully sonorous gem. It was followed by a sparkling finale, stormy applause and a Bizet Adagietto encore. The Rolston String Quartet will continue to make news – to our delight.”—Südw estpresse (Ulm) “The Canadian Rolston String Quartet, a string quartet demonstrating incredible smoothness of tone and gesture, perfectly precise interplay and the most sensitive emotional understanding, emanated musical magic.”—Tagernsee new spaper “The members of the Rolston Quartet tucked into [the] music with relish, purpose, and conviction, delivering a compelling performance, in which imagination and freshly conceived ideas of sound were much to the fore….the Rolston four brought accuracy of execution, blended sound, and a sure sense of the direction of the music….the deep interiority of the music [was] excellently projected and understood….With [the Rolstons’] commitment and sense of purpose in performance, the concert suggests a sunny path ahead for this fine ensemble.” –Calgary Herald “A new way of playing music unveiled itself, as young artists caused a true wave of excitement. The young Rolston String Quartet’s performance was characterized by a suggestive mood when playing Mozart, Janacek and Beethoven, while exploring the soul of the oeuvre in a differentiating manner….Playing [Janacek’s Intimate Letters], the artists conjure up seemingly spontaneous and surreal dance tunes with dissonant trills, while playing irresistibly and in a phenomenal way….The Adagio [of Beethoven’s Op. 59, No. 2] sounds superbly weighted…,while the ‘madness’ in the Presto finale swings elegiacally and ethereally sounding, and is played short of breath, haltingly, genuinely – one might say. Cheers and jubilation!” —Dolomiten-Musik Meran





“It was as if the air in the Electoral Palace was electrically charged. Starting from the budding initial motive, Mozart’s String Quartet K. 387 played by the young, award-winning Rolston Quartet unfolds a rigor, an intensity that does not let go of you so quickly….Music played free of clichés, even after the break. The Rolston Quartet provides the Beethoven Q u ar te t O p . 59, N o . 2 with a very unique, very unusual tone….It is dominated not by classicist moderation, but by gripping, sharpened energy….the Rolston Quartet makes Beethoven sound brand new and very young. The bright, transparent, intrinsic sound of this Quartet, which is free of all the lush and opulent, fits perfectly. A great, sophisticated concert rich in discoveries!” —Trierischer Volksfreund-Kammermusikvereinigung Trier “When the Rolston String Quartet performed the last two movements of Beethoven’s String Quartet, Opus 59, No. 2, “Razumovsky, it made you wonder what they would have revealed about themselves in the first two – but only because they were so good....the group has both spirit and polish, plus a sophistication at odds with their baby faces. The third movement hinges on an ability to make the rhythm click into a groove while maintaining a certain looseness, and the Rolston mastered this balance beautifully.” —The Philadelphia Inquirer “[The Rolston String Quartet] chimed the most resonantly with the ideals of perfect quartet playing” —The Calgary Herald “a caramel blend in tone that only makes you want to hear more” —The Calgary Herald “the Rolston’s...whose fusion of Classicism and Romanticism might easily have proven problematic for a lesser ensemble, but here was afforded just the right mix of delicate articulation, stormy passion and tender stillness resulting in a hard performance to beat.” —Strad Magaz ine “achieving a shimmering pianissimo without sacrificing bow contact with the string, while showcasing a clear, sweet first violin sound that never overwhelmed the other players.” —Strad Magaz ine

Rolston String Quartet - Press Kit (03.28.18) Quartet Academy, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival,...

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