SATURDAY, MARCH 8 at 7:30 P.M.
Balourdet Quartet
The Eureka Chamber Music Series presents the Balourdet Quartet, a prize-winning and passionate ensemble that is quickly becoming one of classical music’s hottest tickets. The Balourdet will perform weekend concerts on Saturday, March 8th at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Eureka, and on Sunday, March 9th at 3:00 p.m. at The Lutheran Church of Arcata before heading directly to the east coast to play a sold-out concert at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
The Saturday Mainstage Concert will feature the groundbreaking and Grammy winning “Different Trains” by American composer Steve Reich, which combines live musical performance with pre-recorded sound. Also on the program is “Five Pieces for String Quartet,” an ecstatic 20th century take on a Baroque dance suite by the Austro-Czech composer Erwin Schulhoff, and “String Quintet No. 1, in A Major, Op. 18 by the beloved romantic composer Felix Mendelssohn, with ECMS artistic director Tom Stone joining the Balourdet playing the viola. Sunday’s Concert & Conversation will feature “String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135” which is the final quartet composed by Ludwig van Beethoven, as well as the last major composition he completed before his death in 1827.
Mainstage Concert tickets are $40 general and $10 for students. Concert and Conversation tickets are $20 general and $5 for students. Purchasing tickets in advance is recommended for this popular concert series, and there are no added fees or service charges when ordering tickets online. Please visit eurekachambermusic.org and follow the “purchase tickets” link. Any remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
In addition to their weekend concerts, the Balourdet Quartet will spend the previous week performing community outreach events in a variety of venues in Humboldt County, including public schools, hospitals, and places of worship. There will also be three additional public events where the themes of this concert repertoire will be explored more thoroughly, providing historical context for the music and composers, including a discussion about freedom, history, and the role of art in society.
The “Different Trains Concert Preview” will take place on Sunday, March 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at The Lutheran Church of Arcata where donations will be gratefully accepted, and at The Old Steeple in Ferndale, a first-time collaboration between ECMS and the Ferndale Music Company, on Tuesday, March 4th at 7:30 p.m. Tickets for this event are $11 at the door or may be purchased in advance at ferndalemusiccompany.com. On Wednesday, March 5th the Balourdet will perform at the Humboldt County Main Library in Eureka, with live music at 5:00 p.m. and music and lecture from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. This is a free event and all are welcome.
Curated by ECMS artistic director Tom Stone, he offers some context for this week of music and community outreach:
“We all listen to music, but it’s not everyday that we feel its power to transform us. That’s our goal with this immersive community residency. Music is a pathway to our origins and some of the stories music tells can be joyous and enlightening, as well as painful. ‘Different Trains’ will create the visceral experience of all of this and more through the historical lense of Europe and America around the time of World War II. I’m eager to explore the enlightened music that preceded a dreaded war and its aftermath, the effects of fascism on freedom, art, and expression, and the beauty of the music that came into being in spite of it all. Please join us as we explore history, human emotion, and beautiful music.”
The Balourdet Quartet stands out for their vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision and emotional depth that brings a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions. Its unique closeness and willingness to take creative risks earned it the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. With more than 70 concerts per season, recent highlights include the Balourdet’s debuts at Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, and new string quartets by composers Karim Al-Zand, Paul Novak, and Nicky Sohn through grants from Chamber Music America (2021) and the Barlow Foundation (2023). They are currently the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the prestigious Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and are recent graduates of the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program.
Highlights of the 2024-25 season include performances at the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, the Kennedy Center, What Makes it Great at Merkin Hall, and a weeklong residency at Stanford University. Recently, they have performed at La Jolla Music Society, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Northwestern University Winter Chamber Music Festival, and Chamber Music Houston. Collaborations include pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Simone Dinnerstein, Stewart Goodyear, Albert Cano Smit, cellist Astrid Schween, and violist Jordan Bak. During this season, they continue their position as String Quartet in Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle in North Carolina where they curate the Up Close Chamber Music Series, serve as principals in the orchestra, and engage with the larger community of the Triangle region.
Committed to sharing their musical values with the next generation, the quartet has served regularly as faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, JDR Summer Music Academy, Berkshire Summer Music, and Opus Chamber Music. They have also given masterclasses and coachings at Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Rice University, Emory University, New England Conservatory Preparatory Department, Fischoff Chamber Music Academy, Upper Valley Chamber Music, and Wright State University.
The Balourdet journey began in 2018 in the mountains of New Mexico at the Taos School of Music, where violinists Justin DeFilippis, Angela Bae, and cellist Russell Houston first bonded as friends over long evenings of chamber music, luxurious Peppermint Schnapps and extravagant meals created by chef extraordinaire Antoine Balourdet, a renaissance man with an exceptional love of life and music. It was the friendships, a shared passion for music and food, and gratitude for the role the festival played in the formation of the quartet, that inspired the members to name the ensemble in Chef Balourdet’s honor.
Soon thereafter, in the heat of a waning Texas summer, Justin, Angela, and Russell joined with violist Benjamin Zannoni at Rice University, and the Balourdet Quartet was formed. Inspired by their love for the repertoire and the excitement of having found each other, the four friends found themselves playing quartets late into the night for fun. After having been together for only one year at Rice University, and a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, they took second prize at the Nielsen International String Quartet Competition, and were selected as the only quartet admitted to Boston’s historic New England Conservatory Professional String Quartet Program under the tutelage of Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz.
In 2021, the Quartet won the Grand Prize at New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, which included joint management by Concert Artists Guild in the U.S., and Young Classical Artist’s Trust (YCAT) in the UK and Europe. In addition, the Balourdet has been prizewinners in Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, Gold Medal winners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Gold Medal and Audience Prizewinners at the Yellow Springs Competition.
Incorporated in 2019 as a non-profit after decades of private funding, the Eureka Chamber Music Series serves to enrich the cultural landscape of the north coast by bringing world-class musicians to Humboldt County and by ensuring that the mission of ECMS is community supported and sustainable. Public concerts presented in Eureka and Arcata, as well as county-wide educational outreach programs, are funded through the generosity of local businesses, individuals, and foundations, as well as by subscription and individual ticket sales.
DATES/TIMES
- Saturday, March 8 : 7:30-9:30 p.m.
WHERE
PRICE
- Phone: 707-273-6975
- Email: admin@eurekachambermusic.org
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