Listen to theCavani String Quartet
This quartet succeeds like few others in communicating the fun of music making and the sheer joy of balancing timbres and weaving sound. Ovations following a sumptuously detailed performance were entirely justified…it was stellar."
–The Washington Post
Saturday October 15th, 8:00pm
Occidental Center for the Arts
We welcome back a quartet who has won the hearts of audiences throughout the world, just as they did in our series back in 1994! This group has become a champion in educating younger generations about the joy of chamber music, as well as performing at the top of their game for adult audiences. "A new generation of players recognizing spiritual and colouristic potentialities once practiced by bygone exponents…passionate and interesting…an accomplished example of the craftsmanship and wonderfully communicative." ~ The Strad
An irresistible presence on stage, the Cavani Quartet performs regularly on major series and festivals throughout North America and Europe. The Cavani's 25th anniversary concert received this accolade from The Cleveland Plain Dealer, "this powerful and poetic performance was an example of the special joy musicians exude when minds and instruments connect on the highest level."
Appearances include Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York, the Corcoran Gallery of Art and Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Ambassador Series in Los Angeles, Muziekcentrum De Ijsbreker in Amsterdam, Festival de L'Epau in France, and the Honolulu Chamber Music Society. The Cavani Quartet has the honor of being a winner of the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award as well as numerous competitions including, Fischoff , Banff and Coleman. Active proponents of contemporary music, the Quartet has commissioned and performed a worldwide array of living composers and is a recipient of the CMA/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming. The Quartet has been featured on National Public Radio's Performance Today and St. Paul Sunday, NBC, CBS, ABC, and PBS television. In 2005, the Quartet became the first recipient of the Guarneri String Quartet Residency Award from Chamber Music America. Cavani Quartet recordings of Bartók, Dvořák, Schumann, Brahms, Erb, Chausson, Brouwer and Primosch are available on the Azica, Gasparo, New World, Albany, and Pantheon labels. Collaborations with distinguished artists include Denyce Graves, Stephanie Blythe, Nathan Gunn, Alisa Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and members of the Juilliard, Emerson, Takacs, Ying, St. Lawrence and Cleveland Quartets.
The Cavani Quartet has established itself as a dynamic leader in the field of Arts in Education, and has received a number of Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Grants. Nationally acclaimed for their inspiring and innovative teaching and proactive approach to residencies, the Quartet has developed creative programs for audiences of all ages, including a series of children's concerts for the Chamber Music of Lincoln Center. Formed in 1984, the Cavani Quartet was appointed Quartet-in-Residence at the Cleveland Institute of Music in 1988. Summer music festival appearances and residencies include The Aspen Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Kniesel Hall Chamber Music Festival and The Perlman Music Program.
The Cavani Quartet has also collaborated with artists across disciplines to create programs that unite poetry, painting, theatre and dance with the string quartet medium, including the award-winning M.A.P. (Music, Art and Poetry) program. As result of their extensive experience in chamber music education, the Cavani Quartet was invited to participate as a leadership ensemble in the first national Chamber Music Educator/Ensemble Seminar sponsored by Chamber Music America. At the Cleveland Institute of Music the Cavani Quartet has developed The Intensive Quartet Seminar, the Apprentice Quartet Program, and The Art of Engagement for student ensembles devoted to the serious study of chamber music.
The Quartet has been on the Advisory Board of Amateur Chamber Music Players and currently serves on the Honorary Board of the Suzuki Association of the Americas. In 2009, the Cavani Quartet was awarded a Cuyahoga Arts and Culture Project Support Grant for their innovative Beethoven & Brotherhood Project- performing the complete quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven in sixteen neighborhood libraries throughout Cleveland.