Join us to hear the Balourdet Quartet perform late works by Mozart and Beethoven. This will be the ensemble’s third appearance at these concerts.
Program
| Composer | Work | Year |
|---|---|---|
| Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart | String Quartet No. 23 in F major, K. 590 | 1790 |
| Karim Al-Zand | String Quartet No. 4 “Strange Machines” | 2022 |
| Intermission | ||
| Ludwig van Beethoven | String Quartet No. 16 in F major, Op. 135 | 1826 |
About the Ensemble
The celebrated Balourdet Quartet produces both emotionally
intense and intimate moments on international stages. 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. Currently based in Bloomington, the Balourdet
Quartet is the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of
Music. They also serve as the String Quartet in Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of the
Triangle in North Carolina.
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.
During the 2023-24 season, the Balourdet had a full year of concerts, residencies, and exciting projects. They returned to the La Jolla Music Society, Montgomery Chamber Music, Nevada Chamber Music Festival, and Schneider Concert Series. Collaborations included pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Simone Dinnerstein, Stewart Goodyear, and violist Jordan Bak. Other highlights include the Balourdet’s debuts at Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, and new string quartets by composers Karim Al-Zand and Paul Novak through grants from Chamber Music America (2021) and the Barlow Foundation (2023).