November 15, 2004—The Oberlin String Quartet, formed at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music this year, makes its first public appearance Sunday, December 5, 2004, at 8 p.m. in Finney Chapel with a free concert featuring Beethoven's String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127 and Brahms' Quintet in F minor, Op. 34, a program that will be reprised at Ashland University's Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall on Tuesday, December 7. These performances will be followed by a tour that culminates in Cleveland's Reinberger Hall on February 2, 2005.

Members of the quartet are violinist Gregory Fulkerson, violinist Kyung Sun Lee, violist Peter Slowik, and cellist Darrett Adkins, all of whom are faculty members at the Conservatory. Fulkerson and Adkins are also Conservatory graduates. Joining the ensemble for the Brahms Quintet is pianist Angela Cheng, associate professor of piano at the Conservatory.

The mission of the Oberlin String Quartet is at once simple and ambitious: to perform the great masterworks of the quartet literature in meticulously prepared and compellingly envisioned performances.

Each member of the quartet is a distinguished artist in his or her own right, and each possesses a vast array of performance experience, not only individually and with large ensembles, but also with other chamber groups. Fulkerson, the quartet's first violinist, was the founding violinist of the Audubon Quartet.Lee performed as a member of the Trio Con Voce and the Kumho String Quartet. Slowik has performed with the Mirecourt Trio and the Vermeer Quartet. Adkins, a former member of the Flux Quartet, continues to perform with the Zephyr and the Oberlin trios.

The Oberlin String Quartet is a new incarnation of the award-winning 1950s ensemble of the same name. The first Oberlin String Quartet also consisted of Conservatory faculty members and was formed at Oberlin in 1955 by violinist Andor Toth and violist William Berman. Violinist John Dalley and cellist Peter Howard joined in 1958.

In the late summer of that year, the Quartet performed a series of engagements in Germany and Belgium and collected enthusiastic reviews from the critics. In Liège, the ensemble was awarded fourth prize in the Concours International de Quatuor, sponsored by H.M. Queen Elisabeth (a first prize was not awarded). A press account from the Brussels newspaper Le Soir reported that "the 500 listeners who attended the finals in the hall of the Ste. Libre d'Emulation completely disagreed with the jury in thunderously applauding the Oberlin String Quartet, whose presentation had been particularly impressive in the Quartet by Debussy." The ensemble disbanded in 1959.

The Oberlin String Quartet—then and now—exemplifies the excellence engendered by a dedication to chamber music that has been at the core of the musical life of Oberlin throughout its history. Renowned internationally as a professional music school of the highest caliber, Oberlin is the oldest continuously operating conservatory in the United States.

Following their Finney Chapel debut and Ashland University performance, the Quartet is scheduled for two engagements in Seattle, Washington, at the University Unitarian Church and at Town Hall's Great Hall. These are followed by performances at San Francisco's Florence Gould Theater (located in the California Palace of the Legion of Honor) and at Scripps College's Garrison Theater in Claremont, California. The Quartet will be back in Ohio for a concert at Cleveland's Reinberger Hall February 2, 2005. In addition to the Beethoven String Quartet, the program for the ensemble's west coast tour and for Reinberger Hall includes Mozart's String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 . The Oberlin and Ashland concerts are free. Ticket information for the Reinberger concert is available by calling the Severance Hall Box Office at 216-231-7005.

To book the Oberlin String Quartet, please call Nita Karpf at 440.775.8926. Additional information is available at online at http://www.oberlin.edu/con

The Oberlin String Quartet 2004-2005 Recitals

Sunday, December 5, 2004, 8 p.m, with pianist Angela Cheng
Program: Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127 and Brahms Quintet in F minor, Op. 34     
Location: Finney Chapel (Oberlin College, Oberlin, OH 44074, 440.775.6933)
FREE

Tuesday, December 7, 2004, 7:30 p.m., with pianist Angela Cheng
Program: Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127 and Brahms Quintet in F minor, Op. 34
Location: Elizabeth Pastor Recital Hall (Ashland University, Ashland, OH 419.289.5950)    
FREE                              

Wednesday, January 26, 2005, 7:30 p.m.
Program: Mozart String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 and Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127
Location: University Unitarian Church (6556 35 th Avenue, N.E., Seattle, WA, 206.525.8400)
FREE

Thursday, January 27, 2005, 8 p.m.
Program: Mozart String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 and Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127
Location: Great Hall (Town Hall, 1119 Eighth Avenue, Seattle, WA, 206.652.4255)
FREE

Friday, January 28, 2005, 8 p.m.
Program: Mozart String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 and Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127
Location: Florence Gould Theater (California Palace of the Legion of Honor, 100 34 th Avenue, San Francisco, CA, 415.863.3330)
FREE

Saturday, January 29, 2005, 8 p.m.      
Program: Mozart String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 and Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127
Location: Garrison Theater (Performing Arts Center, Scripps College, 1030 Columbia Avenue, Claremont, CA, 909.621.8000)
FREE

Wednesday, February 2, 2005, 8 p.m.
Program: Mozart String Quartet in B-flat, K. 589 and Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat, Op. 127
Location: Reinberger Hall (Severance Hall, Cleveland, OH, 216.231.7005)
TICKETED EVENT: $10 general public, free for those with OCID