Omer String Quartet Returns to Portsmouth Sept. 25

PORTSMOUTH, NH — The Omer String Quartet will perform at 3 p.m. this Sunday, Sept. 25, 2016, at the North Church of Portsmouth as part of Historic Portsmouth Chamber Music presentations for 2016. This concert is the third of four performances that will be held in historic churches in the greater Portsmouth area this season, according to a press statement. The series is produced by the Portsmouth Athenaeum. A $20 at-the-door donation is suggested.

The award-winning Omer String Quartet, comprised of Mason Yu and Erica Tursi on violin, Jinsun Hong on viola and Alex Cox on cello, returns to Portsmouth this season in the midst of a whirlwind year of international competitions. Their program at North Church will include Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor and Bartok’s Quartet No. 1 in A Minor, works that show the very different paths taken by these turn-of-the-century composers, both unique in their period for attempting to break out of the traditions of German Romanticism. Debussy’s quartet is improvisatory and characterized by spontaneity of sound colors, stunning sensual beauty and variety of textures. Bartok’s semi-autobiographical work about a passionate (and unrequited) love, is infused with folk dance gestures and speech patterns reflecting Bartok the ethnomusicologist’s interest in his native Hungary.

Finalists and prizewinners of the 2016 Bordeaux International Competition in France, the Omer String Quartet was named the 2013 Grand Prize and Gold Medal winner of the 40th Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Praised by UT San Diego for playing with a “sense of discovery and adventure, but also with considerable finesse,” they have performed across North America and Europe. The quartet is currently the resident ensemble of the New England Conservatory’s Professional Quartet Training Program directed by Paul Katz, a program that has shaped the artistic development of eminent young quartets such as the Jupiter, Parker, Ariel and Harlem Quartets.

“The Omer String Quartet continues to take the music world by storm,” noted Bill Wieting, Chairman of the Portsmouth Athenaeum Performance Committee. “We are thrilled to welcome this talented group of musicians back to Portsmouth for what promises to be a brilliant concert in the beautiful North Church.”

The historic North Church of Portsmouth is located in Market Square at 2 Congress St.

For more information on Historic Portsmouth Chamber Music or the Portsmouth Athenaeum, visit portsmouthathenaeum.org.

Submitted by Caroline Amport Piper.