Around Columbia
Claire Bryant and Friends Announce Residency and Chamber Music Concert with The Danish String Quartet
CAMDEN, SC - October 10, 2012 - The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County (FAC) and Claire Bryant and Friends present a five-day community residency in Camden, SC featuring the internationally renowned ensemble, The Danish String Quartet.
Camden native and cellist Claire Bryant is joined by violinist Owen Dalby, both from the newly minted and acclaimed NYC chamber music society, The Declassified. The sextet will be in residence in the Camden community from October 15th - October 19th, bringing music into diverse community venues including an assisted living community, two public high schools, a local night club, several neighborhood businesses, and the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County.
About the Concert
The residency week will culminate on Friday evening in the Wood
Auditorium at the FAC with a full-length chamber music concert featuring
an all-romantic program from Eastern Europe with works by Ernő
Dohnányi, Leoš Janáček, and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Audiences will be
transported by the Hungarian folk-styles of Dohnányi's "Serenade" for
string trio, experience passion and pain during Janáček's "Kreutzer
Sonata" for string quartet, and finally, will be enveloped in the
Italian sights and sounds of Russian composer Tchaikovsky's blockbuster
for string sextet, "Souvenir de Florence".
Tickets are on sale now and are $30 for adults in advance; $35 for adults the day of and $15 for students. The series is sponsored by the Frederick S. Upton Foundation, BlueCross BlueShield of South Carolina, Tom and Virginia Ann Mullikin, Kohn-Spring Group/Merrill Lynch Wealth Management, and Van Horn Agency Inc./Kennedy Insurance Agency.
In the Community
Tuesday, October 16th, Claire Bryant and Friends and The
Danish String Quartet will present an hour-long concert for the
residents at Morningside Assisted Living of Camden at 4:00 p.m. On
Wednesday, October 18th at 9:00 p.m., the sextet will visit live-music
establishment, The Venue on Broad. This free one-hour show, both
intimate and relaxed, will bring two distinct traditions together,
giving both audience and performer an appreciation for new musical
experiences in an unexpected place. Notably, The Danish String Quartet
is quite accomplished in the folk traditions of Danish, Scottish, and
Scandinavian fiddling. Bluegrass, country, and classical fans alike
should not miss this!
Wednesday, October 17th and Thursday, October 18th at 1:00 p.m. the artists will present 45-minute interactive performances at North Central High School and Camden High School. These performances, both educational and engaging, are written and scripted by the musicians and are designed to bring students inside the music through musical and thematic entry points. The sextet will focus on the programmatic music of Czech composer Leoš Janáček and Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky.
About the Artists
The Declassified is a cutting-edge chamber music
society forging an integrated role for classical music in communities
around the world. Based in New York City, The Declassified maintains a flexible roster of a new type of musician: virtuoso, arts
advocate and educator. They design residencies to reach audiences of
broad scope, bringing creative concert experiences to schools,
hospitals, prisons and bars, as well as major international concert
halls.
The Declassified was founded in 2011 by alumni of Carnegie Hall, Juilliard, and the Weill Music Institute's "The Academy." Upon leaving this prestigious fellowship, the musicians were inspired not only to keep playing together but also to create an entrepreneurial model for artists who want to meaningfully engage with society. As The Academy's Ensemble ACJW, the musicians of The Declassified presented residencies in Spain, Mexico, Iceland, South Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Germany and Japan. Appearing at Carnegie Hall, their performances as Ensemble ACJW were called "dazzling" and "dynamic"; "categories be damned." (New York Times).
The Declassified maintains a close collaboration with Carnegie Hall, as resident artists on their Musical Connections program which supports their work this season in homeless shelters, hospitals and at Sing Sing prison, and as a partner in planning and conducting national and international residencies on an ongoing basis.
Owen Dalby, violin and viola. Praised as "dazzling" (New York Times) and "a fearless and inquisitive violinist" (San Francisco Classical Voice), Dalby is hailed for his gripping interpretations of music from across the stylistic spectrum. He is a co-founding Artistic Director of The Declassified. Owen's varied career involves solo performances at Lincoln Center, appearances with the Orchestra of St. Luke's, Princeton Symphony, Ensemble ACJW, and the Metropolis Ensemble. He can also be heard on baroque violin with Four Nations Ensemble, Clarion Music Society, and Trinity Wall Street's Baroque Orchestra and Choir. Owen is regularly invited to perform chamber music at festivals from Hamburg to Honolulu. His chamber collaborators have included Daniel Hope, Dawn Upshaw, the Persian kamancheh virtuoso Kayhan Kalhor, and Simon Rattle. Owen is a native of Berkeley, California and received bachelor's and master's degrees from Yale.
A native of South Carolina, cellist Claire Bryant (cello) enjoys an active and diverse career in New York City as a performer of chamber music, contemporary music, and solo cello repertoire. She is equally passionate and committed to her work as an educator and advocate for the inclusion of the arts in society. In 2009, Ms. Bryant founded a community residency project through chamber music in South Carolina called Claire Bryant and Friends. This endeavor brings accomplished young artists to communities for weeklong residencies that include engaging pedagogy and performance in the public schools, advocacy forums for arts education, and community concerts in diverse and innovative venues.
A member of the new chamber music society, The Declassified, Ms. Bryant has collaborated with world-class artists such as Daniel Hope, Anthony Marwood, Emanuel Ax, Sir Simon Rattle, Dawn Upshaw, and the Weilerstein Trio. The 2010 recipient of the Robert Sherman McGraw Hill Companies award for excellence in community outreach and music education, she is a graduate of The Juilliard School and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where her primary teachers were Bonnie Hampton and Joel Krosnick. Ms. Bryant served as an assistant to faculty member, Bonnie Hampton, at The Juilliard School from 2008 - 2012.
The Danish String Quartet-Frederik Øland (Violin); Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen (Violin); Asbjørn Nørgaard (Viola); Fredrik Schøyen Sjölin (Cello.) The Danish String Quartet holds a unique position in the echelon of young and dynamic ensembles on the international scene today. Though all under the age of 30, they have been performing as a quartet since its debut in 2002 at the Copenhagen Festival. With their passion for Scandinavian composers, contemporary programs and juxtaposed programs with the classics, they have drawn praise from critics, audiences and fellow musicians with their profound interpretations. Since winning the Danish Radio P2 Chamber Music Competition in 2004, the four young musicians have been frequent guests at festivals in Denmark, as well as at international festivals and chamber music venues. The Danish String Quartet was recently appointed to the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS Two program, a three-year appointment beginning in the 2013-2014 season.
The Danish String Quartet's 2012-2013 season sees engagements throughout Europe and the United States. The Quartet embarks on a U.S. tour in October with performances in Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut and South Carolina. Additional U.S. performances in January bring the Quartet back to New York and Maine. European appearances include performances in Denmark, Norway, Poland, Germany (on tour with clarinetist Sebastian Manz), Sweden, Spain, The Netherlands and United Kingdom. Programs throughout the season feature works by Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Wolf, Bartók, Nielsen, Janácek, Abrahamsen and Debussy, among others.
The Danish String Quartet was awarded First Prize in the Vagn Holmboe String Quartet Competition and the Charles Hennen International Chamber Music Competition in Holland, the Audience Prize in the Trondheim International String Quartet Competition in 2005 and First Prize in the 11th London International String Quartet Competition in 2009, as well as additional prizes from the same jury. The Danish String Quartet was awarded the 2010 NORDMETALL-Ensemble Prize at the Mecklenburg-Vorpommern Festival in Germany and, in 2011, received the highly prestigious Carl Nielsen Prize. In 2006, the Danish String Quartet was Danish Radio's Artist-in-Residence, giving them the opportunity to record all of Carl Nielsen's string quartets in the Danish Radio Concert Hall, subsequently released to critical acclaim on the Dacapo label in 2007 and 2008. "These Danish players have excelled in performances of works by Brahms, Mozart and Bartok in New York in recent years. But they play Nielsen's quartets as if they owned them." -The New York Times
For more information or to purchase tickets, call 803-425-7676 extension 300 or visit www.fineartscenter.org. The Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County is located at 810 Lyttleton Street in Camden. Box office hours are Monday through Wednesday and Friday, 10 a.m.-5 p.m. and Thursday 10 a.m.-6 p.m.
About the Fine Arts Center of Kershaw County
The Fine Arts Center is funded in part by the Frederick S. Upton
Foundation and the South Carolina Arts Commission, which receives
support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Additional funding
provided by the City of Camden, Kershaw County, and BlueCross BlueShield
of South Carolina along with donations from businesses and individuals.
