The ASPECT Foundation for Music & Arts opens its third New York City season of illuminating performances with Zemlinsky, Janáček, Dvořák and Their Muses on Tuesday, October 16, 2018 at 7:30pm at Bohemian National Hall in New York City. 

The concert features the acclaimed Zemlinsky String Quartet in an exploration of the culture and music of Czech romantics. The program includes the quartet’s namesake Alexander Zemlinsky’s String Quartet No. 1, Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 “Intimate Letters,” and Dvořák’s Love Songs, Op. 83. Founded in 1994, the Zemlinsky Quartet, “a perfect union of intimate interaction between four musicians” (Seen and Heard International), is continuing the Czech string quartet tradition in style, performing a wide-ranging repertoire on stages around the world.

Musicologist Nicholas Chong, a professor at Rutgers’ Mason Gross School of the Arts and Columbia University, curates an illustrated talk during the concert and interview with the musicians. Chong specializes in the music of the late Classical and Romantic eras in Germany and Austria, in particular on the relationship of the creation and reception of musical works to religious, political, and intellectual history.

Founded in 1994 while the members were still students, the Zemlinsky Quartet has become amuch lauded example of the Czech string quartet tradition. The Zemlinsky Quartet won the First Grand Prize at the Bordeaux International String Quartet Competition in 2010. They have also been awarded top prizes at the Banff International String Quartet Competition (2007), Prague Spring International Music Competition (2005) and London International String Quartet Competition (2006), where they also received the Audience Prize. The Quartet was recipient of the Alexander Zemlinsky Advancement Award in 2008. Other notable prizes include Beethoven International Competition (1999), New Talent Bratislava (2003), Martinů Foundation String Quartet Competition (2004), and the Prize of Czech Chamber Music Society (2005). In the season 2016/17, Zemlinsky Quartet was appointed as the residential ensemble of the Czech Chamber Music Society. 

ASPECT Foundation for Music and Arts was founded by Irina Knaster in London in 2011 and relocated to New York City in 2016. ASPECT presents a new concert format – one that transforms the traditional recital into an intimate, engaging, and thought-provoking blend of performance, speech, and image.

The Foundation’s chamber-music events feature some of today’s leading musicians and music experts. For each concert, they set the works on the program in context with presentations supported by visuals. These “illustrated talks” reveal fascinating details about the composer, the music, and the cultural history of the period in question.  

ASPECT aims both to support and promote artists, and to welcome audiences old and new to explore new aspects of a classical repertoire of endless riches. It’s more than a concert. To find out more, visit the ASPECT Foundation website.