Prelude Chamber Music presents an evening with the Vega Quartet at 7pm, community chamber music concert, hosted at Riverside Park United Methodist Church, Prelude Chamber Music Festival 2023

The Vega String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University, is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic performances and innovative community engagement.  The New York Times raved that “[the Quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along…the musicians took real risks in their music making” and the L.A. Times praised their “triumphant L.A. debut.” They concertize both nationally and internationally, most recently in Baltimore, Chicago, Nashville, Sacramento, Berlin, San Miguel, and the Brahmssaal in Vienna’s Musikverein. The Quartet’s major performing projects at Emory have included performing the complete cycle of Beethoven quartets, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola and cello with the six Bartók quartets.  They have also developed a series of “Jazz Meets Classics” programs, bringing the two genres together. Recent highlights include the Quartet’s debut at Amsterdam’s famed Concertgebouw, a multi-city tour of Denmark, with performances at venues such as the Royal Danish Conservatory, and appearances at El Paso Pro Musica and the Sitka Music Festival.

Beethoven,+Quartet+in+F,+Op.+59+No.+1,+mvt.+IV+The+Vega+Quartet.mp3

Emily Smith, Violin

Jessica Shuang Wu, Violin

Yinzi Kong, Viola

Guang Wang, Cello

A unique aspect of the Quartet’s residency at Emory is bringing performance into the classroom, collaborating with academic professors to create interdisciplinary parallels and conversations.  They also enrich the cultural life of their community, having founded the Emory Youth Chamber Music Program, which gives intensive training in small ensemble playing to advanced pre-college students.  The Quartet was appointed to the roster of the Woodruff Arts Center’s Young Audience program, engaging thousands of students throughout the greater Atlanta school system.  They have also held residencies in Augusta, Jacksonville and Juneau which combined traditional concerts with educational outreach, performances in non-traditional venues and masterclasses for area students.

The Vega Quartet has won numerous international awards, including at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, as well as top prizes from the Coleman Chamber Ensemble Competition, the Carmel Chamber Music Competition, and the National Society of Arts and Letters String Quartet Competition.  They tour throughout Asia, Europe and North America and have appeared at Weill Hall and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall, Bargemusic, and Duke Hall at the Royal Academy of Music, London.  The members of the Vega Quartet collaborate with some of the world’s finest musicians including Eliot Fisk, Christopher O’Riley, William Preucil, Richard Stoltzman, Robert Spano, Charles Wadsworth and the Eroica Trio. They also commission, premier and record works by leading composers.  The Quartet is a frequent guest at numerous music festivals, including Amelia Island, Aspen, Brevard, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Kingston, Mostly Mozart, Rockport, San Miguel de Allende, and SummerFest La Jolla.