The Escher String Quartet
Featuring Terrence Wilson
Saturday, March 11, 2023
Adam Barnett-Hart - violin
Brendan Speltz - violin
Pierre Lapointe - Viola
Brook Speltz - Cello
Terrance Wilson - Piano
Formed in 2005 in New York, the Escher String Quartet quickly caught the attention of key musical figures worldwide and has subsequently built on its success, becoming known for its beautifully blended sound, intelligent shaping and depth of musical perception. The quartet is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall and serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in its home town of NYC. The quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
“The Performance was made possible by the Virgin Islands Special Presenter Initiative program of the Mid Atlantic Arts Foundation with support of
the National Endowment for the arts.”
Ticket Pricing
Adults - $30 Teachers - $10 Students - $5 Children - Free of charge
7:00pm - Courtyard open with small meals by Amalia Café & Live Music
8:00pm - Start of the concert
To purchase your ticket, click the link below:
Program
TBA
Escher String Quartet
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall, London. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble serves as Season Artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, where it has recently performed quartet cycles of Beethoven and Zemlinsky.
The 2021-22 season finds the Escher String Quartet touring the U.S. extensively, performing in numerous cities and venues including Lincoln Center and Rockefeller University (both in NYC), La Jolla, Detroit, Buffalo, Palm Beach (with soprano Susanna Phillips), New Orleans, and Savannah among others.
The Escher String Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, Tel Aviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre. With a strong collaborative approach, the group has appeared at festivals such as the Heidelberg Spring Festival, Budapest’s Franz Liszt Academy, Dublin’s Great Music in Irish Houses, the Risør Chamber Music Festival in Norway, the Hong Kong International Chamber Music Festival and the Perth International Arts Festival in Australia. The upcoming season sees the quartet return to its long time London home of Wigmore Hall, following debuts in Bilbao, Spain and recordings in Vienna, Austria with the pianist Andreas Haefliger.
In the fall of 2021, the quartet released its latest album, the complete quartets of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber (BIS). Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn Quartets, released on the BIS label in 2015-2017, were received with the highest critical acclaim. The Escher’s most recent recording - quartets of Dvorak, Borodin, and Tchaikovsky - was met with equal enthusiasm. The quartet has also recorded on the Naxos label, the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes to accolades including five stars in the Guardian with “Classical CD of the Year”, a Recommendation in The Strad, “Recording of the Month” on MusicWeb International and a nomination for a BBC Music Magazine Award.
Terrence Wilson
Acclaimed by the Baltimore Sun as “one of the biggest pianistic talents to have emerged in this country in the last 25 years” pianist Terrence Wilson has appeared as soloist with the symphony orchestras of Atlanta, Baltimore, Cincinnati, Dallas, Detroit, Houston, Washington, DC (National Symphony), San Francisco, St. Louis, and with the orchestras of Cleveland, Minnesota, and Philadelphia and the Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra. Conductors with whom he has worked include Christoph Eschenbach, Alan Gilbert, Neeme Järvi, Jesús López-Cobos, Lawrence Renes, Robert Spano, Yuri Temirkanov, Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, Gunther Herbig and Michael Morgan.
Abroad, Terrence Wilson has played concerti with such ensembles as the Lausanne Chamber Orchestra in Switzerland, the Malaysian Philharmonic, the Royal Scottish National Orchestra, and the Orquestra Sinfonica do Estado de Minas Gerais in Belo Horizonte, Brazil. He has toured with orchestras in the US and abroad, including a tour of the US with the Sofia Festival Orchestra (Bulgaria) and in Europe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra conducted by Yuri Temirkanov.
An active recitalist, Terrence Wilson made his New York City recital debut at the 92nd Street Y, and his Washington, DC recital debut at the Kennedy Center. In Europe he has given recitals at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland, the Lourvre in Paris, and countless other major venues. In the US he has given recitals at Lincoln Center in New York City (both Alice Tully Hall and Avery Fisher Hall), the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, the Caramoor Festival in Katonah, NY, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, and for the La Jolla Chamber Music Society. An avid chamber musician, he performs regularly with the Ritz Chamber Players. Festival appearances include the Blossom Festival, Tanglewood, Wolf Trap, with the San Francisco Symphony at Stern Grove Park, and an appearance with the Grant Park Symphony Orchestra on July 4, 2015 before an audience of over fifteen thousand.
In the 2019-2020 season, Wilson made his Boston (MA) recital debut at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum to critical acclaim. In March, 2020, Wilson substituted for Andre Watts on short notice, performing Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 5 with the Detroit Symphony.
During the 2020-2021 season, Terrence Wilson appeared as a guest soloist with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra in a video produced by the NJSO, performing Mozart’s Piano Concerto K. 467. He also appeared virtually on numerous online platforms due to Covic-19 pandemic restrictions. His first post-pandemic live performance was with the Brevard Symphony Orchestra (Melbourne, FL). Wilson was also a guest of the St. Augustine Music Festival where he played Beethoven's "Ghost" Trio with members of the St. Augustine Music Festival during an afternoon concert, followed by a performance of Beethoven's 5th Piano Concerto later that evening at the St. Augustine Amphitheater. He also adjudicated in the World Bach Competition and the Music International Grand Prix and served on the faculty of the Brevard Music Center's Virtual Piano Institute in July. Also in July, he conducted a virtual masterclass for students of the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI) and in January, 2022, he will serve on the jury of the Heida Hermanns Piano Competition.
The 2021-2022 season will bring Wilson back as soloist with the Alabama and Nashville Symphony Orchestras. He will also make his debuts with the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, the Boulder Philharmonic, and the Roanoke Symphony. In the fall, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit will present Wilson with the Escher Quartet performing Brahms' Piano Quintet in F minor. He also appears at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center in April 2022 performing music by Julius Eastman and Clarence Barlow. In the spring of 2021, he was appointed to the piano faculty at Bard College Conservatory of Music in Annandale-on-Hudson, NY.
Terrence Wilson has received numerous awards and prizes, including the SONY ES Award for Musical Excellence, an Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the Juilliard Petschek Award. He has also been featured on several radio and television broadcasts, including NPR’s “Performance Today,” WQXR radio in New York, and programs on the BRAVO Network, the Arts & Entertainment Network, public television, and as a guest on late night network television. In 2011, Wilson was nominated for a Grammy in the category of “Best Instrumental Soloist With an Orchestra” for his (world premiere) recording with the Nashville Symphony conducted by Giancarlo Guerrero of Michael Daugherty’s Deus ex Machina for piano and orchestra - written for Wilson in 2007.
Terrence Wilson is a graduate of The Juilliard School, where he studied with Yoheved Kaplinsky. He has also enjoyed the invaluable mentorship of the Romanian pianist and teacher Zitta Zohar. A native of the Bronx, he resides in Montclair, New Jersey.
