KCMETROPOLIS.org
Kansas City's Online Journal of the Performing Arts

Years of commitment, experience, and musicianship have made the Kopelman Quartet stand out among string quartets as a true gem. Mikhail Kopelman, Boris Kuschnir, Igor Sulyga, and Mikhail Milman’s numerous achievements individually and as a quartet are staggeringly impressive, gaining significant praise for decades for their highly polished playing.

The members of the Kopelman Quartet came of age together in the 1970’s at the Moscow Conservatoire, studying with artists Natalia Gutman, Emanuel Ax, Boris Belenky, Valentin Berlinsky, and even the great cellist Mstislav Rostropovich and composer Dmitri Shostakovich, among others. Each enjoyed distinguished careers before rejoining in 2002 to form the Kopelman Quartet, as performers and as faculty at the Moscow Conservatoire, Yale School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Vienna Conservatoire, Tulane University, and the University of Music in Graz.

These gentlemen are leaders in chamber music, founding and performing in prestigious ensembles including the Borodin String Quartet, Moscow String Quartet, Tokyo String Quartet, Vienna Schubert Trio, Vienna Brahms Trio, Moscow Philharmonic Orchestra, Bolshoi Theatre Orchestra, Orchestra of Cordoba, and the Moscow Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra under Vladimir Spivakov, often as first chair or section principal. Each member has been involved in numerous festivals, master classes, and competitions throughout the world, with founder and first violinist Mikhail Kopelman a recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society Award and Concertgebouw Silver Medal of Honour. The Kopelman Quartet has circled the globe with recitals, and has recorded on major classical labels EMI, Nimbus, Naxos, and others.

As one of the most vital and standard chamber ensembles, string quartet pieces have been written by nearly every major composer since the late eighteenth century. Joseph Haydn composed a vast number of works to the repertoire, as well as Mozart and Beethoven. Schubert, Dvořák, Bartók, Shostakovich, Elliott Carter, and George Crumb have also contributed to the genre, to name only a few. The string quartet is a notorious challenge for composers as the four instruments, with equal musical palettes, are more individually exposed. Since the twentieth century, however, composers have been more experimental and daring in their string quartet writing, straying from traditional techniques and forms.

The Kopelman Quartet will perform three pieces on their Friends of Chamber Music series concert: Borodin’s Beethoven-influenced String Quartet No. 1, Shostakovich’s early Two Pieces for String Quartet, and Brahms’ intricate String Quartet No. 2. These works display the complex colors and technical range of the string quartet, and the expertise of this particular ensemble.

Kansas City has been extremely fortunate in recent months to have prestigious and talented string quartets as Takács, Kronos, and Artemis present concerts in the area. On par with these quartets, the Kopelman Quartet is a highly esteemed,  quality a group of skilled professionals which I very much look forward to hearing.

PREVIEW:
Friends of Chamber Music
The Kopelman Quartet
Saturday, November 6, 2010 at 8:00 pm
Folly Theater
12^th and Central Streets, Downtown, Kansas City, MO
For more information about this and other performances in the 2010–11 series, visit http://chambermusic.org

By Kristin Shafel Omiccioli

Editorial Assignments Executive Editor; Traditional and New Classical Contributor

Kristin Shafel Omiccioli, a native of Madison, WI, holds composition degrees (M.M., B.M.) from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. Kristin's compositions have been performed at national and regional new music festivals and conferences throughout the United States. During her time at UMKC, Kristin also focused on double bass performance and arts administration. She was a student leader and performer in many of the Conservatory's student organizations and ensembles, including Musica Nova, Composers' Guild, the Conservatory Student Association, the orchestras, and Wind Symphony. Her composition instructors were James Mobberley, Paul Rudy, Zhou Long, and Chen Yi, and her bass instructor was Sue Stubbs. Formerly a guitarist, Kristin performed with big bands and her own jazz combo in Madison, WI, having studied jazz guitar and theory with Roger Brotherhood in Madison and jazz voice and theory with Hal Melia in Kansas City at UMKC.

Kristin enjoys being active in the performing arts community. She has volunteered with the Chamber Music Society of Kansas City and Charlotte Street Foundation, and has played in the bass section of the Northland Symphony Orchestra, among other bass gigs around the metro. Kristin currently serves as principal bass for the Kansas City Civic Orchestra and Heritage Philharmonic, and is a section bassist for Kinnor Philharmonic. She joined the writing staff of KCMetropolis.org in February 2010 and has been KCM’s executive editor since July 2011. Read her blog at mylittleheartmelodies.com.

More Featured Articles