- Armadillo String Quartet
The Armadillo String Quartet is one of
Los Angeles ’s premierchamber music groups, offering concerts in various venues locally and in other parts of the world since its founding in1980 . They currently comprise Armen Ksajikian, Barry Socher, Ray Tischer and Steve Scharf.Advocates for music old and new, the Armadillos have given numerous world première performances, including many works written for them, as well as concerts of older works, often in new contexts or settings. The versatile ensemble has played its varied repertoire in many established chamber music series in the Los Angeles area, including Monday Evening Concerts, the
South Bay Chamber Music Society , Chamber Music in Historic Sites, Sundays at Four and the Pacific Composers’ Forum, and has been featured at several festivals inSouthern California , such as the Santa Barbara Fall Music Festival, the Hindemith Festival inNorthridge and theLos Angeles Bach Festival. They have performed in the 20th anniversary broadcast tribute toNational Public Radio and in a recorded tribute toKurt Weill , "". They have produced their own concerts at various locations in theLos Angeles area which have included a 34½-hour marathon concert of the complete quartets ofJoseph Haydn . Since1991 they have presented annual concerts of the chamber music ofPeter Schickele featuring the composer in performance with the quartet and as commentator on his works, which have included his String Quartet No. 4, "Inter-era Dance Suite", in its world premier performance in1992 .The quartet has given numerous programs especially for young audiences including the series Children’s Concerts in Historic Sites and programs sponsored by
Chamber Music America and the PacificComposers Forum , one of which led to the start of a more comprehensive music program at the school in which they performed. They have played for many school children atLos Angeles Branch Libraries in concerts sponsored by theLibrary Foundation of Los Angeles and in May 2003 they performed a similar program at theOjai Music Festival Family Concert.In addition to concerts in traditional auditoriums the group has performed in private homes and in a variety of non-traditional concert sites, including
Frank Lloyd Wright ’sHollyhock House and galleries in theSouthwest Museum , theGene Autry Western Museum and theWilliam S. Hart Museum. The most memorable of these unusual sites, however, have been the natural theaters along theColorado River in theGrand Canyon and along other rivers inOregon andUtah during specialwhitewater rafting trips. The Quartet traveled toHong Kong in1997 for a series of concerts and debuted atCarnegie Hall in December1999 , performing the World Premiere of theP. D. Q. Bach String Quartet, "The Moose".External links
* [http://www.armadillostringquartet.com/ Armadillo String Quartet Official Site]
* [http://www.schickele.com/concerts/jandhcd.htm]Members
*
Barry Socher -Violin
*Steve Scharf -Violin
*Raymond Tischer -Viola
*Armen Ksajikian -Cello
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