St. Lawrence String Quartet & Anne-Marie McDermott, Piano

Veterans of the Chamber Arts Series at Duke Performances, the St. Lawrence String Quartet returns with pianist Anne-Marie McDermott for a varied and intriguing program. The SLSQ, in residence at Stanford for 20 years now, is consistently ranked in the highest echelon of American quartets. The Philadelphia Inquirer proclaims McDermott as "one of the great American pianists of her generation."

Participants in a new wave of artists celebrating Haydn, the St. Lawrence begins with his "Sun Quartet" from opus 20. McDermott then joins for two twentieth-century quintets: Amy Beach's Quintet (1908) is starting to gain its proper respect in concert halls; and Messiaen's Pièce for Piano and String Quartet (1991), his final finished work, blends his beloved birdsongs with angular chords and lyrical melodies. The St. Lawrence closes the night with Debussy's magical Quartet in G Minor.

Program
Haydn: Quartet in C Major, op. 20, no. 2 ("Sun")

Amy Beach: Piano Quintet

Messiaen: Pièce for Piano and String Quartet

Debussy: Quartet in G Minor, op. 10