Orion String Quartet to Highlight Final UA Celebrity Series Concert of Season

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Orion String Quartet will perform at The University of Alabama as part of the School of Music Celebrity Series on Tuesday, April 9, at 7:30 p.m. in the Moody Music Concert Hall.

Single event tickets are available to the general public for $22 and $15, and $7 for students with valid IDs. For more information about tickets, contact the School of Music box office at 205/348-7111.

Hailed for its exquisite artistry, technical mastery and astute approach to concert programming, the Orion String Quartet is one of the most admired chamber ensembles on the international music scene.

The members of the Quartet — violinists Daniel Phillips and Todd Phillips, violist Steven Tenenbom and cellist Timothy Eddy — have worked with such legendary figures as Pablo Casals, Rudolph Serkin, Isaac Stern, Pinchas Zukerman, Yo-Yo Ma, Peter Serkin, András Schiff, Wynton Marsalis, members of TASHI and the Beaux Arts Trio, as well as the Budapest, Vegh, Galimir and Guarneri String Quartets.

Now in its second decade of exceptional music making, the Orion continues to perform in the world’s leading concert halls and serves as Quartet-in-Residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and New York’s Mannes College of Music.

Since its inception, the Orion String Quartet has been consistently praised for the fresh perspective and individuality the ensemble brings to performances of a broad range of repertoire. The group offers diverse programs that juxtapose classic works of the standard quartet literature with masterworks by living composers; the Quartet’s three recordings on Sony Classical and Arabesque Recordings reflect this diversity. For Sony Classical, the Orion recorded Wynton Marsalis’s first classical composition for strings, “At the Octoroon Balls” (String Quartet No. 1). Commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the work was written for and premiered by the ensemble.

Other critically acclaimed recordings include Dvorak’s “American” String Quartet and Piano Quintet with Peter Serkin and Mendelssohn’s Octet with the Guarneri String Quartet, both on Arabesque.

The Orion String Quartet gained immediate attention in the classical music world when its founding members, each with distinguished solo and chamber music careers, officially formed the ensemble in 1987. The Quartet chose its name from the Orion constellation as a metaphor for the unique personality each musician brings to the group in its collective pursuit of the highest musical ideals.

Heard frequently on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today” and WNYC’s “Live,” the quartet has appeared three times on ABC-TV’s “Good Morning America,” on A&E’s “Breakfast with the Arts” and WLIW’s “MetroGuide.”

In May 2000, the Quartet performed all 17 of Beethoven’s string quartets in a series of free concerts at Alice Tully Hall, with additional outreach activities taking place in the four boroughs of New York. Presented in conjunction with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the performances honored six New York City community arts organizations for their contributions to the lives of children.