Ethos Quartet announces 2002 Season

Ethos String Quartet

First Presbyterian Church

FREE

The 2002-2003 season marks the beginning of a complete survey of the 15 string quartets of Ludwig van Beethoven by the Ethos Quartet. “We’re really starting to expand our horizons as a quartet, and we have been wanting to do the Beethoven cycle since we first got together. It’s always been in the back of our minds,” violist Charles Noble said.

“In addition,” Noble said “a Beethoven cycle hasn’t been done in Portland by a single quartet in quite some time, and as far as we know, no local ensemble has taken up the task. So it’s really an historic event for the Portland chamber music scene.”

As well as the 15 Beethoven quartets, the group will also highlight seminal compositions of Beethoven’s two greatest influences as a quartet composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Joseph Haydn. The quartet’s concerts will anchor a new concert series presented by the First Presbyterian Church (S.W. 12th & Alder).

Violist Charles Noble notes, “We’re embarking upon a two year project of learning and performing all of Beethoven’s string quartets, which is the quartet equivalent of climbing Mt. Everest.”

Denise Huizenga, first violin, a founding member of the Ethos Quartet, is a violinist with the Oregon Symphony, and made her solo debut with the orchestra in the fall of 2000. She is a member of Portland’s foremost contemporary music group, the Third Angle New Music Ensemble, and is a performer on the world premiere recording of the chamber version of Aaron Copland’s opera “The Tender Land” on the Koch International label.

Denise has long been an avid chamber musician. In 1997 she was a semi-finalist in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition as a member of the Mendota String Quartet, and the group was invited to perform for the Juilliard Quartet at the Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis.

Tylor Neist, second violin, recently moved from New York to join the Ethos Quartet and the Oregon Symphony. From his beginnings as a young musician growing up in rural southern Minnesota to studying with the eminent violin virtuoso, Midori, Tylor Neist has had a steady procession of performance and honors. Mr. Neist earned his undergraduate degree from Boston University, where he studied with Bayla Keyes, and continued his graduate studies at Manhattan School of Music with Mitchell Stern and Midori. He has performed in masterclasses for Pamela Frank and Robert McDonald. Chamber music is his professed passion. He has been coached by members of leading chamber ensembles, including the Juilliard, Emerson, American, Muir, Lydian and Lark Quartets.

Charles Noble, viola, a founding member of the Ethos Quartet, joined the Oregon Symphony as Assistant principal violist in 1995, serving as Acting principal for one season. He is winner of the 1993 Seattle Ladies Musical Club Competition. During his second summer at the Tanglewood Music Center, he received the 1995 C.D. Jackson Award, and received the Israel Dorman String Prize at the Peabody Conservatory of Music in 1995. His teachers include Roberto Diaz, Michael Tree, Joseph dePasquale, Joyce Ram퀌�e and William Watson.

Heather Blackburn, cello, a founding member of the Ethos Quartet, is an active chamber musician and educator throughout the Pacific Northwest. Heather has performed with many Northwest summer festivals including the Sunriver Music Festival, Cascade Festival of Music (Associate principal cello), the Ernest Bloch Music Festival and the Oregon Bach Festival. As an educator, she has coached chamber music and presented seminars on the Bach Cello Suites at the Evergreen Music Festival (Olympia, Wash.), and Max Aronoff Viola Institute (Seattle, Wash.).

Beethoven String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 74, “The Harp.”

Haydn String Quartet in F minor, Op. 20, no. 5.

Beethoven String Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131.

Further information on Ethos’ 2002-2003 concert season, as well as complete biographical information, may be found on the Ethos Quartet Web site at www.ethosquartet.com.