Founded in 1992, the (ASQ) moved from Michigan to St. Louis in 2000 and became the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. Initially the quartet split its concert schedule between the Ethical Society and the Sheldon Concert Hall but was concerned that the audiences were completely separate. But with the opening of UMSL鈥檚 Touhill Performing Arts Center in 2003, the quartet found a new home in the center鈥檚 Lee Theater. The quartet is comprised of violinists John McGrosso and Julia Sakharova, violist Joanna Mendoza and cellist Kurt Baldwin.
A hallmark of each ASQ concert is a pre-concert lecture when audience members get a behind-the-scenes experience with the members of the quartet. McGrosso commented, 鈥淚f I could point to any one thing that would show how far we鈥檝e come and how much we鈥檝e integrated ourselves into the community and to the performing arts scene here, it would really be those pre-concert sessions where we can get to interact and joke around a little bit with the audience and really create a wonderful sort of living room atmosphere before our concert starts.鈥�
The ASQ鈥檚 season four-concert season opens on September 5 with when the quartet will be joined by St. Louis Symphony Principal Clarinetist Scott Andrews in Brahms鈥� Clarinet Quintet. Mendoza explained how the season is assembled. 鈥淓ach concert features a late Beethoven quartet that is part of our ongoing recording project with Centaur Records so that was part of the plan as well as some collaborations that have been on our radar that we鈥檝e been wanting to do for quite some time now.鈥�
The collaboration in the November 7 concert titled is with oboist Alex Klein who directs the festival in Brazil that the ASQ attends each year. The March 6 concert, is highlighted by that composer鈥檚 Grosse Fugue that Mendoza describes as a 鈥�25 minute vertigo.鈥� The ASQ season concludes May 8 with which features quartets by Haydn, Bartok and Beethoven.
In addition to its Touhill series, the ASQ will present a series of five informal concerts with conversation in the Community Room of UMSL at Grand Center, the home of 漏 2024 外网天堂. The concerts are scheduled October 6, November 3, March 2, April 6 and May 4.
Before the season gets underway, the ASQ will perform in a concert to benefit scholarship fund. The ASQ will be joined by St. Louis Symphony cellist Melissa Brooks, violinist Jane Price and pianist Ruth Price for the Friday, August 22 at The Sheldon. The concert is preceded by a reception at 6:30 p.m. and concludes with a dessert reception. McGrosso explained, 鈥淭he whole evening is about generosity and the spirit of giving and that鈥檚 a wonderful way for us as musicians also to share with the audience to tap into the composers鈥� generosity in sharing their fabulous vision of humanity."
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