The internationally renowned, award-winning Ying Quartet is back in its prominent position within the Eastman-Ranlet Series, with a presentation Sunday, January 21, at 3 p.m., Kilbourn Hall at the Eastman School of Music. Featuring violist, Masumi Per Rostad in a program that includes Mozart’s String Quintet in G minor, K. 516 and Brahms’ String Sextet in G major, Op. 36.
Masumi Per Rostad, a new addition to Eastman’s Strings, Harp and Guitar Department, has forged a career both as a soloist and as a member of the Pacifica Quartet. Rostad has served on the faculties of the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, the University of Chicago, and Northwestern University, and given numerous solo and chamber music master classes at schools, venues, and festivals including the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Colburn School, the New York Youth Symphony, Suntory Hall, Sydney Conservatory, the Royal College of Music, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and the Aspen and Bowdoin festivals. Rostad has also been a contributing writer to such publications as Strings, Gramophone, The Huffington Post, and The Guardian.
Now in its second decade, the Ying Quartet, consisting of Robin Scott, violin; Janet Ying, violin; Phillip Ying, viola; David Ying, cello, has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House; at the same time, the Quartet’s belief that concert music can also be a meaningful part of everyday life has also drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House. In fact, the Ying Quartet’s constant quest to explore the creative possibilities of the string quartet has led it to an unusually diverse array of musical projects and interests.
They have been quartet-in-residence at Eastman in 1997. All members of the Ying Quartet teach in the string department as Associate Professors in their discipline and lead a rigorous, sequentially designed chamber music program. One cornerstone of chamber music activity at Eastman is the noted “Music for All” program, in which all students have the opportunity to perform in community settings beyond the concert hall.
Tickets for the Ying Quartet’s performance are $19-36, with $10 student tickets available. Tickets can be purchased at the Eastman Theatre Box Office, 433 East Main St.; by phone (585) 274-3000; or online at http://eastmantheatre.org
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About Eastman School of Music:
The Eastman School of Music was founded in 1921 by industrialist and philanthropist George Eastman (1854-1932), founder of Eastman Kodak Company. It was the first professional school of the University of Rochester. Mr. Eastman’s dream was that his school would provide a broad education in the liberal arts as well as superb musical training. The current dean is Jamal Rossi, appointed in 2014.
About 900 students are enrolled in Eastman’s Collegiate Division– about 500 undergraduate and 400 graduate students. Students come from almost every state, and approximately 20 percent are from other countries. They are guided by more than 95 full-time faculty members. Seven Pulitzer Prize winners have taught at Eastman, as have several Grammy Award winners. Each year, Eastman’s students, faculty members, and guest artists present more than 700 concerts to the Rochester community.