Emerson quartet to perform

Acclaimed for its insightful performances, brilliant artistry and technical mastery, the Emerson String Quartet will perform at the Wisconsin Union Theater Friday, Dec. 7 at 8 p.m.

The program includes Haydn (String Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1), Shostakovich (Quartet No. 13 in b-flat minor, Op. 138), and Beethoven (Quartet in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1).

Formed in the bicentennial year of the United States, the Emerson String Quartet took its name from the great American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. Violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer alternate in the first chair position and are joined by violist Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Finckel.

Currently celebrating its 25th anniversary season, the Emerson String Quartet has amassed an impressive list of achievements: a brilliant series of recordings exclusively documented by Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon since 1987, six Grammy Awards including two unprecedented honors for Best Classical Album, and complete cycles of the Bartok, Beethoven and Shostakovich string quartets in the major concert halls of the world. Today, the ensemble is lauded globally as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm. For nearly a quarter of a century, the group has collaborated with numerous artists, including Emanuel Ax, Misha Dichter, Leon Fleisher, the Guarneri String Quartet, Thomas Hampson, Lynn Harrell, Barbara Hendricks, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, Menahem Pressler, Mstislav Rostropovich, Oscar Shumsky, David Shifrin and Richard Stoltzman.

The Emerson String Quartet appears at the Wisconsin Union Theater under the sponsorship of the Wisconsin Union Directorate Performing Arts Committee. The Norman Bassett Foundation provides additional support. Promotional support is provided by Wisconsin Public Radio.

Tickets: $32 ($31 for Union Members and $15.50 for UW–Madison students), Union Theater Box Office, (608) 262-2201.