Concord String Quartet disbands
After performing more than 1,100 concerts on three continents, winning two Emmy Awards and two Grammy nominations, the Concord String Quartet has decided to disband. On May 7, the Hopkins Center's Quartet in Residence will perform its 100 th and final concert at Dartmouth
College. The Quartet's members, cellist Norman Fischer and violinists Mark Sokol, Andrew Jennings, and violist John Kochanowski, came together in 1971 and took up residence at the Hopkins Center in 1974. In announcing the breakup, Hopkins Center director Shelton G. Stanfill explained, "Evolving and diverging career interests of the individual members and the desire to pursue other professional opportunities dictated the move."
"Dartmouth has given us the opportunity to grow as a quartet and as individuals, but we have all realized that growth has led us to explore other avenues," Jennings said. "Many people have asked if any of us would be interested in joining other quartets or forming a new one, but our feeling is we've already done it as well as it can be done. Forming a new quartet after this would be an anticlimax."
From its earliest days the Concord String Quartet established a solid reputation as a champion of contemporary music. It commissioned works from George Rochberg, Hans Werner Henze, Tison Street, Leon Kirchner, and Jacob Druckman. The Concord has premiered nearly 60 contemporary works, and its nearly 17 recordings have included works by Haydn, Beethoven, Dvorak, Ives, and George Crumb.
"The Concord was the first music-ensemble in residence at Dartmouth," says Stanfill," and its tenure here has proven successful even beyond the expectations of those who conceived it. The College owes a great deal of gratitude to the Quartet for a dozen years of exceptional participation in undergraduate and community musical life. Now it is the Hopkins Center's challenge to seek a new resident ensemble that can carry forward this legacy."
The Concord String Quartet will perform its final concert in May. Left to right are MarkSokol, Andrew Jennings, Norman Fischer, and John Kochanowski.
