Malmgren Concert Series: The Ulysses String Quartet and the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra

This program pairs a modern classic—Bernstein’s West Side Story—with a time-tested masterpiece in Beethoven’s Op. 59 No. 3, and an engaging new work by American composer Joan Tower.

The Ulysses quartet has been praised for their “textural versatility,” “grave beauty” and “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve” (The Strad), as well as their “avid enthusiasm … [with] chops to back up their passion” (San Diego Story), “delivered with a blend of exuberance and polished artistry” (The Buffalo News). Founded in 2105 and made up of violinists Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt, violist Anthony Bracewell and cellist Grace Ho, the group has earned top prizes in numerous international competitions including the  Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the Schoenfeld International String Competition.

The Ulysses quartet will perform on the Malmgren Concert Series of Hendricks Chapel as part of a five-day residency at the Setnor School of Music. They will give masterclasses, perform student composers’ works, and present on entrepreneurship and the arts.

The first half of the Malmgren Series concert features the quartet’s performances of Joan Tower’s 2018 work “Wild Summer,” an energetic work that Bouey describes as having “non-stop, unrelenting rhythm.” The quartet will also play a quartet from Beethoven’s ‘heroic’ middle period that plumbs the depths of human experience, ranging from tragedy, triumph, tenderness, and uncertainty in the first three movements to sheer effervescent joy in the virtuosic finale. In the second half of the concert, the quartet will join the Syracuse University Symphony Orchestra to present Randall Fleischer’s arrangement of Bernstein’s beloved West Side Story. 

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