Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center | Press Releases

Alessio Bax, Soyeon Kate Lee, and the Escher String Quartet
Friday, November 22, 2013
8 p.m. (7:15 p.m. pre-performance talk)
Fairfield University's Quick Center for the Arts

Image: Escher String Quartet The nation's premier chamber music repertory company, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center , comes to Fairfield University's Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts at 8 p.m. on Friday, November 22, 2013 . Based in Lincoln Center's famed Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center features world-renowned musicians who perform chamber music of every instrumentation, style and historical period. For this performance, the Quick Center welcomes pianists Alessio Bax and Soyeon Kate Lee with the young powerhouse Escher String Quartet in a five-piece program of Mozart, Fauré, Brahms, Liszt, and Smetana. There will be a pre-performance talk at 7:15 p.m . with members of the ensemble. Hearst Media Group is the exclusive media sponsor for the 2013-2014 Classical Series. Tickets are $35, $30.

Pianist Alessio Bax has been praised for his lyrical playing, insightful interpretations, and dazzling facility. First Prize winner at the Leeds and Hamamatsu international piano competitions – and a 2009 Avery Fisher Career Grant recipient – he has appeared as soloist with over 100 orchestras, including the London and Royal Philharmonic orchestras, the Dallas and Houston symphonies, the NHK Symphony in Japan, the St. Petersburg Philharmonic with Yuri Temirkanov, and the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra with Sir Simon Rattle. During the summer of 2013, Bax participated in nine different festivals, with return appearances in the Bravo! Vail, Bridgehampton, Lexington, and Bard music festivals, and his first residency with Bay Chamber Concerts in Maine as recipient of the 2013 Andrew Wolf Chamber Music Award. In 2013 Bax also received Lincoln Center's Martin E. Segal Award, which recognizes young artists of exceptional accomplishment. Alessio Bax graduated with top honors at the record age of 14 from the conservatory of his hometown in Bari, Italy. He studied in France and attended the Chigiana Academy in Siena. In 1994 he moved to Dallas to continue his studies at SMU's Meadows School of the Arts, and he is now on the teaching faculty there.

Korean-American pianist Soyeon Kate Lee is First Prize Winner of the prestigious 2010 Naumburg International Piano Competition. She has been guest soloist with The Cleveland Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra, as well as the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, San Diego Symphony, and many others. Recent recital appearances include programs at Carnegie Hall's Zankel Hall and Weill Recital Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts' Alice Tully Hall, Washington's John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Cleveland's Severance Hall, Auditorio de Musica de Nacional in Madrid, a tour of the Hawaiian Islands, and Finland's Mänttä Music Festival. Ms. Lee earned her Bachelor's and Master's degrees, and the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School. While at Juilliard, she won every award granted to a pianist including the Rachmaninoff Concerto Competition, two consecutive Gina Bachauer Scholarship Competitions, Arthur Rubinstein Prize, Susan Rose Career Grant, and the William Petschek Piano Debut Award. She is currently pursuing her Doctoral studies at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York.

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its individual sound, inspired artistic decisions and unique cohesiveness. Championed by members of the Emerson String Quartet, the group was proud to be BBC New Generation Artists for 2010-2012. Having completed a three-year residency as artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's "CMS Two" program, the ensemble has already performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world including Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Symphony Space in New York, Kennedy Center, the Louvre, Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, Music@Menlo, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, Wigmore Hall, the City of London Festival and a tour of China including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher String Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be the quartet-in-residence at each artist's summer festival: The Young Artists Programme at Canada's National Arts Centre and The Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. The Eschers have since collaborated with artists such as Andrés Diaz, Lawrence Dutton, Kurt Elling, David Finckel, Leon Fleisher, Vadim Gluzman, Benjamin Grosvenor, Wu Han, Gary Hoffman, Joseph Kalichstein, David Shifrin, Joseph Silverstein, and Pinchas Zukerman. The Escher String Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher and draws inspiration from the artist's method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

Tickets are available through the Quick Center Box Office: (203) 254-4010, or toll-free 1-877-ARTS-396 (1-877-278-7396). Tickets can also be purchased online at www.quickcenter.com .

The Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts is located on the campus of Fairfield University at 1073 North Benson Road in Fairfield, Connecticut. Entrance to the Quick Center is through the Barlow Road gate at 200 Barlow Road. Free, secure parking is available. Access for people with disabilities is available throughout the Quick Center for audience members and performers. Hearing amplification devices are available upon request at the Box Office. Fairfield University is located off exit 22 of Interstate-95. For further information and directions, call (203) 254-4010 or 1-877-278-7396, or visit www.quickcenter.com .