Hailed by Time Magazine as 'America's greatest quartet', the six-time Grammy award-winning Emerson String Quartet promises a night to remember when it performs in Hong Kong this month. Recognised as one of the world's foremost chamber ensembles, the group has been praised for its insightful performances, brilliant artistry and technical mastery. It has amassed an impressive list of achievements, and remains the only chamber musical ensemble to win Best Classical Album. The quartet was formed in 1976, taking its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. The ensemble comprises founding members Philip Setzer and Eugene Drucker, both violinists, viola player Lawrence Dutton and cellist David Fincke. The string quartet is widely admired for the way it approaches the classical and the contemporary with equal skill and enthusiasm. It has performed in major concert halls around the world, collaborated with leading artists, and produced an outstanding series of recordings exclusively for Universal Classics/Deutsche Grammophon. The quartet is also noted for its social conscience, having given numerous benefit concerts for causes ranging from nuclear disarmament to the fight against Aids, world hunger and children's diseases. In 2000, the group was selected as Musical America's 'Ensemble of the Year'. The Emerson String Quartet will perform at the Hong Kong City Hall's concert hall on Sunday, June 27, at 8pm, as part of the Music Rendezvous - City Hall Concert Hall Series, presented by the Leisure and Cultural Services Department. The programme will include Haydn's String Quartet in D Major, Op64, No5 (The Lark); Shostakovich's String Quartet in C Minor, Op110; and Beethoven's String Quartet in E Minor, Op59, No2 (Razumovsky). Tickets are priced at $220, $160 and $100.
