The Old City String Quartet

An evening of classical music co-sponsored by the Short Grass Music Festival of Cimarron and the Raton Rotary Club.

Tickets: $10, students under 18 free.

Old City String Quartet Official Site

The Old City String Quartet has won the praise of some of the greatest chamber musicians of our time. Formed at the Curtis Institute of Music in 2008, the ensemble draws from the musical lineage of both the Vermeer and Guarneri String Quartets, but brings a youthful enthusiasm and musical conviction to the repertoire that is truly its own. Joseph Silverstein said of the group: “The Old City String Quartet is one of the finest string quartets I have ever heard. I expect to see the ensemble reach international acclaim.”

The ensemble’s recording of the Mendelssohn and Debussy quartets, released last spring by the audiophile label Unipheye Music©, was awarded the Blue Moon award by the highly respected audiophile website 6moons.com. The album’s review by David Kan proclaimed that “the maturity in these interpretations is phenomenal and disproportionate to the age [of the group.]” Members of the Quartet have appeared as soloists with some of the world’s finest orchestras, including the Philadelphia Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic, and BBC Concert Orchestra. The Old City String Quartet was recently named Gold Medalist and Grand Prize Winner of the 2010 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and was awarded second prize in the 2009 Young Concert Artists International Auditions. The ensemble works intensively at the Curtis Institute with such renowned chamber musicians as Shmuel Ashkenasi, Arnold Steinhardt, Joseph Silverstein, and Peter Wiley, and is the recipient of this year's Milka String Quartet Award, generously funded by Mr. George Markow-Totevy.