A string quartet featuring ASO’s concertmaster Cyrus Beroukhim, principal violin Richard Rood, principal viola William Frampton, and cellist Alberto Parrini will perform Samuel Barber’s String Quartet Opus 11, George Walker’s String Quartet no. 1 “Lyric,” and Nino Rota’s Quartetto per archi.

The program was conceived to explore George Walker’s brilliant String Quartet no. 1. The late resident of Montclair, NJ, Walker (1922-2018) was the first African American winner of the Pulitzer Prize in music, graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, and soloist with the Philadelphia Orchestra. Until his death in 2018, the middle movement of his Quartet no. 1, later arranged as Lyric for Strings, was the most frequently performed orchestral work by a living American composer. Similarly, the middle movement of Barber’s Quartet opus 11 is “one of the most recognizable pieces of classical music in the world” (NPR), later arranged by the composer for orchestra as Adagio for Strings. Nino Rota is best known for his film score to The Godfather, and his scores to the films of Fellini and Zeferelli. Walker, Barber, and Rota studied composition with Rosario Scalero at the Curtis Institute, and listeners can hear how these three great composers who a shared mentor found their own voices in their string quartets written between 1935 and 1946.

Artists, staff, and audience members will be required to follow all current COVID-19 guidelines.

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