2021-22 Season

In the ten years since its formation, the London-based Castalian Quartet has distinguished itself as among the most dynamic, sophisticated young string quartets performing today.  Recipient of the Royal Philharmonic Society’s 2019 Young Artists Award, the Quartet also received the prestigious inaugural Merito String Quartet Award and Valentin Erben Prize in 2018, and a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship Award, gaining international acclaim as they take their talents abroad. 

The Castalian Quartet will have their debut performances in Toronto, New York, Santa Fe, San Diego, and many other cities (including Boise) across North America in the 2021-22 season. In February 2019, the Quartet was joined at Wigmore Hall by guest artists Stephen Hough, Cédric Tiberghien, Michael Collins, Nils Mönkemeyer, Isabel Charisius and Ursula Smith to perform the chamber music of Brahms and Schumann.  The Guardian (UK) raved, “To hear this music, so full of poetry, joy and sorrow, realised to such perfection, felt like a miracle.” 

Formed in 2011, the Castalian Quartet studied with Oliver Wille (Kuss Quartet) at the Hannover University of Music, Drama and Media, graduating with a Master’s degree.  In addition to the above, awards include Third Prize at the 2016 Banff Quartet Competition and First Prize at the 2015 Lyon Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet was selected by Young Classical Artists Trust (YCAT) in 2016.  They have received coaching from Simon Rowland-Jones, David Waterman and Isabel Charisius. Their name is derived from the Castalian Spring in the ancient city of Delphi. According to Greek mythology, the nymph Castalia transformed herself into a fountain to evade Apollo’s pursuit, thus creating a source of poetic inspiration for all who drink from her waters. Herman Hesse chose Castalia as the name of his futuristic European utopia in The Glass Bead Game. The novel’s protagonist, a Castalian by the name of Knecht, is mentored in this land of intellectual thought and education by the venerable Music Master.

The Castalian’s Boise program is planned to include Haydn’s Quartet in G Major, Op. 77, No. 1; Thomas Larcher’s "Cold Farmer" (1990); and Sibelius’ String Quartet in D minor, Op. 56, “Voces Intimae." The Castalian Quartet members will also adjudicate the 17^th Annual BCMS String Quartet Competitions on Feb. 26.

STILL Sponsored by Rarity Rugs, Kent Johnson

Back for their fourth and final appearance on the BCMS, Aulos members Christopher Krueger, transverse flute; Marc Schachman, baroque oboe; Linda Quan, baroque violin; Myron Lutzke, baroque cello; and the indomitable harpsichordist Arthur Haas have decided to go out with a bang. They have delayed their retirement for an entire year so they can join us for one more live concert! They will bring us the cream of the French baroque music that has been their mainstay over 48 years.

In 1978 with the release of their recording, Masterpieces of the High Baroque, Aulos’ reputation for exhilarating performances informed with scholarly insight was firmly established. Aulos brought an uncompromising standard of excellence in performance that resulted in invitations from virtually all of America’s major chamber music presenters. This exposure helped create a new audience awareness for the rich rewards of this repertoire performed on “period instruments,” and comments such as “scintillating,” “virtuosic,” and “authentic baroque performance at its best” from America’s most respected music critics. Aulos Ensemble’s own Youtube channel is full of beautiful performances.

We joyfully open our Series with the Quartet who faced the pandemic with us in March of 2020, as their second trip to Boise was canceled during that fateful second week. They promise us a timely new program titled “Reveal,” featuring Beethoven’s Op. 131, a new work by Jerod Impichchaachaaha' Tateccalled Pisachi, and Florence Price’s Quartet No. 1.

Recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, Philadelphia's Jasper String Quartet is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians and the Founder and Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts. They have been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” (The Strad) and their recent recording of music by Aaron Jay Kernis and Claude Debussy was described by Gramophone as “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced.” The New York Times named their album Unbound as one of the 25 Best Classical Recordings of 2017. The Quartet received a Residency Partnership grant from Chamber Music America for the 2020-21 season and has received numerous Picasso Project grants from Public Citizens for Children and Youth to support its ongoing work with public schools in Philadelphia. In the summer of 2021, the Quartet will teach on the faculty of the Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute and Credo, and will also direct the first High School String Quartet Seminar at the Brevard Music Center. The Jasper Quartet is Featured Artist-in-Residence at Swarthmore College for the 2020-22 academic years.

Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Jasper Quartet launched their professional career in 2006 as Rice University’s Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2008, the Quartet continued its training with the Tokyo String Quartet as Yale University's Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2008, they won the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.