Ives Quartet - Press Release

THE IVES STRING QUARTET
2002- 2003 Home Season Fall Series
features “Love Letters”
with celebrity radio host Al Covia

Robert Schumann, String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3
Johannes Brahms, String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2

Feb. 1, Sat. (San Jose Museum of Art, San Jose) 2pm.
Feb. 2, Sun. (California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco) 2pm.
Feb. 9, Sun. (Julia Morgan Theatre, Berkeley) 2pm.

Palo Alto, CA - The Ives String Quartet will perform its Winter Series of their 2003 Home Concert Season featuring “Love Letters” - the Robert Schumann String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3 and the Johannes Brahms String Quartet in a Minor, Op. 51, No. 2. These quartets will be interspersed with readings from the love letters of Schumann and Brahms to Clara Schumann read by celebrity radio host Al Covia. Performances are Saturday, Feb. 1, 2pm at the San Jose Museum of Art; Sunday Feb. 2, 2pm, at the California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Florence Gould Theatre, Lincoln Park, San Francisco and Sunday Feb. 9, 2pm at the Julia Morgan Theatre in Berkeley.

This concert will place two great string quartets, one by Schumann and one by Brahms, in the context of the two composers relationship to Clara Schumann. The relationship between Robert and Clara Schumann was dramatic and wonderful. Their marriage diary provides commentary on their life together, their art and their dreams. Mr. Covia will read excerpts from the diary prior to the performance of the Schumann quartet. The relationship between Clara Schumann and Brahms has been the subject of much conjecture. They remained lifelong friends for over forty years after the early death of Robert and Brahms regularly showed his works to Clara for her honest assessment. Mr. Covia will read from the letters they exchanged prior to the quartet’s perofrmance of the Brahms quartet.

The Ives Quartet has attracted international acclaim from New York to San Francisco, Taiwan to London. Based in the San Francisco Bay Area, the ensemble has appeared most recently at the Festival of Chamber Music in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. It has also performed at New York’s Alice Tully Hall, Princeton University, the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles, St. John’s Smith Square in London and at the Sedona Chamber Music Festival. The Quartet has fashioned a sound highly praised for its unity and beauty with violinists Robin Sharp and Susan Freier, Scott Woolweaver, viola and Stephen Harrison, cello.

# # #

ATTENTION CALENDAR LISTINGS:
THE IVES QUARTET
Features “Love Letters” with celebrity radio host Al Covia
Robert Schumann, String Quartet in A Major, Op. 41, No. 3
Johannes Brahms, String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51, No. 2
These quartets will be interspersed with readings from the Love Letters of Schumann and Brahms to Clara Schumann.

DATE:
Saturday, February 1, 2003, 2pm
LOCATION:
San Jose Museum of Art, Wendell Education Center, 110 S. Market St., San Jose

DATE:
Sunday, February 2, 2003, 2pm
LOCATION:
California Palace of the Legion of Honor, Florence Gould Theatre, San Francisco

DATE:
Sunday, February 9, 2003, 2pm
LOCATION:
Julia Morgan Theatre, 2340 College Ave., Berkeley