Ithaca College

Ten years as the Ariadne String Quartet called for a celebratory concert with some of the greatest string quartet music, according to the quartet's members.

Fittingly, their upcoming free concert at Ithaca College will feature one of Beethoven's late string quartets and one from the master's youth.

The concert will be at 4:00 pm on Sunday, September 12, in the Hockett Family Recital Hall. Members of the quartet are Ithaca College School of Music faculty violinists Susan Waterbury and Rebecca Ansel, violist Debra Moree, and cellist Elizabeth Simkin.

Moree explained the choice of Beethoven quartets: "We chose the late Beethoven quartet in honor of our tenth anniversary but found it difficult to program others' works alongside of it. Thinking that Beethoven couldn't pale in comparison to himself, we decided to choose one of his early ones. The opus 18, no. 2 is sometimes known as the quartet of bows and curtsies -- it is light and playful in character and is in stark contrast to opus 132's arduous yet triumphant musical journey."

Contributed by Erik Kibelsbeck
Photo by Janice Levy