The Cypress Quartet -March 7

The eleven-year-old CYPRESS STRING QUARTET has captivated audiences around the world with virtuoso performances, including concerts at the Kennedy Center, the Chautauqua Institute, the Ravinia Festival, the Lied Centers of Kansas and Nebraska, Wolf Trap Foundation for the Performing Arts, M.I.T. and Stanford Lively Arts. Featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a “Generation X ensemble to watch,” the Quartet blends outstanding performance with innovative programming and exemplary leadership in education and outreach. Praised by the Los Angeles Times for their “assured, mature and thorough” interpretations of the classical repertoire, the Cypress is reaching out in new ways to ignite interest in chamber music. In the 2006-07 season, the Quartet melded tradition with technology in its premiere of Inspired by America, a multi-media collaboration with best-selling author Jacob Needleman and Emmy Award-winning film maker Michael Schwarz. Supported by funding from the National Endowment for the Arts, and blending live music, original film and the spoken word, this performance fused precision playing with world-class technology to create an evocative, thought-provoking portrait of the American spirit.

Since its inception in 1996, the Cypress String Quartet has built a respected body of new music, commissioning and premiering over 25 works from many of America’s leading composers. Two composers recently commissioned by the Cypress have been nominated for Grammy Awards for Best Classical Composition: Benjamin Lees (2003) and Jennifer Higdon (2004). Four Cypress-commissioned works appear on Chamber Music America’s list of “101 Great American Ensemble Works.” In the 2006-07 season, a new commission for the Cypress was composed by Daniel Asia, recipient of the most competitive grants and fellowships in music. The BCMS will reap the benefits of the Cypress’s commissioning and their American music project, as they bring us an all-American selection of Charles Griffes’ Two Sketches on Native American Themes; their commission from Jennifer Higdon, Quartet No. 2; and Samuel Barber’s iconic Op. 11.

As Quartet-in-Residence at San José State University, the Cypress String Quartet’s strengths in performance and education combine to serve the University and the greater Silicon Valley community. Named an “Exemplary Arts Educator” by the California Arts Council, the Quartet’s groundbreaking Call & Response program has impacted thousands of students in dozens of Bay Area schools. In September 2004 the Cypress was selected by the Juilliard School for the “McGraw-Hill Companies’ Robert Sherman Award for Music Education and Community Outreach” in recognition of their national leadership in education. They are well-suited to judge our third annual Young Artist String Quartet Competition, Saturday, Mar. 8, 2008.