Noon Music In May

Euclid Quartet

We are delighted to be welcoming the acclaimed Euclid Quartet, who will perform two masterworks from the string quartet repertoire:

Felix Mendelssohn’s Four Pieces for String Quartet, Op. 81 (1809-1847), and
Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 (“Razumovsky”) (1770-1827)

Euclid Quartet

Resident String Quartet, Indiana University South Bend
Biography 2024-2025 Season

Jameson Cooper, violin
Luis Enrique Vargas, viola
Aviva Hakanoglu, violin
Justin Goldsmith, cello

Now in its 27th season, the EUCLID QUARTET enjoys one of the most highly regarded reputations of any chamber ensemble of its generation, with its members’ constituting a multinational mix representing three continents: violinist Jameson Cooper (Great Britain), violinist Aviva Hakanoglu (United States), violist Luis Enrique Vargas (Venezuela), cellist Justin Goldsmith (United States). Captivating audiences and critics ranging from Carnegie Hall to school classrooms to radio and television broadcasts, the quartet consistently performs to enthusiastic acclaim throughout the country.

Formed in Ohio in 1998, the Euclid Quartet takes its name from famed Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, home to a wealth of renowned artistic and cultural institutions. Within three years, the ensemble was awarded the String Quartet Fellowship of the Aspen Music Festival, where it was invited to return for the subsequent summer’s concert season. The quartet was also invited to study with the Emerson String Quartet at the Carnegie Hall Professional Training Workshop.

The Euclid Quartet’s career includes significant global recognition as the first American string quartet to be awarded a top prize at the prestigious Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Prior to its Japanese laurels, the quartet also won awards in numerous United States competitions, including the Hugo Kauder International Competition for String Quartets, The Carmel Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. In 2009, the Euclid Quartet was awarded the esteemed “American Masterpieces” grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.

The Euclid is a frequent guest ensemble at American and Canadian music festivals, among them those of Aspen, Great Lakes, Kent/Blossom, Mostly Modern and Orford, while expanded programs have included collaborations with internationally renowned artists, including Adrian Daurov, James Dunham, Gregory Fulkerson, Warren Jones, Paul Katz, Joseph Silverstein and Alexander Toradze.

In 2007, the Euclid Quartet was appointed to the prestigious string quartet residency at Indiana University South Bend, where its members teach private lessons and coach chamber music. Passionately devoted to presenting the highest quality chamber music to young audiences, these seasoned teaching artists have performed for thousands of students and young adults, in part, through support from the National Endowment for the Arts and collaborations with Carnegie Hall’s Weill Music Institute and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association.

Active in the recording studio, the Euclid Quartet issued a pair of CDs, comprising the six string quartets of Béla Bartók on Artek Recordings. The American Record Guide raved about these discs, “rarely has a group found such meaning and vision.” Their debut CD, on Centaur records, features the first four quartets of Hugo Kauder, a refugee from Nazi-occupied Austria who fled to the United States in the 1940s; he defied the atonal trend of his generation with his uniquely harmonic, contrapuntal style. On Afinat Records is “American Quartets: Antonín Dvorák & Wynton Marsalis,” including of Dvorák’s String Quartet #12 (“American”) and Marsalis’ At the Octoroon Balls – String Quartet #1. In 2024, Afinat released two CDs: “Breve,” a collection of beloved miniatures, comprised of Alvarez, Bolcom, Gershwin, Mozart, Piazzolla, Puccini, Schubert, Shostakovich, Turina, Webern and Wolf, and a pairing of the Grieg and Debussy string quartets in g minor.