Wednesday, February 13th at 8pm

This week Performance Oklahoma presents the Tokyo String Quartet and the Zodiac Trio! 

After 43 seasons, the Tokyo String Quartet has announced that 2012-2013 will be their last. Regarded as one of the supreme chamber ensembles of the world, the Tokyo Quartet has collaborated with a remarkable array of artists and composers, built a comprehensive catalogue of critically acclaimed recordings and established a distinguished teaching record. Performing over a hundred concerts worldwide each season, the quartet has a devoted international following across the globe.
 
For the Tokyo’s farewell season, preparations are being made in every hall to properly celebrate what has been, for audiences in the U.S. and abroad, an extended love affair with the quartet.  Chamber Music Tulsa presented the Quartet in two concerts and Performance Oklahoma will open this week's show with a program from the ensemble’s Sunday, October 21^st performance of quartets by Franz Joseph Haydn, Béla Bartók, and Felix Mendelssohn along with extraordinary commentary from founding member Kazuhide Isomura.    

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In the second hour, listeners will meet the Zodiac Trio!  The ensemble enjoys an international concert schedule that spans three continents and presents an eclectic repertoire that mixes contemporary with the traditional. Protégé of the renowned Ysaÿe Quartet at the Paris Superiour Conservatory, the ensemble has performed throughout Canada, United States, Japan, many parts of Europe and most of China’s main cultural metropolises.  Dedicated to education both on a conservatory level and in public schools, the Trio offers master classes, clinics and music presentations for tomorrow’s classical music audiences. A strong advocate of new music, the Zodiac Trio has commissioned new works in order to expand the clarinet-violin-piano trio repertoire, strives to serve as a platform of exposure for up-and-coming composers, and is on the artist roster of the Cziffra Foundation in Paris, an organization dedicated to promoting Europe’s top young artists.  The Zodiac Trio appeared on Tuesday, November 13^th in the Fine Arts Recital Hall at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, a guest ensemble on this season’s Musical Arts Series.  We'll hear a Clarinet Trio by Aram Khachaturian, Astor Piazzolla's Tango Verano Porteño, Pastoral and Energico from Trio by Marcus Paus and Béla Bartók’s Contrasts.