2011-2012

​Now considered North America’s leading wind quintet, New York’s dynamic Imani Winds debuts in Tulsa this season. The ensemble has an “aggressive, powerful, and crisp sound with dead-on precise coordination,” according to the Boston Musical Intelligencer. The name Imani means “faith” in Swahili, and subtly reflects the ensemble’s African-American and Latin American ancestry. Since 1997, this Grammy nominated quintet has established presence in the classical music world with culturally poignant programming, inspirational outreaches, and genre-blurring collaborations with major artists ranging from Yo-Yo Ma to Wayne Shorter. They are frequently engaged by chamber music series in Boston, San Francisco, Philadelphia, and New York.

Known as “chamber music royalty,” the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio returns to Tulsa in their 35th year of performing together in the world’s major concert halls. The Trio debuted at President Carter’s inauguration in 1977 and currently serves as Ensemble-in-Residence at The Kennedy Center. Each member of the ensemble is a dedicated teacher at either the prestigious Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music or Juilliard. The ensemble’s unique contribution to the genre has been honored with an eponymous biennial prize by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit. The Chicago Tribune says, “There can be few chamber groups whose members are so evenly and expertly matched, who can convey the sheer pleasure of making music so spontaneously.”

The Miró Quartet is one of America’s highest-profile groups on the chamber music scene today. They perform “with explosive vigor and technical finesse,” according to The New York Times. Founded in 1995 at the Oberlin Conservatory, the Miró Quartet met with immediate success by winning first prize at the Coleman, Fischoff, and Banff Competitions and the prestigious Naumburg Chamber Music Award. It was the first ensemble ever to be awarded the Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Miró is currently the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas, and is regularly invited to perform at the world’s most celebrated concert halls.

Hailed as “the most exciting piano trio in America” by The New Yorker magazine, Trio Solisti is comprised of three brilliant instrumentalists, who have drawn high praise from critics and audiences alike for their soulful and passionate performances. Trio Solisti performs a broad spectrum of styles. Their versatility extends to new music, most notably to the work of Paul Moravec, who composed his 2004 Pulitzer Prize-winning work, Tempest Fantasy, for Trio Solisti. The trio celebrates its 10th anniversary this season, after having made critically acclaimed debuts in New York City, The Kennedy Center’s distinguished Fortas Chamber Series, an all-Brahms concert at The Caramoor Center for the Performing Arts, and many other prestigious venues.

The American String Quartet has spent decades honing what The New York Times describes as “the luxurious, beautifully sculptured” sound for which it is famous. In its 35 years of performing, the American has presented the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart. Their Music Masters Complete Mozart String Quartets CDs, performed on a matched quartet of instruments by Stradivarius, have set the standard for this repertoire. The group began by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award in the same year. They are currently the resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival and the Manhattan School of Music in New York.

The Aviv Quartet, founded in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1997, has won awards at competitions around the world, including the Grand Prix and four special prizes at the 3rd Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition. The quartet also won first prize at the Charles Hennen Competition in The Netherlands, the Schubert Prize in Austria, and International Critics Prize at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition in France. The quartet has performed at leading worldwide venues from Carnegie Hall to London’s Royal Festival Hall. The Plain Dealer (Cleveland) referred to the Aviv as “an ensemble that blends potent interpretive skills with technical precision; every phrase has a purpose, every detail emerges as a crucial element in the musical message.”