Pacifica Quartet

Program:
Mozart Quartet in F Major, K. 590
Shostakovich Quartet No. 7, Opus 108
Brahms Quintet in B minor for clarinet and strings, Op. 115

The Pacifica Quartet, with guest clarinetist Anthony McGill, opens the 35th Music in the Park Series season with a program of works by Mozart, Britten and Brahms. The quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest ensembles performing today. They were quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City from 2009-20012, presenting the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich quartet cycles to great acclaim. Winner of the Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Pacifica earned the 2009 Grammy for "Best Chamber Music Performance" and Musical America's "Ensemble of the Year" award. The Pacifica is well-known to Twin Cities music lovers for its performances, from 2008 to 2011, of the complete Beethoven String Quartet cycle on Music in the Park Series. Anthony McGill, principal clarinetist of the Metropolitan Opera Orchestra, performed with Yo-Yo Ma, Itzhak Perlman and Gabriela Montero at the inauguration of President Barack Obama in 2009.