Omer Quartet to perform Nov. 15 for ArtPlay Parlor Series

The Omer Quartet won first prize in the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions.

The Omer Quartet will perform works by classic and contemporary composers for a performance at the University of Alabama at Birmingham on Thursday, Nov. 15. 

The Omer Quartet is presented by UAB’s Alys Stephens Performing Arts Center, as part of its ArtPlay Parlor Series featuring Young Concert Artists. The performance will be in the intimate parlor of the ArtPlay house, 1006 19th St. South. 

On the program are works by Thomas Adès, Bartok, Beethoven, Debussy, Zosha di Castri, Grieg, Haydn, Hosokawa, Janacek, Kurtag, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Webern. 

Tickets are $37, with $10 student tickets. Doors will open at 5:30 p.m. with a cash bar available. The performance is at 7 p.m. For tickets or more information, call 205-975-2787 or visit www.AlysStephens.org

On the program are works by Thomas Adès, Bartok, Beethoven, Debussy, Zosha di Castri, Grieg, Haydn, Hosokawa, Janacek, Kurtag, Mendelssohn, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Webern. 

Distinctive among today’s young string quartets, the Omer Quartet won first prize in the 2017 Young Concert Artists International Auditions, and holds the Helen F. Whitaker Chamber Music Chair of YCA. At the Young Concert Artists Auditions, the Omer Quartet received four special Performance Prizes: the Tri-I Noon Recitals Prize in New York at Rockefeller University, the Tryon (N.C.) Concert Association Prize, the Buffalo Chamber Music Society Prize and the Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series Prize. It has also received top prize at the 2017 Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, the grand prize and gold medal at the 2013 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and second prize at the 2017 Trondheim International Competition in Norway. 

The Quartet has performed with internationally renowned artists and is committed to community engagement, and also devotes time to creating original and interactive programs. The Omer Quartet is currently the Doctoral Fellowship String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Maryland. The Quartet is Mason Yu and Erica Tursi, violins; Jinsun Hong, viola; and Alex Cox, cello. 

The Omer Quartet’s busy summer of 2018 included serving as Chamber Ensemble-in-Residence at the Bravo! Vail Music Festival and performances for the Princeton University Summer Chamber Concerts Series, Caroga Lake Music Festival, Honest Brook Music Festival, Tannery Pond Concerts and Kimberton Summer Arts Festival. 

In addition to its New York and Washington, D.C., debuts, upcoming concerts during the 2018-19 season include performances throughout the United States for the Ellingwood Concert Series, Historic Portsmouth Chamber Music Series, Berea College, Caramoor Center, St. Louis Concert Series, Port Washington Library, Brookhaven at Lexington, Fox Hill Village, Brooksby Village, Evergreen Museum and Library, Levine School of Music, Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series, and the St. Lawrence Emerging String Quartet Residency. Abroad, the Quartet performs at Chamber Music Abu Dhabi. 

In addition to its performance at ArtPlay, the Omer Quartet will also visit an area school on Friday, Nov. 15, for a Meet the Artist school show, sponsored by the Alys Stephens Center.