The Diderot String Quartet with baritone Jesse Blumberg will open the 2022-2023 Friends of Good Music performance season with a concert at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Sept. 16, at St. Bonaventure University’s Regina A. Quick Center for the Arts.

 

Diderot String Quartet, named after the 18th century French philosopher and Boccherini enthusiast Denis Diderot, brings a fresh approach to works of the 18th and 19th centuries. Called “emotional, riveting, and ultimately cathartic” by the Wall Street Journal, Diderot came together in 2012 after having first met at Oberlin Conservatory and The Juilliard School. The four musicians share a background in historical performance and a passion for the string quartet genre; they found the thrill of exploring the quartet repertoire on period instruments to be irresistible.

 

Recent and upcoming engagements include Chamber Music Pittsburgh, Santa Fe Pro Musica, Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music (Nebraska), Chamber Music Corvallis (Corvallis, Oregon), Connecticut Early Music Festival, Rockefeller University’s Tri-I Noon Recital Series (New York City), Carmel Bach Festival (California), Electric Earth Concerts (Peterborough, New Hampshire), The Crypt Sessions (New York), and Music Before 1800 (New York). Diderot has also been featured in performances at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Toledo Museum of Art, and the Morgan Library in New York. The quartet collaborated frequently with internationally acclaimed artists including baritone Blumberg.

  

Blumberg enjoys a busy schedule of opera, concerts, and recitals, performing repertoire from the Renaissance and Baroque to the 20th and 21st centuries. His performances have included the world premiere of “The Grapes of Wrath” at Minnesota Opera, Bernstein’s “MASS” at London’s Royal Festival Hall, and various productions with Boston Early Music Festival. Recital appearances include the Marilyn Horne Foundation, New York Festival of Song, and Mirror Visions Ensemble. He has performed major concert works with American Bach Soloists, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Boston Baroque, Oratorio Society of New York, Apollo’s Fire, The Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra, and on Lincoln Center’s “American Songbook” series. 

 

Diderot String Quartet performs quartets by Haydn and Mendelssohn and collaborates with Blumberg in works by Brahms, Fanny Hensel-Mendelssohn, Felix Mendelssohn and Clara Wieck-Schumann.

 

“Starting the season with a performance of classical music on original instruments and following with concerts of different genres and styles, including Flamenco dance, should make for an exciting mix of a varied season,” said Ludwig Brunner, executive director of the Quick Center.   

 

Season subscription tickets are on sale. A basic subscription (any 6 concerts) costs $102 at full price, $84 for senior citizens and SBU employees, and $27 for students. Seven-concert subscriptions ($112, $92 and $30) and eight-concert subscriptions ($122, $100 and $33) are also available.

 

Single performance tickets are $20 at full price, $16 for senior citizens and SBU employees, and $5 for students.

 

For tickets and information, call The Quick Center at (716) 375-2494.

 

For each Friends of Good Music performance, The Quick Center will open its galleries one hour before the performance and keep them open throughout the intermission. Regular gallery hours are noon to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and noon to 4 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. 

 

Museum admission is free and open to the public year-round. For more information, visit www.sbu.edu/quickcenter.  

 

______________

 

 

About the University: The nation’s first Franciscan university, St. Bonaventure University is a community committed to transforming the lives of our students inside and outside the classroom, inspiring in them a lifelong commitment to service and citizenship. St. Bonaventure was named the #5 regional university value in the North in U.S. News and World Report’s 2022 college rankings edition.