Pacifica Quartet

Praised for their “unmistakable and apt ferocity” (Chicago Tribune), the Pacifica Quartet carved out a reputation as a champion of contemporary American music by placing new works side-by-side with the classics. “Stormy. Stunning. Visionary. Heroic. Those were some of the words that lingered in my mind after the Pacifica Quartet’s Tuesday evening concert” (The New York Times).

The two-time GRAMMY-winning Pacifica Quartet brings an eclectic program to Baldwin Auditorium, centered around a watershed of the string quartet canon, Beethoven’s Op. 130 Quartet. A monument of emotional extremes, Op. 130 shifts from prayerful introspection to brash humor to gossamer tenderness. The concert opens with an exquisite lament by Pulitzer Prize-winner George Walker. The Pacificas also present a brand-new work for quartet and narrator by the acclaimed American composer Gabriela Lena Frank, whose “restless music is powerful, often haunting and eminently listenable” (Chicago Classical Review).