A great way to spend a Saturday morning! The beloved Alexander String Quartet and Robert Greenberg explore the chamber music of Antonin Dvorak. These popular and casual concerts combine complete performances with commentary on the composer, his life, times and music bringing depth, insight and humor to the context.
No 19th-century composer wrote chamber music more joyful and melodically brilliant, or more accessible than the Bohemian born Antonin Dvorak (1841-1904). His work is remarkable for its straightforward expressive content, humor, grace and technical polish.
The Alexander String Quartet has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world's premiere ensembles. Widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich, the quartet's recordings of the Beethoven cycle, and the Bartok and Shostakovich cycles have all won international critical acclaim. The Alexander String Quartet is a major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco, serving since 1989 as Ensemble-in-Residence for San Francisco Performances and Directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University.
Robert Greenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York in 1954, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 1978. Greenberg has composed over fifty works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles. Greenberg has received numerous honors, including being designated an official "Steinway Artist," three Nicola de Lorenzo Composition Prizes and three Meet-The-Composer Grants. Notable commissions have been received from the Koussevitzky Foundation in the Library of Congress, the Alexander String Quartet, the San Francisco Contemporary Music Players, San Francisco Performances, and the XTET ensemble.