Stony Brook, NY - October 13, 2016 - Escher String Quartet with guest artists Eugene Drucker and Allison Linker, soprano, bring a unique concert to Staller Center for the Arts on Friday, October 28 at 8:00 pm in the Staller Center Recital Hall. The program includes Mendelssohn String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1 and Bruckner's Viola Quintet in F Major. Of special note is Eugene Drucker's original composition, Madness and the Death of Ophelia. Accompanied by the quartet, Allison Linker, speaker/singer, plays the roles of both Ophelia and the Queen in four excerpts of scenes from Hamlet.
Tickets for the Escher Quartet at Staller Center on Friday, October 28 at 8:00 pm are $42. Visit online or call the box office at (631) 632-ARTS [2787]. The Escher Quartet performance at Staller Center for the Arts is sponsored by WSHU Public Radio Group.
Eugene Drucker. Photo Credit: Lisa Muzzucco.
Eugene Drucker
Eugene Drucker is a founding member of the Emerson String Quartet, which reaches its 40th Anniversary this season. His composition Madness and the Death of Ophelia has been performed in New York City and recently at a festival in Aarhus, Denmark with string players from Stony Brook. He will join the Escher quartet as guest violist for the Bruckner Quintet. Mr. Drucker is an Honorary Distinguished Professor at Stony Brook University, an active soloist, and an author.
Escher Quartet
In its hometown of New York, the Escher Quartet serves as artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A former BBC New Generation Artist, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms in the U.K. as well as being a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. The members of the Escher String Quartet are Adam Barnett-Hart, violin; Aaron Boyd, violin; Pierre Lapointe, viola; and Brook Speltz, cello. “They hold the listener spellbound from first to last,” noted the BBC Music Magazine.
Allison Linker. Photo Credit: Laura Rose.
About Madness and the Death of Ophelia
Eugene Drucker’s Madness and the Death of Ophelia is excerpted from four scenes in Hamlet. Accompanied by a string quartet, Allison Linker, speaker/singer, plays the roles of both Ophelia and the Queen. In the first scene, Ophelia tells her father of a bizarre mute visitation from the Prince. In the second scene, after Hamlet has treated her roughly, Ophelia laments his madness. Then comes Ophelia’s mad scene -- from much later in the play, after Hamlet has killed her father -- in which she speaks incoherently to the Queen and King, and sings snatches of old songs. In the final scene, the Queen tells of Ophelia’s accidental death by drowning. Her brother Laertes responds, wracked by inconsolable grief.
Classical Concerts to follow
The next classical concert on the Staller Center calendar is “Starry Nights” on Wednesday, November 25 at 8:00 pm, with a program that includes pieces by Mozart, Gounod, and Brahms.
Colin Carr, cellist, is the artistic director for Starry Nights, bringing renowned musicians together for the performance.