Arnold Steinhardt, violin
John Dalley, violin
Michael Tree, viola
Peter Wiley, violoncello
The renowned Guarneri String Quartet has circled the globe countless times since it was formed in 1964, playing in the most prestigious halls in North and South America, Mexico, Europe, Asia, and Australia. The Quartet's Fortieth Anniversary was celebrated during the 2003-2004 and 2004-2005 seasons, with extensive tours throughout the United States, Europe, and South America.
In 2005-2006, the Guarneri continued its Metropolitan Museum tradition with a series of six performances for which special guests were invited to perform a work by Mozart with them on each program to celebrate the 250th Anniversary of this illustrious composer. The Guarneri also kept to a busy schedule of performances throughout the United States as well as its annual tour to Europe.
Celebrations during 2003-2004 included a Beethoven cycle during the annual Metropolitan Museum of Art series, instituted in 1965. In 2004-2005, the series included invited special guests, each of whom performed with them in a work by Antonin Dvorak. Founding ’cellist David Soyer joined his former colleagues to play Schubert’s String Quintet in C Major, D.956, on several occasions as part of these special seasons. In January, 2004, the Guarneri received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award from Chamber Music America, the organization’s highest honor, given annually to an individual or ensemble for a lifetime of service and achievement to chamber music.
One of the culminating events of the Guarneri’s Anniversary was an April, 2005, performance in Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. In addition to this public performance, there were other events including a round-table discussion and quartet master-class with several young ensembles from leading music institutes. Finally, in May, 2005, the Guarneri received the Ford Honors Award from the University Musical Society of the University of Michigan, where it has performed thirty times over the past forty years.
In addition to mastering the finest works in the existing quartet repertory, the Guarneri Sring Quartet is committed to performing and popularizing works by today's foremost composers. During the 2003-2004 season, it gave the first performance of String Quartet No. 5 (In Search of La Vita Nuova) written for them by the award-winning American composer Richard Danielpour, who had previously written a Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra expressly for the Guarneri, commissioned by the National Symphony Orchestra. It was first heard in the Kennedy Center under the direction of Leonard Slatkin in January, 2000, followed by its New York première at Carnegie Hall later the same month. During the 2001-2002 season, the Guarneri gave the first performance of String Quartet No. 5, written for them by Lukas Foss. The work remains in their active repertory.
The Guarneri Quartet has been featured on many television and radio specials, documentaries, and educational presentations both in North America and abroad. Its members have been interviewed by Charles Kuralt on the nationwide CBS television program Sunday Morning. A full-length film entitled High Fidelity — The Guarneri String Quartet was releasd nationally to great critical and public acclaim in the fall of 1989. (The film was directed and produced by Allan Miller, also director;producer of the Academy Award-winning documentary From Mozart to Mao, that dealt with Isaac Stern’s visit to China.)
The Quartet is also the subject of several books, including Quartet by Helen Drees Ruttencutter (Lippincott & Crowell, 1980), The Art of Quartet Playing: the Guarneri in Conversation with David Blum (Alfred A. Knopf, 1986), and Arnold Steinhardt’s Indivisible by Four: A String Quartet in Pursuit of Harmony (Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 1998).
In 1982, Mayor Edward Koch presented the Quartet wih the first New York Seal of recognition. The Quartet was awarded Honorary Doctorate degrees by the University of South Florida (1976) and the State University of New York (1983). During 1992, The Guarneri String Quartet became the only quartet to receive the prestigious Award of Merit from the Association of performing Arts Presnters. The Quartet continues its longstanding series and residency at the University of Maryland, where its members serve on the faculty.
The Guarneri String Quartet has recorded for Surrounded by Entertainment, which rleased a CD of quartets by Ravel, Debussy, and Fauré in the Spring of 2001. Several of its recordings on both RCA Red Seal and Philips have won international awards, including its recording of Juan Crisostomo de Arriaga’s Quartets 1-3 (Philips,) which won the Deutsche Shallplattenkritik Award in Germany. Among the Guarneri’s other recordings are collaborations with such artists as Artur Rubinstein, Pinchas Zukerman, and Boris Kroyt and Mischa Schneider of the Budapest Quartet. The Guarneri has also recorded on the Arabesque label: Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 3 and its first-ever recording of the Mendelssohn Octet, Opus 20, in collaboration with the Orion Quartet.