Media Contact:
Ruth Baily at University Events, (619) 534-0497, rbaily@ucsd.edu or
Jan Jennings, (619) 822-1684, jnjennings@ucsd.edu

The Keller Quartet, praised by the Chicago Tribune for its "first-class musicianship and near-flawless ensemble," will perform at 8 p.m. April 24 in Mandeville Auditorium at the University of California, San Diego.

"The chamber group has earned an enviable reputation, both for sterling technical skill and a strikingly wide and varied repertoire," writes the Tribune.

Ensemble members are quartet leader András Keller, violin; Janós Pilz, violin; Zoltán Gál, viola, and Ottó Kertész, cello. The evening’s program will include Bartók: Quartet No. 3; Kurtág: Offizium Breve; Mozart: KV 458, and Beethoven: String Quartet Opus 132.

Playing with what the Philadelphia Inquirer calls "the fluid give-and-take that makes musical dialogue so mysterious," the Keller Quartet has performed in music festivals and major cities throughout Europe; toured major music venues in the United States, leading off with a New York debut at Lincoln Center, and in 1998 toured Japan.

Within a four-week period in 1990 the quartet won two of the most important European string quartet competitions: the Evian International String Quartet Competition and the Second Borciani International Competition.  Among its other awards are the Abbiati Prize and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik in 1996, and the Cannes Award MIDEM in 1997.   For the complete works of string quartet by Kurtág, the group won a Diapason d’or and the Preis der deutschen Schallplattenkritik, both in 1997.

"And the playing?" queries the Boston Globe. "High civilization is made up of such stuff – refined and robust in the right proportions."

The ensemble’s basic repertoire ranges from Schubert to Bartók and Kurtág, and the group is as eager about the encouragement of new music – premiering at least two or three works every season – as they are about the constant perfection of their repertoire.

The Keller musicians are graduates of the Franz Liszt Music School in Budapest where they founded the quartet in 1986 while still students.  They have recorded on the Hungaroton label and ERATO, and now record with ECM.  Their recordings include the complete Tchaikovsky quartets, a Ravel/Debussy CD and a Dvorák CD.  They also have recorded the three Brahms quartets on video.

Of a performance, the New York Times writes, "The players seem to breathe the music. It is often magically beautiful … but more than that, it is full of meaning."

Writes the Boston Globe, "The Keller is a major ensemble with much to say – make no mistake."

Tickets for the Keller Quartet are $20 general admission and $10 for students.  Tickets are available at the UCSD Box Office, 534-8497, and at Ticketmaster outlets at 220-8497.  The concert is sponsored by the UCSD University Events Office. For information on the entire season of events sponsored by the University Events Office, visit the Web Site, http://ueo.ucsd.edu, or call the UCSD University Events Office at 534-4090.