The Year in Music: Acclaimed Ensemble

Divas. Conductors. Composers. Virtuosos. The school of music in theCollege of Fine Arts showcased the talents of its students, faculty,and a few special guests on stages around campus and throughout Bostonthis year. This week, BU Today looks back at the year in music at Boston University. Click here to watch the Muir String Quartet on BUniverse.

The Muir String Quartet, in residence at Boston University, is one of the world’s most acclaimed ensembles. The quartet performs Mendelssohn’s Quartet in A minor, Op.13, and Dvorák’s Double Bass Quintet. Edwin Barker joins them on doublebass.

Formed in 1979, the Muir String Quartet, comprising LuciaLin, Steven Ansell, Michael Reynolds, and Peter Zazofsky, has been inresidence at the College of Fine Arts since 1983, where each is an associate professor. The quartet runs annual summer workshops at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute, which offers a wide range of music programs during the summer for highschool and college-age students in association with the Boston Symphony Orchestra’s Tanglewood Music Centerin Lenox, Mass. The quartet also holds regular open rehearsals, givesmaster classes, and performs locally and around the country.

February 1, 2008, 6 p.m.
CFA Concert Hall

About the performers:

Lucia Lin,a native of Champaign, Ill., earned a bachelor’s degree at theUniversity of Illinois and a master’s in music at Rice University. Shemade her debut performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the ChicagoSymphony Orchestra at age 11. She has won a number of competitions,including the 1990 International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow. Linis also a founding member of the Boston Trio and the chamber groupInnuendo. She joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra in 1985 and servedas assistant concertmaster from 1988 to 1991 and 1996 to 1998. Duringthe 1991-92 season, she was the acting concertmaster of the MilwaukeeSymphony Orchestra, and during the 1994-96 season, she was jointconcertmaster of the London Symphony Orchestra. She is a College ofFine Arts associate professor.

Steven Anselljoined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as principal violist in September1996. A native of Seattle and a graduate of the Curtis Institute ofMusic, where he studied with Michael Tree and Karen Tuttle, Ansell wasnamed a professor of viola at the University of Houston at age 21 andbecame assistant principal violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestraunder André Previn at 23. He has received two Grand Prix du Disqueawards and a Gramophone Magazine award for Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year. He has appeared on PBS’s In Performance at the White Houseand has participated in the Tanglewood, Schleswig-Holstein, Marlboro,Blossom, Newport, Spoleto, and Snowbird festivals. As principal violistof the Boston Symphony Orchestra, he is also a member of the BostonSymphony Chamber Players. He is a College of Fine Arts associateprofessor.

Michael Reynoldsis a cellist. The Montana native received his professional training at theCurtis Institute of Music, where he was a student ofDavid Soyer and Martita Casals. He continued his studies with KarenTuttle and George Neikrug and attended Yale University. He received anhonorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995. Accolades he haswon while with the Muir String Quartet include First Prize at the EvianCompetition, a Naumburg Award, two Grand Prix du Disques, and aGramophone Award. He has appeared on PBS’s In Performance at the White House.He is the director the Montana Chamber Music Festival and president ofEcoClassic, Inc. He is also artistic director of the Classics for KidsFoundation, which gives quality student instruments to communities andschools around America. He is a College of Fine Arts associateprofessor.

Peter Zazofsky’scareer as a violin soloist, chamber musician, and educator spans more than 25years and 30 countries. Joseph Silverstein was his first teacher, andhe later studied with Dorothy Delay and with Jaime Laredo and IvanGalamian at the Curtis Institute. He has received many prizes andawards, including the Grand Prize of the 1979 Montreal InternationalCompetition and second prize at the 1980 Queen Elisabeth Contest inBrussels. In 1985 he was honored with an Avery Fisher Career Grant. Hehas performed with many of the great orchestras in the United Statesand Europe, including the Boston Symphony, the Berlin Philharmonic, theSan Francisco Symphony, the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, and thePhiladelphia Orchestra. Zazofsky is a College of Fine Arts associateprofessor of violin and chamber music. He serves as a jury member forviolin competitions in Montreal, Brussels, and Denmark.

Edwin Barkeris recognized as one of the most gifted bassists on the Americanconcert scene. An accomplished solo and ensemble player, he hasperformed and recorded with the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the BostonSymphony Chamber Players, and with Collage, a Boston-based contemporarymusic ensemble. Barker is also a frequent guest performer with theBoston Chamber Music Society. He performed the world premiere of JamesYannatos’ Bass Concerto (which was written especially for him) withALEA III, BU’s new music ensemble, and subsequently with Collage. Hewas the featured soloist at the New England premiere of GuntherSchuller’s Bass Concerto, conducted by the composer, with the BostonPro Arte Chamber Orchestra. Barker’s major teaching affiliationsinclude the Tanglewood Music Center, Boston University, where he is a College of Fine Arts associateprofessor, and the NewEngland Conservatory of Music. He graduated with honors from the New England Conservatoryin 1976, where he studied double bass with Henry Portnoi. At age 22, hewas appointed principal bassist of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Hecontinues to tour and perform internationally with the BSO and theBoston Symphony Chamber Players.

This article originally ran March 7, 2008.