Esmé Quartet
Beethoven Anniversary Series: Part I
Friday, March 26, 2027 7:30pm
Herbst TheatreVenue Information
$80/$70/$60
About This Performance
Two hundred years after Ludwig Van Beethoven (1770–1827), San Francisco Performances’ Artists-in-Residence the Esmé Quartet embarks on the first of a two-part survey of his complete Quartets.
Beethoven’s String Quartets span the majority of his lifetime and work. Hearing them complete gives vibrant insight into his evolution and process as a composer, from early years to the end of his life, and eloquently demonstrates his significance as an icon of classical music. The Series launches with a pre-concert lecture by SF Performances Music Historian-in-Residence Robert Greenberg.
Part II of the series will be presented during the 2027–28 Season.
Program
Program 1
BEETHOVEN: String Quartet No. 1 in F Major, Op. 18, No. 1
String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59, No. 1, “Rasumovsky”
String Quartet No. 16 in F Major, Op. 135
Performance Sponsors
Schoenberg Family Law
Artist Information
Performer Biography
Praised for their warm sound and powerful stage presence, the Esmé Quartet was formed in 2016 in Cologne, Germany by four Korean musicians who had been friends since their youth. They shared common interests and passions in music, the arts, and life. The Quartet takes it name “Esmé” from the old French word for “beloved.”
Robert Greenberg received a BA in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, followed by a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has composed over fifty works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles, and his works have been performed in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Netherlands, where his Child’s Play for String Quartet was performed at the Concertgebouw. Greenberg has performed, taught, and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is celebrating his 25th anniversary as Music Historian-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances, and he has served on the faculties of the UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.