New York City's Cassatt Quartet to Perform with Pianist James Giles

EVANSTON, Ill. --- The Cassatt Quartet, an internationally renowned string ensemble, will perform at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 7, with pianist James Giles, a Northwestern University School of Music faculty member. In addition to their joint performance of Dohnányi's Piano Quintet, the Cassatt Quartet will play quartets by Ravel and Beethoven. The concert will be presented at Lutkin Hall, 700 University Place, on Northwestern's Evanston campus.

The all-female quartet -- named for the American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt -- has been performing together for more than 20 years. Individually, their training comes from prestigious music conservatories around the world, including the Juilliard School in New York City, Toho Academy of Music in Japan, Eastman School of Music in Rochester, Peabody Institute in Baltimore, New England Conservatory in Boston and the Cleveland Institute of Music.

The Cassatt Quartet members were inaugural participants in Juilliard's Young Artists Quartet Program. They have presented numerous recitals in some of the world's top concert halls, including New York' City's Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall, Washington, D.C.'s Library of Congress and Kennedy Center, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées in Paris and Maeda Hall in Tokyo.

Besides performance, the Cassatt Quartet is dedicated to nurturing young musicians. They are the quartet-in-residence at Setnor School of Music at Syracuse University in New York. The ensemble members also coach, read student compositions and give musical presentations at Princeton University, Yale University, the University of New York at Buffalo and the University of Pennsylvania.

Giles is considered one of the most versatile pianists of his generation, active as a soloist and chamber musician across the United States and Europe.

Tickets for the Oct. 7 concert are $8.50 for the general public; $7 for senior citizens and Northwestern faculty and staff; and $4 for students. To purchase tickets or for more information call (847) 467-4000 or visit <www.pick-staiger.com>.

I think it signified the end of the 20th Century.

-Professor Peter Hayes on the Fall of the Berlin Wall