THIS EVENT IS CANCELED
Join Manchester Music Festival, Green Mountain Academy of Lifelong Learning, and Southern Vermont Arts for an afternoon with the Rhodora String Quartet
Program Description
This program highlights a turning point in the history of the string quartet. Haydn’s String Quartet in G major, Op. 76 No. 1 comes from his final and most ambitious set of quartets, written after his London triumphs and showcasing the craftsmanship that earned him the title “father of the string quartet.” Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2, composed less than a decade later for Count Razumovsky, dramatically expands the form’s scale and emotional range. Heard together, these works reveal how Beethoven built on Haydn’s foundation to transform the quartet from an elegant classical conversation into a bold, expressive art form.
Program
Haydn – String Quartet in G major, Op. 76 No. 1 (1797)
Beethoven – String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59 No. 2 (1808)
Rhodora String Quartet
Praised for their “excellent blend, precision,” the Rhodora String Quartet is an emerging ensemble founded in 2024 at Stony Brook University. They won the 2025 Ackerman Chamber Music Competition and will serve as the first ensemble-in-residence at the Manchester Music Festival in early 2026. The quartet balances performing the masterworks of the string quartet repertoire with championing works by living and underrepresented composers.
As participants of the Emerson String Quartet Institute, the members have been mentored by Philip Setzer, Eugene Drucker, Lawrence Dutton, Paul Watkins, David Finckel, Colin Carr, William Fedkenheuer, and Arnaud Sussman. All members are D.M.A. candidates at Stony Brook and hold degrees from institutions including Juilliard, Yale, Seoul National University, the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, San Francisco Conservatory, Vanderbilt, the Crane School of Music, and Stony Brook University.
The quartet’s name, “Rhodora,” is inspired by Ralph Waldo Emerson’s poem of the same name, which celebrates beauty existing for its own sake—a philosophy the ensemble embraces in their music.
Enjoy lunch at SVAC’s curATE café before the show. Visit OpenTable for reservations or call 802.362.9100.
