Wihan Quartet to perform at next Wooster Chamber Music Series Concert

The Wihan Quartet will perform at the next Wooster Chamber Music Series concert on Sunday, Jan. 20, in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center.

WOOSTER, Ohio - The Wihan Quartet will bring what The Pittsburgh Tribune-Review calls "utterly natural musicianship" to the Wooster Chamber Music Series on Sunday, Jan. 20. The concert begins at 3 p.m. in Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center (525 E. University St.) on the campus of The College of Wooster. The program will consist of Dvorák's String Quartet in G Major, Op. 106 (B.192); the Smetana String Quartet No. 2 in D minor; and Beethoven's String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132.

Admission is $10 for general seating and $8 for students and senior citizens. Tickets are available on campus at the Wilson Bookstore in Lowry Center (1189 Beall Ave.) and in the community at Maurer Pharmacy (1827 Cleveland Rd.).

Wihan's talents combine to create a memorable performance, according to a Los Angeles Times' review that praised the Quartet by saying, "chamber music doesn't get more emotional than this." A New York Times' review added that "the sound these Czech musicians make is deeply pleasurable and also deeply traditional." The Quartet is currently the visiting quartet in resident at London's Trinity College.

Outside of London, Wihan has made several appearances at major music festivals around the world, including Japan and the United States. Past successes include first prize and audience prize at the London International String Quartet Competition as well as prize-winning performances at the Prague Spring Festival, the International Competition of Chamber Music at Trapani in Sicily, and the Osaka Chamber Fiesta.

The ensemble consists of first violinist Leos Cepicky, who spent six years at the Conservatoire in Pardubice, Bohemia, before moving to Prague and joining the Wihan Quartet; second violinist Jan Schulmeister, whose great grandfather was friend and pupil of Dvorak, one of the Czech Republic's most famous composers; violist Jiry Zigmund, who began playing the violin and piano as a child and first picked up the viola while serving in the army; and cellist Ales Kasprik, who attended the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague and studied under Milos Sadio, the greatest Czech cellist of the period.

Additional information about the concert is available by phone (330-263-2115) or e-mail (imatson@wooster.edu). The next Wooster Chamber Music Series Concert will be held Sunday, Feb. 17 when WuHan and David Finckel return to Gault Recital Hall of Scheide Music Center.