Press Release

March 23, 2023

For Immediate Release

May 13: The Cassatt String Quartet in Ossining, NY

Works by Florence Price, Dorothy Rudd Moore, and Mozart at Bethany Arts Community

• 4 pm: Free pre-concert wine & cheese reception for ticket holders
• 5 pm: Concert

The world-renowned Cassatt String Quartet returns to Bethany Arts Community for an afternoon reverie of music on May 13, 2023 at 5 pm (preceded by a reception at 4 pm). The program features Mozart’s last string quartet alongside music by two Black American pioneers; Florence Price and Dorothy Rudd Moore.

Florence Price and Dorothy Rudd Moore were groundbreaking musicians and there has been a recent renaissance of interest in both composers. Price was the first African-American woman to have her music performed by a major orchestra. Moore, who lived in New York City until her death last year, was co-founder of the Society of Black Composers and taught at New York University.

CSQ cellist Gwen Krosnick says: "When I joined the quartet, one of the first projects I advocated for was Moore's string quartet, Modes. My colleagues listened to the work and were drawn in, as I had been, by her chromatic language, the deeply personal voice there, and her incredible skill at writing for string quartet. This quartet is unusual for many reasons, especially how much she is able to accomplish - emotionally and compositionally - in such a brief form. This is a short piece with the impact of a monument."

The evening at Bethany Arts Community will take place on Saturday, May 13, 2023 from 4-6PM. At 4pm, the audience is invited for a wine & cheese reception to meet the artists. The concert will begin at 5pm. Tickets are $30 general admission, $25 senior, and $10 student, and can be purchased at the Bethany Arts Community website. 

Pictured above: Composer Dorothy Rudd Moore

Hailed for its “mighty rapport and relentless commitment,” the Cassatt String Quartet has performed to critical acclaim across the world since its founding in 1985, with appearances at Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall, Tanglewood Music Center, the Kennedy Center, Théâtre des Champs-Élysées, Centro National de las Artes, Maeda Hall, and Beijing’s Central Conservatory. The group’s discography includes over forty recordings, including three discs that were named “10 Best Classical Recordings” in The New Yorker. 

The Cassatt String Quartet’s upcoming projects include major performances and recordings of works by Tania León, Dylan Schneider, Shirish Korde, and Daniel S. Godfrey; its annual residencies at the Seal Bay Festival of American Chamber Music and Cassatt in the Basin!; hometown concerts in the New York area; and appearances at Treetops Chamber Music Society, Maverick Concerts, and Music Mountain. The CSQ, comprised of Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Rosemary Nelis, viola; and Gwen Krosnick, cello, is named for the American Impressionist painter Mary Cassatt. 

Saturday, May 13, 2023

The Cassatt String Quartet

Bethany Arts Community

(40 Somerstown Rd., Ossining, NY)

$30 general admission ($25 senior/$10 student)

tickets available here

• 4 pm: Wine & cheese reception
• 5 pm: Concert

PROGRAM

Dorothy Rudd Moore Modes for String Quartet

W.A. Mozart String Quartet in F major, K. 590

Florence Price String Quartet No. 1

The Cassatt String Quartet

Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violins

Rosemary Nelis, viola

Gwen Krosnick, cello 

March 30 at 7:30 pm: New York City

Italian Academy at Columbia University (1161 Amsterdam Ave)

Program:

Florence Price: String Quartet No. 1

Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67 (with Magdalena Baczewska)

Part of Columbia University Residency (March 29-31)

May 13 at 5 pm: Ossining, NY

Bethany Arts Community (40 Somerstown Rd)

Program:

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: String Quartet

Dorothy Rudd Moore: Modes

W.A. Mozart: String Quartet in F major, K. 590

Florence Price: String Quartet No. 1

May 7: Amherst, MA

Amherst College's Buckley Recital Hall

(53 College St)

Music by Dylan Schneider:

PANDEMIC (world premiere)

with saxophonist Jonathan Hulting-Cohen

GOES A-H-H-H: Quartet Bossa Nova

Dancer at an Exhibition (Written for the Cassatt String Quartet)

Part of Amherst College Residency (May 5-8)

May 9 at 8 pm: Bennington, VT

Dean Carriage Barn at Bennington College (1 College Dr)

Program: 

W.A. Mozart: String Quartet in F major, K. 590

Florence Price: String Quartet No. 1

Fanny Mendelssohn Hensel: String Quartet

Part of Bennington College Residency (May 9 & 10)

May 14 at 4 pm: New Canaan, CT

Treetops Chamber Music Concert at Carriage Barn Arts Center (681 South Ave)

Program:

W.A. Mozart: String Quartet in F major, K. 590

Dorothy Rudd Moore: Modes

Amy Beach: Piano Quintet in F-sharp Minor, Op. 67 (with Magdalena Baczewska)

July 25 - August 5: Seal Bay Festival in Maine

Programs include:

Anthony DeRitis: Passion's Continuum (ME premiere)

Zhou Long: Song of the Ch’in

Chen Yi: Fiddle Suite

Cassatt String Quartet concerts in New York State are supported by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of Governor and the New York State Legislature

Amherst concert sponsored by: Amherst College Music Department, Provost Lecture Fund, Arts at Amherst Initiative, Office of Provost: Faculty Development Fund

Additional funding for all programs that include contemporary music are made possible in part by: The Aaron Copland Music Fund, Alice M. Ditson Fund, and Amphion Foundation

Seal Bay Festival is also supported The Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation