Hope College to Feature Brentano Quartet and Five-Time Grammy Winner

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Not only is the collaboration of Upshaw and the quartet a special occasion, they will also be performing a newly commissioned program called the “Dido Reimagined.”  Dido is the legendary founder and queen of Carthage whose love for the Trojan hero, Aeneas, leads to a disastrous end as told by Virgil in his epic poem, the “Aeneid.”

The first half of the program will feature early English composers, including Henry Purcell, Matthew Locke, and John Dowland, ending with Purcell’s famous “Dido’s Lament.” The second half will see “Dido Reimagined” through the work of Pulitzer-winning composer Melinda Wagner and librettist Stephanie Fleischmann, who breathe new life into Dido through this monodrama created especially for Upshaw and the Brentano Quartet. The work premiered in February, and the Hope College audience will be among the first to hear it.

Upshaw has achieved worldwide celebrity as a singer of opera and concert repertoire, ranging from the sacred works of Bach to contemporary works. Her ability to reach to the heart of music and text has earned her both the devotion of an exceptionally diverse audience, and the awards and distinctions accorded to only the most distinguished of artists. In 2007, she was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation, the first vocal artist to be awarded the five-year “genius” prize, and in 2008 she was named a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Her acclaimed performances on the opera stage include the great Mozart roles (Susanna, Ilia, Pamina, Despina, and Zerlina) as well as modern works by Stravinsky, Poulenc and Messiaen. From Salzburg, Paris and Glyndebourne to the Metropolitan Opera, where she began her career in 1984 and has since made nearly 300 appearances, Upshaw has also championed numerous new works. She is featured on more than 50 recordings, including the million-selling “Symphony No. 3” by Henryk Gorecki for Nonesuch Records.

Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. “Passionate, uninhibited and spellbinding,” raves the London Independent; the New York Times extols its “luxuriously warm sound [and] yearning lyricism.” Within a few years of its formation, the quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award and was also honored in the U.K. with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. Since then, the quartet has concertized widely, performing in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall in New York; the Library of Congress in Washington; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The quartet performed at Hope College as part of the Great Performance Series in 2014.

Tickets are $24 for regular admission, $19 for senior citizens and members of the Hope College faculty and staff, and $7 for children. Admission is free for Hope College students.  Tickets are available at the Events and Conferences Office located downtown in the Anderson-Werkman Financial Center (100 E. Eighth St.). The office is open weekdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and can be called at 616-395-7890. Tickets can also be purchased online at hope.edu/tickets and will be sold at the door if available.

Audience members who need assistance to fully enjoy any event at Hope are encouraged to contact the college’s Events and Conferences Office by emailing events@hope.edu or calling 616-395-7222 on weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. Updates related to events are posted when available in the individual listings at hope.edu/calendar.

The Jack H. Miller Center for Musical Arts is located at 221 Columbia Ave., between Ninth and 10th streets.