Lucia Lin, violin
Steven Ansell, viola
Michael Reynolds, cello
(see bios below)
In its 33rd season, the Muir String Quartet has long been acknowledged as one of the world's most powerful and insightful ensembles, distinguishing itself among audiences and critics with its "exhilarating involvement" (Boston Globe),"impeccable voicing and intonation" (San Francisco Examiner) and "unbridled musicality" (American Record Guide).
Winner of the 1981 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and 1980 Evian International String Competition, the Muir String Quartet first appeared on the scene in 1980, and was greeted with rave reviews and an extensive feature in the New Yorker. The quartet was also featured on the internationally acclaimed PBS broadcast, In Performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Reagan. Formed in 1979 following graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music, the Muir String Quartet's principal chamber music teachers were Felix Galimir and the members of the Guarneri and Budapest Quartets.
Some of the awards Muir has garnered include a Grammy nomination (Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets/EcoClassics with Mitchell Lurie), a Grammy (Beethoven Quartets Op. 132 and Grosse Fuge/EcoClassics), two Grand Prix du Disques, and the Gramophone Award. In its commitment to advancing contemporary American music, the Muir Quartet has had commissioned works written for them by such distinguished composers as Joan Tower (Night Fields), Sheila Silver (From Darkness Emerging), Richard Danielpour (Shadow Dances and Psalms of Sorrow - featured on CBS Sunday Morning), Richard Wilson (Third String Quartet), and Charles Fussell (Being Music - based on poetry of Walt Whitman). The quartet also gave the World Premiere performance of the Native American collaborative work, Circle of Faith, featured on National Public Radio. Other premiered works include those by esteemed American composers Richard Danielpour (Feast of Fools - for bassoon and string quartet), Lucas Foss (String Quartet #4), Ezra Laderman (String Quartets #9 and #10), Joelle Wallach (String Quartet #3), and Ronald Perera's first Quartet. In 2011-2012, the Quartet continues its series at Boston University with the complete Bartok and Brahms Quartets, the Beethoven Cycle at Rhode Island College in celebration of 20 years of concerts there, and other performances throughout North America. Highlights include their continuing role as resident Quartet of the Montana Chamber Music Society and appearances with the Phoenix and Dallas Chamber Music Societies. The Muir's recording of the Kreisler, Berg Op. 3 and Schulhoff 5 Pieces will be released on the EcoClassics label this season.
The Muir Quartet has been In Residence at Boston University's College of Fine Arts since 1983, and gives annual summer workshops at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). The Muir Quartet has also given master classes at schools nationwide, including the Eastman School of Music, the Curtis Institute, Oberlin Conservatory, and the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Since 1989, the quartet has presented the Emerging Quartets and Composers Program in Utah with eminent composer Joan Tower. This program is part of the Muir’s role as resident chamber ensemble with the Deer Valley Festival, in partnership with the Utah Symphony/Opera.
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Born and raised in Boston, Peter Zazofsky studied violin with Joseph Silverstein before attending the Juilliard Pre-College under Dorothy Delay and Ivan Galamian. He then studied at the Curtis Institute, with Galamian, Jaime Laredo and Arnold Steinhardt, and the Marlboro Music Festival, under Rudolf Serkin, Felix Galimir and Sandor Vegh. In 1979, he won the Grand Prize of the Montreal International Competition, then the Second Prize of the 1980 Queen Elisabeth Competition in Brussels. He also received the 1985 Avery Fisher Career Grant.
In addition to standard repertoire, Peter Zazofsky is an advocate for late 20th and early 21st Century compositions. He has premiered works written for him by composers in Holland, Belgium and Denmark, and recorded American concertos for the MMC label. Another premiere, Joan Guinjoan's Concerto with the Liege Orchestra in Madrid, is now available on the Columna Musica label.
Peter Zazofsky is Professor of Violin and Coordinator of String Chamber Music at the Boston University School of Music. He also serves as Director of the String Quartet Workshop at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
Lucia Lin, violinist, made her debut performing the Mendelssohn Concerto with the Chicago Symphony at age eleven. Since then, she has been a prizewinner in numerous competitions, including the 1990 International Tschaikovsky Competition in Moscow. She has performed in solo recitals throughout the U.S., making her New York debut at Weill Recital Hall in March 1991, and has appeared with the Boston Pops Orchestra, the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra, the Oklahoma Symphony, the Festivalorchester in Graz, Austria, and the Moscow State Orchestra.
A frequent collaborator in chamber music, Ms. Lin has performed at the Sapporo Music Festival, the Da Camera Society in Houston, the St. Barts Music Festival, and the Barbican Hall Chamber Series in London. She has also served as Concertmaster of both the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra from 1991-92 and the London Symphony Orchestra from 1994-96, and is currently a member of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, having served as Assistant Concertmaster there from 1988-91 and 1996-98. She has recorded for Nonesuch Records as a guest of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players, for New World Records on a disc featuring the works of Bright Sheng, and for Parjomusic as a member of the Boston Trio, of which she was a founding member. A native of Champaign, Illinois, Ms. Lin received her bachelor’s degree at the University of Illinois and her master’s of music at Rice University in Houston, Texas. Important musical influences include Sergiu Luca, Paul Rolland, Josef Gingold, Dorothy DeLay, and Louis Krasner.
Steven Ansell, violist, began his studies at age ten with Karla Kantner in Seattle, Washington. He studied with Don McGinnis, Vilem Sokol, and Veda Reynolds before going to the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Michael Tree, Karen Tuttle and Raphael Hillyer. Upon graduation, he was appointed Professor of Viola at the University of Houston and became Assistant Principal Violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Andre Previn in 1977. In 1979 he left the orchestra to become one of the founding members of the Muir String Quartet, in residence at Boston University since 1983. The quartet has toured extensively in Europe, Australia, the US and Canada, and recorded widely, garnering the Grand Prix du Disque and a Grammy. Joan Tower, Lucas Foss, Richard Wilson, Richard Danielpour, Ezra Laderman, Charles Fussel and Shiela Silver, are some of the composers that the Muir has championed over the years. In 1996, Mr. Ansell joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Principal Violist, and has appeared many times as soloist, playing Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with Emmanuel Krivine and James Levine, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Lowe/Previn, Bruch’s double concerto for clarinet and viola, and Don Quixote with Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma, among many others. He continues to enjoy exploring the quartet literature, recording, teaching and playing with the BSO. The Muir has recently recorded Berg’s Quartet op.3, Schulhof’s Five Pieces, and the Kreisler Quartet, due out soon.
Michael Reynolds has been the cellist of the world-renowned Muir String Quartet since its inception in 1979. As a member of the Muir Quartet and as soloist and chamber musician, Mr. Reynolds has performed nearly 2,000 concerts throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, and he has performed with such diverse artists as Leon Fleisher, Menachem Pressler, Gil Shaham, Richard Stoltzman, Phyllis Curtin and Benny Goodman. Accolades he has won with the Muir Quartet include first prize at the Evian Competition, the 1981 Naumberg Award, two Grand Prix du Disques, the Gramophone Award, a Grammy nomination and a Grammy on the EcoClassics label he founded, and an internationally acclaimed PBS broadcast, "In Performance at The White House" for President and Mrs. Reagan. A native of Montana, he received his professional training at the Curtis Institute of Music, where he was a student of David Soyer and Martita Casals, continuing with Karen Tuttle and George Neikrug and studies at Yale University. Mr. Reynolds has appeared with orchestras and in recital throughout the U. S., and his recording of the complete Bach Suites for Solo Cello on the EcoClassics label has received much critical acclaim. Upcoming recordings include the Muir Quartet performing Berg Op. 3, Kreisler Quartet and Schulhoff 5 Pieces on the EcoClassics label, the Beethoven Clarinet Trio (after the Septet) and Zemlinsky Trio with clarinetist Richard Stoltzman and pianist Judith Stillman on EcoClassics, and the complete Bach Gamba Sonatas with pianist Michele Levin on EcoClassics. Profits from these recordings will support Classics for Kids Foundation's grant programs.
Mr. Reynolds has taught at Boston University's College of Fine Arts since 1983. His students continue to develop successful careers in music, including members of the Boston Symphony and other orchestras, teachers at universities and other institutions nationally, four Boston Symphony Competition and numerous other competition winners. He is co-founder and Executive/Artistic Director of Classics for Kids Foundation (www.classicsforkids.org), which offers matching grants for excellent student instruments to strings programs around America. He founded CFKF in 1998 in response to the decline in support for strings programs nationwide; in addition to his capacity as executive director, he performs numerous fundraising recitals annually for CFKF. To date, CFKF has given grants to over 50 communities to help them acquire beautiful new instruments for their string students. He also is Artistic Director of Rockport Fall Foliage and the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts (www.fredfest.org) in Virginia, and he directs the Muir Quartet's Emerging Quartets and Composers program at the Deer Valley Festival in Utah every summer. His latest entrepreneurial endeavor is the Montana Chamber Music Society (www.montanachambermusicsociety.org), the first statewide chamber music society in America, now in its third season. Mr. Reynolds has also served on the faculties of New England Conservatory, Rutgers University, the University of Utah, and UC Santa Cruz. He received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995. In his spare time, he is an avid flyfisherman and outdoorsman. He plays a cello by Giuseppi Grancino, circa 1690.
