Vermeer Quartet, Quartet

Biography

With performances in practically every major city in North America,
Europe, Japan, and Australia, the Vermeer Quartet has achieved
international stature as one of the world's finest ensembles. Formed in
1969 at the Marlboro Festival, its members are originally from Israel,
Germany, New York, and Nebraska, thus providing a unique blend of
musical and cultural backgrounds. Switzerland's Suisse notes, "Out of
this alchemy is born a thing of beauty which one can define, without
hesitation, as perfection."

The Vermeer has performed at virtually all the most prestigious
festivals in the world, including Tanglewood, Aldeburgh, Norfolk,
Aspen, Mostly Mozart, Bath, South Bank, Lucerne, Stresa, Flanders,
Kneisel Hall, Caramoor, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Berlin,
Schleswig-Holstein, Orlando, Edinburgh, Great Woods, Spoleto, Ravinia,
and the Casals Festival. For more than three decades it has spent part
of each summer on the coast of Maine as the featured ensemble for Bay
Chamber Concerts. The Vermeer has performed well over two hundred
works, including nearly all the 'standard' string quartets, many
lesser-known compositions, several contemporary scores, and various
works with guests. Writes the Chicago Tribune, 'this venerable chamber
group is one of Chicago's prime musical exports. No major Chicago
musical organization, not even the Chicago Symphony, represents Chicago
on more concert stages outside the city than this world-traveling
foursome."

The Vermeer's discography includes the complete quartets by Beethoven,
Tchaikovsky, and Bartok, plus works by Schubert, Mendelssohn, Dvoék,
Verdi, Shostakovich, Haydn, Tchaikovsky, Schnittke, and Brahms. The
Vermeer's Grammy-nominated CD of Haydn's The Seven Last Words of Christ
has been broadcast to over 60 million listeners worldwide.