Vera Quartet and Meng-Chieh Liu

Curtis on Tour featured the Vera Quartet performing alongside faculty pianist Meng-Chieh Liu in Franck’s luxuriant masterwork. The Vera opened the program with an early Beethoven quartet.

Having received top prizes at multiple competitions, the Vera began a residency at Curtis in 2018. Liu launched his celebrated career in 1993 when, as a 21-year-old Curtis student, he substituted for André Watts on three hours’ notice.

Watch

In collaboration with the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Curtis on Tour was able to offer a live-streamed performance of the full tour program on Friday, March 13.

What the Press Are Saying

“Meng-Chieh Liu…wove magic into every note (or bundle of notes) he sent our way.”
“The [Vera Quartet] made the most of Beethoven’s dramatic contrasts…”

The Boston Musical Intelligencer, November 2019

Read the full review

“…Vera brings a particular passion to Bright Sheng’s fourth quartet.”

—Wicked Local, November 2019

Read the full article

Cellist Justin Goldsmith appeared on WSKG in advance of the Corning, N.Y. performance to talk about the tour and how the Vera Quartet formed.

Listen to the full interview

Artists

  • The Vera Quartet is in its second season as quartet in residence at the Curtis Institute of Music. In 2019–20 the quartet appears with piano faculty member Meng-Chieh Liu in performances across the United States for Curtis on Tour, the Nina von Maltzahn global touring initiative.

    The Vera Quartet shares the uniquely democratic dynamic of a string quartet with diverse audiences, both within and beyond the concert hall. Winner of the 2018 Astral Artists National Auditions, the quartet has also received grand prizes at the Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music in Yellow Springs Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles, top prizes from the M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, and the St. Lawrence String Quartet Prize from the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. In 2017 the group participated in the Robert Mann and Juilliard string quartet seminars, and was selected by NPR’s Performance Today as a Young Artist in Residence.

    The Vera Quartet has attended the chamber music residency program at the Banff Centre, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the McGill International String Quartet Academy, and the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School, where they worked closely with composer Augusta Read Thomas and gave the local premiere of her Selene. The quartet previously held a residency at the Beethoven-Haus in Bonn, Germany; and served as the graduate quartet in residence at the Jacobs School of Music, where they worked with the Pacifica Quartet, collaborated with the IU Latin American Music Center and the IU New Music Ensemble, and partnered with the Musical Arts Youth Organization.

  • A recipient of the 2002 Avery Fisher Career Grant, Meng-Chieh Liu first made headlines in 1993 as a 21-year-old student, when he substituted for André Watts at the Academy of Music in Philadelphia with three hours’ notice. His acclaimed performance was followed by a recital at the Kennedy Center, among other highly praised appearances.

    He has appeared with orchestras under conductors Christoph Eschenbach, Gustavo Dudamel, and Alan Gilbert, among others. His concerts have been broadcast around the world, and Taiwanese National Television has aired a documentary on his life. A dedicated chamber musician, he has collaborated with Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Buswell, Bernard Greenhouse, David Soyer, Wendy Warner, and the Borromeo and St. Lawrence string quartets. He was artistic director of Chicago Chamber Musicians from 2011 to 2014; and has also collaborated with artists in other disciplines, including Mikhail Baryshnikov and his White Oak Dance Project.

    Mr. Liu received a Bachelor of Music degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with Jorge Bolet, Eleanor Sokoloff, and Claude Frank. He won first prizes in the Stravinsky, Asia Pacific Piano, and Mieczyslaw Munz competitions.

    Mr. Liu has been a member of the Curtis Institute of Music faculty since 1993 and also serves on the faculty of the New England Conservatory.

Repertoire

BEETHOVEN     Quartet No. 4 in C minor, Op. 18, No. 4
SHENG       Quartet No. 4 (“Silent Temple”)
FRANCK Piano Quintet in F minor

Dates

West Chester, Pa.
Monday, November 11 at 5 p.m.
Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center
Presented by the Uptown! Knauer Performing Arts Center 

 

Brooklyn, N.Y.
Tuesday, November 12 at 7 p.m.
Brooklyn Public Library
Presented by the Brooklyn Public Library

 

Corning, N.Y.
Friday, November 15 at 7:30 p.m.
Corning Museum of Glass
Presented by Corning Civic Music

 

Rockport, Mass.
Sunday, November 17 at 3 p.m.
Shalin Liu Performance Center
Presented by Rockport Music

 

Palm Beach, Fla.
Sunday, January 5 at 3 p.m.
The Society of the Four Arts, Gubelmann Auditorium
Presented by The Society of the Four Arts

 


 

Due to declarations of a state of emergency as coronavirus cases increase, Curtis on Tour cancelled its scheduled in-person performances in March 2020. This difficult decision was made out of concern for the health and well-being of the artists.

 

Davis, Calif.—CANCELLED
Sunday, March 8 at 2 p.m.
Mondavi Center, Jackson Hall
Presented by the Mondavi Center

 

La Jolla, Calif.—CANCELLED
Tuesday, March 10 at 7:30 p.m.
Athenaeum Music and Arts Library
Presented by the Athenaeum Music and Arts Library

 

Grosse Pointe, Mich.—CANCELLED
Friday, March 13 at 7:30 p.m.
Grosse Pointe War Memorial
Presented by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit

 

Canton, Mich.—CANCELLED
Saturday, March 14 at 7:30 p.m.
Village Theater at Cherry Hill
Presented by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit

 

Rochester Hills, Mich.—CANCELLED
Sunday, March 15 at 3 p.m.
Oakland University, Varner Recital Hall
Presented by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit

 

Chicago—CANCELLED
Wednesday, March 18 at 12:15 p.m.
Chicago Cultural Center, Preston Bradley Hall
Presented by Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts

 

Philadelphia, Pa.—CANCELLED
Saturday, March 21 at 8 p.m.
Field Concert Hall
Presented on the Curtis Institute of Music Student Recital Series

 

Washington, D.C.—CANCELLED
Sunday, March 22 at 3:30 p.m.
National Gallery of Art, West Garden Court
Presented by the National Gallery of Art