By Bae Keun-min
Staff Reporter
The world's renowned chamber ensemble St. Lawrence String Quartet will hold its first concert in Korea this Friday at the Kumho Art Hall in central Seoul.
The Stanford University-based quartet has performed in 2,000 concerts around the world over the past 18 years, showing off special chemistry in the music of its members and their flamboyant techniques.
Members of the ensemble include violinists Geoff Nuttall and Scott St. John, violist Lesley Robertson, and cellist Christopher Costanza.
Regarding the essence and corporate persona of the Canadian quartet, the New York Times said, ``One is the free-spirited casualness of its appearance; the other is a sound that has just about everything one wants from a quartet, most notably precision, warmth and an electricity that conveys the excitement of playing whatever is on their stands at the moment.''
The ensemble, about whose performance the Washington Post said is ``emotionally highly charged but never out of control,'' began its performing career after winning the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Young Concert Artists Auditions in 1992.
Their first record was released with critical acclaim in 1999 and featured Schumann's First and Third Quartets. The initial record also won the coveted German critics award, the Preis der Deutschen Schallplattenkritik, as well as Canada's annual Juno Award.
The quartet has released five albums in total. Their latest recording ``Awakening'' features string quartet numbers by Greek-born Canadian composer Christos Hatzis.
During its first Seoul concert, the ensemble will present Franz Haydn's String Quartet in G Major No. 1 (Op.77), Dmitrii Shostakovich's famous ``Dresden,'' also known as String Quartet in C Minor No.8 (Op.110), and String Quartet No.15 in A Minor ``Heiliger Dankgesang'' (Op.132) by Ludwig van Beethoven.
Tickets cost 30,000 won. For more information, call 1588-7890 or (02) 6303-1919.