Over the next two seasons, the Artaria String Quartet is embarking on a transformative journey through the 15 remarkable string quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich. These quartets will take us into the heart of musical expression revealing the most personal and daring thoughts of one of the 20th century’s greatest musical minds.

We are delighted to partner with the Schubert Club and the Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Church in this significant event. During the 2011-12 season Artaria will perform two series of concerts:

Four Courtroom Concerts at the Landmark Center (St. Paul)
January 5 – Quartet No.1 and Quartet No.2
January 12 – Quartet No.4 and Quartet No.12
January 19 – Quartet No.6 and Quartet No.8
January 26 – Quartet No.9 and Quartet No.10

Two performances at the Gallery (Minneapolis)
Artaria will perform Shostakovich Quartets nos. 1, 2, 4, 12 on Saturday, January 14 2012 (7:30pm) and Quartets nos 6, 8, 9, 10 on Sunday, January 15 2012 (4pm) at the beautiful Hennepin Avenue United Methodist Art Gallery. Great music for the ears, great art for the eyes!

* Pre-concert lectures by Shostakovich scholar David Castro will take place one-hour before each concert at the Hennepin Avenue Art Gallery.

>>>>No tickets are required, however, if you any questions for the quartet about their performances click here.

"Much of the controversy about Shostakovich's music has been related to questions of meaning. The conflicting interpretations put forth by scholars during the musicological 'Shostakovich wars' have shown the impossibility of fixing a single meaning in the composer's music. Commentators have often heard the quartets as political in nature, although there have been contradictory views as to whether Shostakovich was a loyal communist or a dissident. The works are also often described as vivid narratives, perhaps a confessional autobiography or a chronicle of the composer's times. The cycle has also been heard to examine major philosophical issues posed by the composer's life and times, including war, death, love, the conflict of good and evil, the nature of subjectivity, the power of creativity and the place of the individual - and particularly the artist - in society. Soviet commentaries on the quartets typically describe the works through the lens of Socialist-Realist mythological master narratives. Recent Western commentaries see Shostakovich's quartets as expressions of broader twentieth-century subjectivity, filled with ruptures and uncertainty."

Courtesy Ashgate Publishing Group