Dynamic string quartet Pavel Haas returns for performance on November 6

MIDDLEBURY, Vt. ? The dynamic and youthful string sensation, Pavel Haas Quartet, will perform in the Concert Hall of the Kevin P. Mahaney ‘84 Center for the Arts at Middlebury College on Friday, Nov. 6, at 8 p.m. The evening’s program includes Britten’s Divertimenti, the Ravel Quartet, and Dvorák’s opus 106 in G Major.

The Pavel Haas Quartet is made up of Veronika Jaruskova and Eva Karova on violin, Pavel Nikl on viola and Peter Jarusek on cello. The ensemble gave a passionate, insightful and well-received performance here last year and will be a welcome return for this season.

Based in Prague, they have studied with some of the masters of the quartet world, including members of Quartetto Italiano, Quatuor Mosaiques and the Borodin and Amadeus Quartets. They travel extensively throughout Europe to perform at locations including the Musée du Louvre in Paris, London’s Wigmore Hall, Vienna Konzerthaus, Salzburg Mozarteum, Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Stockholm Konserthuset, Birmingham Symphony Hall, Alte Oper in Frankfurt and Carnegie Hall in New York. Since winning the Italy’s Paolo Borciani competition in 2005, the group has become known to audiences, critics and promoters around the world as one of today’s most exciting young string quartets.

In 2006 the quartet was nominated by the Cologne Philharmonie as one of the European Concert Hall’s “Rising Stars,” and in 2007, BBC Music Magazine Awards named them best “Newcomer of the Year.” A reviewer at “The Strad” wrote in June 2009, “In emotional terms, they seamlessly drifted between fervor and introspection - glorious quartet playing.”

The group is named for the Czech composer Pavel Haas (1899-1944), who was tragically deported from Czechoslovakia in 1941 and died at Auschwitz three years later.

The performance is sponsored by the Middlebury College Performing Arts Series. Reserved seating tickets are $24. A pre-performance lecture on the 90-year history of the Performing Arts Series begins at 7:15 p.m. and is free and open to the public. For more information or tickets, contact the Middlebury College Box Office at 802-443-6433 or http://go.middlebury.edu/tickets.