2008 Woodie Awards
String quartet featuring two UW-Whitewater professors to perform on campus
Brandon Gorman
Issue date: 1/23/08 Section: Web Extras
The Ancora String Quartet, a musical group based in Madison, will perform at the Light Recital Hall Jan 29. at 7:30 p.m.
The quartet contains two UW-Whitewater faculty members, Benjamin Whitcomb and Leanne Kelso League. Whitcomb, Associate Professor of Cello & Music Theory at UW-Whitewater, joined the group in 2003.
"We've been playing for nearly 6 years," Whitcomb said. "There are not a lot of quartets that stay together that long."
The quartet will perform two diverse pieces of music. The first, a quartet by Baroque music composer Antonio Vivaldi, is very complex and is played in four different movements. It is the only work Vivaldi wrote for a string quartet.
"You may not recognize it by name, but you'll recognize it when you hear it," Whitcomb said.
The second piece is by 19th century Spanish composer Juan Arriaga, who was also known as the "Spanish Mozart." Arriaga was a child prodigy who died at the age of 19 but composed several operas, symphonies, and quartets before his death. The group will be playing the second of three string quartets Arriaga wrote.
"It's a little bit romantic with some Spanish flavor," Whitcomb said. "It's like Mozart with bullfighting."
Tickets are available in advance and at the door beginning 45 minutes prior to start of concert. Tickets are $7 for the general public, $6 for those 65 and older, and $3 for UW-Whitewater students and those under the age of 18.
"You'll hear great tunes that you'll spend the rest of the day humming," Whitcomb said. "These will be pieces you'll really come to love."
For more information on the quartet, visit www.ancorastringquartet.com
The quartet contains two UW-Whitewater faculty members, Benjamin Whitcomb and Leanne Kelso League. Whitcomb, Associate Professor of Cello & Music Theory at UW-Whitewater, joined the group in 2003.
"We've been playing for nearly 6 years," Whitcomb said. "There are not a lot of quartets that stay together that long."
The quartet will perform two diverse pieces of music. The first, a quartet by Baroque music composer Antonio Vivaldi, is very complex and is played in four different movements. It is the only work Vivaldi wrote for a string quartet.
"You may not recognize it by name, but you'll recognize it when you hear it," Whitcomb said.
The second piece is by 19th century Spanish composer Juan Arriaga, who was also known as the "Spanish Mozart." Arriaga was a child prodigy who died at the age of 19 but composed several operas, symphonies, and quartets before his death. The group will be playing the second of three string quartets Arriaga wrote.
"It's a little bit romantic with some Spanish flavor," Whitcomb said. "It's like Mozart with bullfighting."
Tickets are available in advance and at the door beginning 45 minutes prior to start of concert. Tickets are $7 for the general public, $6 for those 65 and older, and $3 for UW-Whitewater students and those under the age of 18.
"You'll hear great tunes that you'll spend the rest of the day humming," Whitcomb said. "These will be pieces you'll really come to love."
For more information on the quartet, visit www.ancorastringquartet.com
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