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 *Photo courtesy of Jackie Iannotti (www.avenuephoto.ca) The Alaya String Quartet Sheila Jaffé, violin |
alaya - indivisible; the root of all beings and things Based in Montréal, Canada, the Alaya String Quartet is comprised of four young women studying at l'Université de Montréal. Winners of the chamber music category in the Festival de Musique Classique du Bas-Richelieu, the quartet is currently coached by Johanne Perron and Jutta Puchhammer-Sédillot. The quartet was founded in 2004 as the Cadenza String Quartet. The original members were violinists Olga Rykov and Brenna Hardy-Kavanagh, violist Shasta Ellenbogen and cellist Sonya Matoussova. Together they recorded a successful demo CD and won the James Rattray Wilson Trophy for their performance of the Adagio from Samuel Barber's String Quartet at the Ottawa Kiwanis Music Festival. In 2005, the quartet welcomed violinist Siobhan Deshauer and violist Emilie Grimes. Their performance of Antonin Dvorak's String Quartet No.12 "America" earned them the opportunity to compete in the Kiwanis Music Festival Provincial Finals. The Cadenza String Quartet performed their first full-length recital program in June 2006, with string quartets by Dvorak and Mozart. Thus began a tradition of spring concerts. In 2007, their recital program included works by Shostakovich and Smetana. 2008 brought many changes for the ensemble. Under their new name, the Alaya String Quartet, they began the season by welcoming their newest member, violinist Sheila Jaffé. Debut concerts in Montréal, Laval and Ottawa included works by Beethoven and Borodin, and featured guest musicians Nikita Morozov and Adel Zakirov in Tchaikovsky's string sextet Souvenir de Florence. The Alaya String Quartet recorded their first demo CD (Beethoven's String Quartet in C minor, Op. 18 No. 4) in April 2008, and some of the tracks are available on the quartet's Facebook profile. Upcoming projects include performances of string quartets by Debussy, Haydn, Mozart and Ravel. |
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Upcoming PerformancesFebruary 6th, 2009 at 8PM - Glebe-St. James "Young Artist" Series Past PerformancesDecember 14th, 2008 at 2:30PM - Concert with Montréal wind quintet Aquilon
"Excellente prestation. Bel équilibre entre les instruments. Très bon style. Le jeu est soigné et toujours vivant. Bravo!" --- Guy Carmichaël, Festival de Musique Classique du Bas-Richelieu, May 2008 "Congratulations on a wonderful concert! I brought along a few friends. One of them told me just before you starting playing, he had never been to a quartet concert before! He really enjoyed it and you definitely opened his mind to this form of music." --- Guy Harrison, Spring Concert, June 2007 "I just want you to know that I enjoyed last night's concert immensely (as I did last year's!); I hope it wasn't the last opportunity I will have to hear you play together. In particular, the Tango "Chromatique" was an excellent selection to finish with, providing a beautifully relaxing resolution after the tension of Shostakovich (whose challenging piece I thought you executed marvelously, by the way)." --- Dean Morewood, Spring Concert, June 2007 "Your performance was remarkable. I congratulate you on your level of musicianship and professionalism." --- Chris Hounsome, Kiwanis Music Festival, April 2006 "I just wanted to say thanks again to you for doing such a wonderful job. You all play so beautifully, and it was an absolute pleasure to hear you perform." --- Jonathan Neva, Recording Session, March 2006 Back to the Cadenza Strings Ensembles page. |
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