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The Indianapolis Quartet launches fourth season with Oct. 28 performance at University of Indianapolis

indianapolis quartet

Featuring guest musicians Carrie Dennis on viola and Nicholas Canellakis on cello

The Indianapolis Quartet is set to launch their fourth season of concerts at the University of Indianapolis. They will perform works for quartet and sextet at Ruth Lilly Hall at the Christel DeHaan Fine Arts Center at 7:30 p.m. on Monday, October 28. The program also features guest artists Carrie Dennis, viola, and Nicholas Canellakis, cello. This Faculty Artist Concert Series event, sponsored by Katz, Sapper & Miller, is open to the public and admission is free.

The Indianapolis Quartet
The Indianapolis Quartet

With fresh inspiration from a busy summer that included festival and live radio performances, the Indianapolis Quartet’s new season of concerts has gotten underway on the road. An early October residency at Arizona State University featured performances and master classes at the school and in the community. They are also to be the featured ensemble at the Indiana State University Contemporary Music Festival October 23-25.

Download a photo of the Indianapolis Quartet.

Their October 28 UIndy program includes the second string quartet by New York City-based composer Robert Paterson. The quartet presented his first quartet last season, and will debut his third quartet later this season. They will also perform Mozart’s String Quartet in D major, K. 575—an expressive and brilliant vehicle for the cello. This quartet is among the last three that Mozart wrote, and they were composed for the King of Prussia who was an amateur cellist. The program closes with Brahms’ B-flat major string sextet—a warm, lyrical, romantic work by a 27-year-old Brahms. The setting of six string parts was a rarity in 1860, and Brahms chose this combination of instruments specifically because of that.

Carrie Dennis and Nicholas Canellakis will join the Indianapolis Quartet for the Brahms. Both graduates of the Curtis Institute of Music, Dennis has served as associate principal viola with the Philadelphia Orchestra, solo viola for the Berlin Philharmonic, and more recently, principal viola of the Los Angeles Philharmonic from 2008 to 2016. In addition to her orchestral career, Dennis is an avid chamber musician and has toured with Musicians from Marlboro.

Canellakis’ recent highlights include his Carnegie Hall concerto debut with the American Symphony Orchestra and featured solo appearances with the orchestras of Albany, Delaware, Lansing, Bangor, New Haven, and Erie. He has also toured Europe and Asia with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and is performing recitals throughout the United States with his long-time duo collaborator, pianist-composer Michael Brown. He is a regular guest artist at many of the world’s leading music festivals, and he was recently named artistic director of Chamber Music Sedona.

About The Indianapolis Quartet (TIQ)
TIQ’s palpable rapport and interpretive skill bring about concert experiences of a unique musical language and emotional performance style that has earned the group critical praise and audience appeal. First violinist Zachary DePue, former concertmaster of Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra (ISO), is in demand as a leader, soloist, collaborator, and improvisational artist. Second violinist Joana Genova is an assistant professor at the University of Indianapolis and maintains a busy performing schedule while also serving as co-artistic director of the Taconic Music festival in Vermont. Violist Michael Isaac Strauss was principal of ISO for 20 years. He now performs around the country as a soloist, recitalist, and in chamber ensemble settings. As the viola teacher at Youngstown State University and the University of Indianapolis, he devotes significant energy to developing young violists. Prize-winning cellist Austin Huntington was appointed principal of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra at the age of 20 and now also serves on the faculty at UIndy.

TIQ is quartet-in-residence at the University of Indianapolis and is grateful for support from the Christel DeHaan Family Foundation.

More information can be found at indianapolisquartet.com or by calling 317-788-3255.