Ying Quartet

HONOLULU (October 18, 2006)-The Honolulu Chamber Music Series (HCMS) will present its second concert of the season, the Grammy award-winning Ying Quartet, on Saturday, November 11, at 7:30 p.m. in the intimate Orvis Auditorium on the grounds of the UH Manoa campus. HCMS will host a free, informal discussion with the artists prior to the concert, at 6:30 p.m. in the UH Music Bldg., Rm. 36.

Timothy Ying (violin), Janet Ying (violin), Phillip Ying (viola) and David Ying (cello) make up the all-sibling quartet. Now in its second decade, the Ying Quartet continues to develop ways of making artistic and creative expression an essential part of everyday life. Natives of Chicago, the Ying siblings began their career as an ensemble in 1992 in the farm town of Jesup, Iowa (population 2000) as the first recipients of a National Endowment for the Arts grant to support chamber music in rural America. The Ying Quartet participated fully in the community, performing on countless occasions for audiences of six to 600 people in a residency so successful that it was widely chronicled in both the national and international media, including features in the New York Times and on CBS Sunday Morning.

Winners of the 2006 Grammy Award for "Best Classical Crossover" (for an album with the Turtle Island String Quartet), they are also embracing an Asian perspective on Western classical music with their program offering entitled "Dim Sum."

The full "dim sum menu" for the Ying's Honolulu concert is as follows:

* Mozart: K. 458

* A Musical Dim Sum: a selection of Chinese-American works

* Smetana No. 1

"The brilliant ensemble dished out musical morsels from contemporary Chinese American composers...the music spoke of a shared, artful ability to meld traditional Chinese and Western sounds," said The Washington Post of a recent concert.

The Ying Quartet won recognition for its exceptional musical qualities when it was honored with the 1993 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In the years since, the Yings have established an international reputation for excellence in performance with appearances in virutually every major American city. The Quartet's 2004-2005 season included five concerts in New York City, four at Harvard University, and concerts in Anchorage, Atlanta, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Salt Lake City. Its numerous festival appearances include Tanglewood, Aspen, Skaneateles and San Miguel; international touring has taken the Quartet to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan and Taiwan.

Single tickets are $35 ($20 students and Honolulu Symphony musicians) and are on sale now. They are available online at

www.etickethawaii.com, by phone at 483-7123 (Aloha Stadium charge line) or at any UH Ticket Outlet (University of Hawaii at Manoa Campus Center, Rainbowtique, Windward Community College OCET Office, Stan Sheriff Center). Service charges apply. Tickets may also be purchased (if available) at the Orvis Auditorium Box Office before each concert beginning one hour before curtain.

The HCMS 2006-2007 season is presented in partnership with theOutreach College and the Music Department of the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the Arthur and Mae Orvis Foundation.

Founded in 1955, HCMS is dedicated to bringing world-class chamber music to Honolulu. As a result of bringing these fine artists to the Islands as part of its series, presenting organizations elsewhere in Hawaii are often able to host additional concerts in their communities, allowing extended tours to Hawaii that otherwise would not be possible. HCMS has presented nearly 300 concerts by the world's top ensembles, including the Borodin and Beaux Arts Piano Trios, the Cleveland, Guarneri, Juilliard, Takacs and Tokyo Quartets, and a variety of mixed ensembles, from wind quintets to early and modern music ensembles. Part of HCMS's mission is also to present the human voice in a chamber setting, and thanks to a generous grant from the Orvis Foundation, one concert on each season will be dedicated to vocal art.