Concerts to feature rare Brahms sextets

The iconic Miró Quartet will be joined by two members of the highly regarded Tokyo String Quartet for two Buffalo performances of the seldom-heard sextets of Brahms.

The concerts will take place at 8 p.m. Nov. 15 in the Mary Seaton Room at Kleinhans Music Hall and at 7:30 p.m. Nov. 16 in Lippes Concert Hall in Slee Hall on the UB North Campus.

Joining the Miró for the concerts are violinist Martin Beaver and cellist Clive Greensmith, both members of the now-disbanded Tokyo String Quartet.

They will perform Brahms’ “Quartet in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2” and “Sextet for Strings in B-flat Major, Op. 18” at Kleinhans and the composer’s “Quartet in C minor, Op. 51, No. 1” and “Sextet for Strings in G Major, Op. 36” at UB.

Tickets for the Kleinhans concert are $25; all student are admitted free. Tickets can be purchased through the Buffalo Chamber Music Society or by phone at 716-462-4939.

Tickets for the UB performance are $15 for the general public and $10 for UB faculty/staff/alumni, seniors and non-UB students. UB students are free with ID. Tickets can be purchased at the Center for the Arts box office, at www.tickets.com or one hour before concert time at the Slee box office.

Both concerts, part of UB’s Slee/Visiting Artist Series, are presented by the Department of Music and the Buffalo Chamber Music Society.

Prior to the concerts, members of the Miró will conduct a master class at 4 p.m. Nov. 14 in Baird Recital Hall, 250 Baird Hall, North Campus. The class is free and open to the public.

This month’s appearance at UB by the Miró marks the third straight season the quartet has performed at the university.

Based in Austin, Texas, the ensemble takes its name from Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose surrealist works — with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory and imaginative fantasy — are some of the most original of the 20th century.

The group is consistently praised for its deeply musical interpretations, exciting performances and thoughtful programming. Career highlights include a highly anticipated and sold-out return to Carnegie Hall to perform Beethoven’s complete Opus 59 quartets; collaborations with award-winning actor Stephen Dillane as part of Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival; and taking first prizes at several national and international competitions, among them the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition.

In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.

Both Martin Beaver and Clive Greensmith were members of the Tokyo String Quartet until the ensemble disbanded following the retirements of violist Kazuhide Isomura and second violinist Kikuei Ikeda after the 2012-13 season.

Beaver, first violinist of the Toyko Quartet, is known for his technical agility, versatility, warm tone and prodigious memory for the violin repertoire. A faculty member at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, he remains active in both chamber music and as a soloist, and has established the Montrose Trio with pianist Jon Kimura Parker and cellist Greensmith.

Greensmith, currently on the faculty of the Manhattan School of Music, also has held the position of principal cellist of London’s Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. As a soloist, he has appeared with a number of prestigious ensembles, including the London Symphony Orchestra, the Royal Philharmonic and English Chamber Orchestra, among others. He has won several prizes, including second place in the inaugural “Premio Stradivari” in Cremona, Italy.