STONY BROOK, N.Y., February 9, 2006—The Emerson String Quartet, one of the world’s leading classical performers and Artists-in Residence at Stony Brook University, were winners at the 48th Grammy Awards held in Los Angeles last night. The Emerson String Quartet, which was nominated in two performance categories and one engineer’s category, received the Grammy for Best Chamber Music Performance for Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets.
Da-Hong Seetoo, who engineered the group’s Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets, received the Grammy for Best Engineered Classical Album, Classical. The Emerson String Quartet had also been nominated for Best Classical Album for that recording.
The Grammys are the music industry’s biggest and most celebrated awards. Produced by The Recording Academy®, the event draws the leading music performers, industry executives, and celebrities to a national live broadcast.
Comprised on Eugene Drucker (violin), Philip Setzer (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), and David Finckel (cello), the group is acclaimed for its insightful performances, brilliant artistry, and technical mastery. Among the world's foremost chamber ensembles, the group has amassed an impressive list of achievements: a brilliant series of recordings exclusively documented by Deutsche Grammophon since 1987; seven Grammy Awards including two unprecedented honors for Best Classical Album; three Gramophone Magazine Awards and performances of the complete cycles of Beethoven, Bartók and Shostakovich quartets in major concert halls throughout the world.
The ensemble is lauded globally as a string quartet that approaches both classical and contemporary repertoire with equal mastery and enthusiasm. For a quarter of a century, the group has collaborated with such artists as Emanuel Ax, Misha Dichter, Leon Fleisher, the Guarneri String Quartet, Thomas Hampson, Lynn Harrell, Barbara Bonney, Barbara Hendricks, the Kalichstein-Laredo-Robinson Trio, Menahem Pressler, Mstislav Rostropovich, David Shifrin, Richard Stoltzman and the late Isaac Stern and Oscar Shumsky.
“We are so proud of the Emerson String Quartet for what they contribute not only to the University, but also to the cultural fabric of the region, the country, and the world,” said Stony Brook University President Shirley Strum Kenny.
“The Emerson String Quartet has contributed mightily to the development of a terrific Department of Music at Stony Brook,” said Provost Robert McGrath.
Previous Grammy winners from Stony Brook include Gilbert Kalish, a Leading Professor and Head of Performance Activities, and an internationally known pianist; and Christine Goerke, a soprano who has appeared with the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera, who is a 1994 graduate of Stony Brook’s music program.
