Formosa Quartet

Concert

Formosa Quartet in concert Jan. 12 at Holy Names

Piedmont native Wayne Lee and the Formosa Quartet will return to the Bay Area

this Saturday, January 12, for a 7:30 p.m. concert in Regents Theatre at Holy

Names University, 3500 Mountain Blvd. in Oakland.

Sponsored by Berkeley-

based Four Seasons Arts, it is part of their 2018-19 season of programs.

Advance tickets are available online at www.fsarts.org

or by calling 510-845-4444.

The program will include Wei-Chieh Lin’s Pasibutbut, written in 2013,

Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 11, and Shostakovich’s String

Quartet No. 3 in F major, Op. 73.

The Formosa Quartet, consisting of Jasmine Lin and Wayne Lee on violin, Che-

Yen Chen, viola and Deborah Pae, cello, is the resident quarter of the annual

Piedmont Chamber Music Festival, held at the Piedmont Center for the Arts

every August.

Winner of both the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the London international

String Quartet Competition, Formosa Quartet is “one of the very best quartets of

their generation.” according to David Soyer, the cellist with Guarneri Quartet.

Hailed as “spellbinding” (BBC Music Magazine) and “remarkably fine”

(Gramophone), Formosa has given critically acclaimed performances at the

Ravinia Festival, the Caramoor Festival, the Library of Congress, the Da Camera

Society of Los Angeles, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Walter Reade Theater

at Lincoln Center, Rice University, San Francisco State University, and London’s

Wigmore Hall, and has recorded on the EMI, New World Records, and Delos

labels.

Formed in 2002 when the four founding members came together for a concert

tour of Taiwan, Formosa Quartet is deeply committed to championing Taiwanese

music and promoting the arts in the land of its heritage, as well as exploring

diverse and adventurous mediums for string quartet.

Formosa Quartet has played a leading role in actively commissioning new works,

contributing significantly to the modern string quartet repertory, including

Pasibutbut composed by Wei-Chieh Lin. Pasibutbut is the prayer song for a rich

millet harvest from the Bunun Tribe, one of the most prominent aboriginal tribes

in Taiwan. The song is performed by six to ten of the most successful and

religious tribe members and ends when the group achieves the holiest and most

harmonious intonation.