QNG - recorder collective

Susanne Fröhlich
Andrea Guttmann
Hannah Pape
Heide Schwarz

• First Prize, 2006 German Music Competition
• First Prize, 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition

www.quartetnewgeneration.com

Hailed as “Four Recorder Virtuosos” by The New York Times, QNG—Quartet New Generation took top honors at the 2004 Concert Artists Guild International Competition. QNG mesmerizes its audiences through innovative programming that juxtaposes contemporary and early music. Performing on upwards of 20 different recorders of varying sizes and shapes during the course of a typical performance, the Quartet transports the listener into new sonic worlds, confirming the recorder’s viability as a modern classical instrument.

During the 2007-08 season QNG performs two recitals at the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton and has concerts at the University of Nevada at Reno, the Center for International Studies at the University of Missouri at St. Louis and the Da Camera Society in Los Angeles. In addition to two US tours, the season also includes a tour of Japan and numerous European performances.

Following its successful US debut in 2004 at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the ensemble has performed in the US at the Detroit Institute of Art, the Pittsburgh Chamber Music Society, the Chautauqua Institution, Merkin Concert Hall, Regina Quick Center at St. Bonaventure University, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, University of Chicago Presents, Purdue University Convocations and the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. Additional appearances at the Brooklyn Academy of Music’s BAM Café and Barbes Bar and Performance Space are part of CAG’s New Music/New Places initiative.

Taking advantage of the large recorder family and its flexibility, QNG is constantly searching for new possibilities of sound and expression. The instruments played by the Quartet include a large number of accurate copies of authentic historical instruments plus modern recorders called Pätzoldbasses. These square box-like recorders produce a different structure of overtones based on those of organ pipes and therefore a specific extraordinary sound, which is further enhanced by the percussive nature of the keys.

The diversity of the instruments, paired with QNG’s theatrical flair and high-intensity performance mode, inspires composers to write in fresh and exciting ways that define the music of our time. With a large repertoire of European works, the collective has begun commissioning American composers. These pieces include Stephen Taylor’s Flow for Recorder Quartet and Strings (world premiere by QNG and the New Philharmonic led by Kirk Muspratt) and new works by Daniel Bernard Roumain, Gordon Beeferman and Nissim Schaul (world premieres on the CAG New Works Series at Symphony Space). Bernard Roumain, Gordon Beeferman and Nissim Schaul (world premieres on the CAG New Works Series at Symphony Space).

QNG—Quartet New Generation was founded in September 1998 at the Amsterdam Conservatoire and the University of the Arts, Berlin. The collective was also awarded the top prizes at the German Music Competition in Bonn, Germany; the International Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition for Contemporary Music in the Netherlands; the International Chamber Music Competition for Contemporary Music in Poland; and the ‘13ème Concours International de Musique de Chambre’ in France.