Шанхайский квартет: История и современность

String quartet located in Shanghai, China
The Shanghai Quartet is a string quartet that formed in 1983. The quartet is made up of: first violinist Weigang Li, second violinist Angelo Xiang Yu, violist Honggang Li, and cellist Nicholas Tzavaras. On November 20, 2020 the ensemble announced the newest member, Angelo Xiang Yu. The Shanghai Quartet accepted the resignation of former second violinist Yi Wen Jiang on March 17, 2020. The group's tours have included North America, South America, Japan, China, Australia, New Zealand, and Europe. Among their performances, the Shanghai Quartet has developed a long list of performance collaborators including Yo Yo Ma, David Soyer, Eugenia Zukerman, Sharon Isbin, Ruth Laredo, Arnold Steinhardt, and Chanticleer.

The group was formed in 1983 at the Shanghai Conservatory in China. In 1984 the quartet was selected by the Ministry of Culture (China) to compete at the Portsmouth International Quartet Competition in England where they won 2nd prize. The group then left China in 1985 to study at Northern Illinois University with the Vermeer Quartet until 1987. In 1989 they became the quartet in residence at the University of Richmond. They then were established as artists in residency at the John J. Cali School of Music at Montclair State University in New Jersey where they are currently located. A documentary film by Hal Rifken, titled "Behind the Strings", was released in 2020, telling the adventuresome history of the musicians through their westward journeys out of the Cultural Revolution in China to their current lives on stage and at home in the US.

Weigang Li is a native of Shanghai and began studying the violin at age five under the instruction of his parents. He began formal music education at the Shanghai Conservatory when he was 14 years old. In 1981 he studied at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music through an exchange program with the Shanghai Conservatory. Upon finishing his studies in 1985, Weigang became an assistant violin professor at Shanghai. He then left China to study at Northern Illinois University. From 1987 to 1989, he studied at the Juilliard School and was a teaching assistant to the Juilliard String Quartet. Weigang has been the first violinist for the Shanghai Quartet since its inception.

Angelo Xiang Yu was born in Inner Mongolia China and grew up in Shanghai. His early musical training was with violinist Qing Zheng at the Shanghai Conservatory. His first major international award was First Prize in the 2010 Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition. He is the recipient of a 2019 Avery Fisher Career Grant and a 2019 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. Yu received his Bachelor's and Master's degrees and an Artist Diploma from the New England Conservatory. His teachers include Donald Weilerstein and Miriam Fried. Mr. Yu was chosen to be a member of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s The Bowers Program, joining in the fall of 2018.

Honggang Li began his musical studies playing the violin like his brother Weigang, and formed the quartet with him He first attended the Beijing Conservatory and then the Shanghai Conservatory where he became a faculty member in 1984. Later in the United States, he became a teaching assistant at the Juilliard School in New York City. Honggang has been a soloist with the Shanghai Philharmonic and the Shanghai Conservatory Orchestra. In 1987 he was given a prize at the Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy by Elisa Pegreffi.

Year Title Label Features 1994 Grieg and Mendelssohn Quartets Delos Mendelssohn Quartet No.2 in A major and Grieg Quartet in G minor, Op.27 1994 Spirit Murmur Delos Works by Alan Hovhaness including Three Bagatelles for String Quartet, Op. 30, String Quartet No. 1, Op. 8, and Suite from String Quartet No. 2 1995 Music for a Sunday Morning Delos Eugenia Zukerman and Anthony Newman, includes Ginastera Impresiones de la Puna, J. S. Bach Overture, Suite No. 2 in B minor BWV 1067 1995 Heigh Ho Mozart (only tracks) Delos 1996 Mozart's Last Two Quartets Delos Includes Quartet No. 22 B flat major K. 589 and Quartet No. 23 in F major K. 590 1997 The Hovhaness Collection (only tracks) Delos 1998 Shanghai Quartet Plays Brahms Delos Arnold Steinhardt, includes Quartet No. 3, Op. 67, Quintet No. 1, Op. 88 1998 Flowing Stream Delos Min Xiao Fen, includes Zhou Long Chinese Folk Songs (arr.) and Poems from Tang 2000 Brahms Piano Quartets Arabesque Recordings Ruth Laredo, includes Quartet No. 1 in G minor, Op. 25, Quartet No. 3 in C minor, Op. 60, and Quartet No. 2 in A major, Op. 26 2001 Shanghai Quartet performs Ravel and Bridge Delos Includes Maurice Ravel String Quartet in F major, Frank Bridge Quartet in E minor, and Frank Bridge Novelletten 2002 Chinasong Delos Includes traditional and popular Chinese folk songs arranged for string quartet by Yi Wen Jiang. Also features flautist Eugenia Zukerman. 2003 Bright Sheng: Silent Temple Bis Includes New Music from Composer Bright Sheng for Piano Trio as well as music for piano, strings, and pipa, a traditional Chinese instrument. 2004 Beethoven: The Razumovsky Quartets Delos Includes Beethoven String Quartet No. 8 in E minor, Op. 59/2, and No. 9 in C major, Op. 59/3 2005 Melinda and Melinda Soundtrack (only tracks) Milan Records Soundtrack for a Woody Allen Film, String Quartet No. 4 2005 Dvorák: String Quartet No. 12 "The American"; Mendelssohn: String Octet Camerata 2007 Beethoven: String Quartets CD Accord 2007 Beethoven: String Quartets Camerata Op. 18, Nos. 1 3 2008 Beethoven: String Quartets Camerata Op. 18, Nos. 4 6