Liz Freivogel

Bio

Liz Freivogel is the founding and current violist of the Jupiter String Quartet, formed in 2001. See more about the quartet at their website: http://jupiterquartet.com. You can also visit them on Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/jupiterquartet/.

Liz has a large studio of viola students at the University of Illinois, and also helps to run the chamber music program. The Jupiter Quartet are Artists-in-Residence at the U of I, and often perform around campus, as well as at the stunning Krannert Center for the Performing Arts (located on campus). The members of the quartet include her sister, Meg Freivogel, and her brother-in-law, Daniel McDonough, as well as violinist Nelson Lee. The ensemble concertizes and teaches across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, Mexico, and South America. Ms. Freivogel has enjoyed playing with the quartet at some of the world’s finest halls, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. In addition, the Jupiters have been enthusiastically received at many major music festivals, including the Aspen Music Festival (where they recently performed their first complete Beethoven quartet cycle), the Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, the Yellow Barn Festival, the Bard Festival, the Skaneateles Festival, the Austin Chamber Music Festival, the Seoul Spring Festival, the Banff Centre, and Madeline Island Music Camp.The quartet has received numerous accolades, including grand prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand prize in the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, first prize in the Young Concert Artists International Auditions, membership in the Lincoln Center Chamber Music Society’s Chamber Music Two, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and an Avery Fischer Career Grant.

Individually, Ms. Freivogel also won prizes in the Primrose International Viola Competition, Oberlin Concerto Competition, American String Teachers Association Competition National Solo Competition, and the Wendell-Irish Viola Competition. Ms. Freivogel’s teaching experience includes visiting residency positions at Oberlin Conservatory, Adelphi University, and Spivey Hall (Atlanta). She has also served as guest faculty during shorter-term residencies at the Peabody Institute of Music, Boston Conservatory, Madeline Island Music Camp, the Colorado Suzuki Festival, Fischoff Chamber Music Mentoring Program, Oberlin Conservatory Panama Project, and the Austin Chamber Music Festival. She has given masterclasses at the Cleveland Institute of Music, Peabody Institute, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, New England Conservatory Preparatory Program, SUNY Buffalo, Northwestern University, University of Toronto, and many others.

In addition to playing the traditional masterworks of the chamber music literature, the Jupiter Quartet has worked intensively with some of today’s brightest composers: they have commissioned string quartets from Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.

The quartet’s latest album, “Alchemy” (Marquis Classics) with Australian pianist Bernadette Harvey features four works commissioned by Arizona Friends of Chamber Music: Pierre Jalbert’s Piano Quintet (2017); Steven Stucky’s Piano Quartet (2005); and Carl Vine’s Fantasia for Piano Quintet (2013); and Pierre Jalbert’s Secret Alchemy for violin, viola, cello, and piano (2012). All but Secret Alchemy are world premiere recordings. EarRelevant proclaims, “Performed with great sensitivity and attention to detail, this album marks an important addition to the recorded repertory of new chamber music.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records, Marquis Classics, and Deutsche Grammophon.

Both Ms. Freivogel and the Jupiter String Quartet feel that developing relationships with future audiences through engagement work in the community is an essential skill for all musicians. They have performed hundreds of educational concerts for all ages, as well as given numerous masterclasses and lectures to aspiring musicians across the globe. Locally, they have collaborated with the departments of Dance, Theater, Physics, Musicology, Art, Music Theory, Vocal Studies, and the Beckman Institute, as well as with current students.

Ms. Freivogel grew up in a musical family, playing string quartets with her three siblings from a young age. Three of the four siblings are now professional string quartet musicians (the fourth became a physicist). She feels extremely grateful to have benefited from the wisdom of many great music teachers, and hopes to pass on as much of this wisdom as possible to her own students in the years to come.