Miró Quartet
“Undeniably one of the finest modern string quartets that exists today, every moment here is precise, touching and memorable.”
in partnership with Chamber Music Society of Little Rock
Thursday, September 17 / 7:30 pm
Hillcrest Commons
2200 Kavanaugh Blvd., Little Rock, AR 72205
The Miró Quartet is one of America’s most celebrated string quartets, praised as “furiously committed” by The New Yorker and recognized for “exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity” by the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This GRAMMY®-nominated quartet has performed on the world’s most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from critics and audiences alike. Based in Austin, TX, and thriving on the area’s storied music scene, Miró takes pride in finding new ways to communicate with audiences of all backgrounds while cultivating the longstanding tradition of chamber music. https://miroquartet.com/
Photo Credit: Jeff Wilson
Program Details:
String Quartet in D major, Op. 71, No. 2
Joseph Haydn (1732-1809)
Entr’acte
Caroline Shaw (b. 1982)
Langsamer Satz
Anton Webern (1883–1945)
– Intermission –
String Quartet No. 15 in G major, D. 887 (Op. 161)
Franz Schubert (1797–1828)
Daniel Ching, violin
William Fedkenheuer, violin
John Largess, viola
Joshua Gindele, cello
One of America’s most celebrated string quartets, recognized for its “exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity”
Miró Quartet’s recent and upcoming projects include a touring and recording project with pianist Lara Downes titled Here on Earth, featuring musical depictions of our planet, its evolution, and the lives of its inhabitants; the premiere of a new version of Kevin Puts’ Credo with the Naples Philharmonic; and collaborations with composers Steven Banks, Tamar-Kali, and Gabriel Kahane, as well as soprano Karen Slack.
Having independently released many celebrated recordings for a variety of global labels, the Miró Quartet was nominated for a 2025 GRAMMY® Award for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance for its second album on Pentatone, Home, featuring two new commissions by Kevin Puts and Caroline Shaw, as well as works by George Walker and Samuel Barber.
It was nominated for a 2024 GRAMMY® Award for Best Choral Performance for House of Belonging, created in collaboration with Austin-based choral group Conspirare. The quartet recently produced an Emmy Award-winning audiovisual multimedia project titled Transcendence, a documentary centered around a performance of Franz Schubert’s Quartet in G Major on rare Stradivarius instruments, available on livestream, CD, and Blu-ray. Formed in 1995, the Miró Quartet was awarded first prize at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition.
Deeply committed to music education, members of the Quartet have given master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world, and since 2003 has served as the quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music. In 2005, the Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant. The Miró Quartet took its name and its inspiration from the Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose Surrealist works — with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory, dreams, and imaginative fantasy — are some of the most groundbreaking, influential, and admired of the 20th century.
“The ensemble played with lithe tempos and lean textures, beautifully balancing cool refinement and
intense expressivity.”
Anthony Tommasini, The New York Times
DANIEL CHING
VIOLIN
Daniel Ching, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his violin studies at the age of 3 under the tutelage of his father. At age 5, he entered the San Francisco Conservatory Preparatory Division on a full twelve‐year scholarship, where he studied violin with Serban Rusu and Zaven Melikian, and chamber music with Susan Bates. At the age of 10, Daniel was first introduced to string quartets. A graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music, Daniel studied violin with Kathleen Winkler, Roland and Almita Vamos; and conducting with Robert Spano and Peter Jaffe. He completed his Masters degree at the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with former Cleveland Quartet violinist Donald Weilerstein. He also studied recording engineering and production with Thomas Knab of Telarc, and subsequently engineered the Miró Quartet’s first promotional disc. Daniel is on faculty at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, where he teaches private violin students and coaches chamber music. He concurrently maintains an active international touring schedule as a member of the Miró Quartet.
Daniel is a discerning connoisseur of all things cinematic and electronic. Before he became a busy parent, Daniel was an avid skier and a dedicated reader of science fiction—he looks forward to returning to those passions, someday. In his free time, Daniel enjoys hosting happy hours with friends and lounging at home with his wife Sandy, their two sons, and two cats.
WILLIAM FEDKENHEUER
VIOLIN
Winner of the Lincoln Center Martin E. Segal Award, violinist William Fedkenheuer has distinguished himself as a versatile artist with international performances as fiddler, soloist, chamber, and orchestral musician. William’s touring in the United States has included performances at The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall Presents, San Francisco Performances, and the National Gallery. Abroad, he has performed at the American Academy in Rome, Fountainbleu, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, the Taipei National University of the Arts, and in Austria at the famed Esterhazy Castle for the Haydn Festival in Eisenstadt.
Violinist of the Miró Quartet and on the faculty of the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin, William made his solo violin debut with the Calgary Philharmonic in 1994. William went on to receive a Bachelor of Music from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music under the tutelage of Kathleen Winkler and continued his graduate studies with Miriam Fried at Indiana University with influential summers at Ravinia’s Steans Music Institute and the Tanglewood Music Center. Previously a member of the Borromeo and Fry Street Quartets, William has taught on the faculties of the New England Conservatory of Music and the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University. Winner of numerous local and national fiddling competitions, from the age of 7 William toured the world as a country western fiddler both individually and as a member of The Calgary Fiddlers.
An active hiker, fly-fisherman, burger and French-fry addict, William has two sons, Max and Olli, and two dogs, Archibald and Lulu. William performs on bows by Charles Espey and Ole Kanestrom and a violin by Peter and Wendy Moes.
JOHN LARGESS
VIOLA
Violist John Largess began his studies in Boston at age 12 in the public schools, studying with Michael Zaretsky of the Boston Symphony, and later as a student of Michael Tree at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. In 1995, he graduated from Yale University to join the Colorado String Quartet as interim violist with whom he toured the United States and Canada, teaching and concertizing. The following year he was appointed principal violist of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra in South Carolina, a position he held until joining the Miró Quartet in 1997. Also an active speaker and writer about all things chamber‐musical, in 2004 Mr. Largess was invited to give a week‐long audience lecture series as a part of the Eighth International String Quartet Competition at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Alberta, Canada; he repeated this series in 2007 and again in 2010.
With his training in Greek and Latin Literature and his Bachelor’s degree in Archeology from Yale University, as well as studies at the Hebrew University in Israel, he has participated in excavations in Greece, Israel, and Jordan. John loves to cook gourmet cuisine, particularly French pastry and fine desserts; luckily, he also enjoys exercising. John is a trained yoga instructor, having studied Vinyasa Power Yoga with Baron Baptiste. He also practices Kundalini, Bikram, and Astanga styles, and teaches yoga at 24-Hour Fitness and the Bodhi Yoga studio in Austin, Texas where he lives. When not standing on his head, he enjoys making his Tibetan Singing Bowl sing.
John serves as Senior Lecturer and Coordinator of String Chamber Music at the University of Texas at Austin Butler School of Music.
JOSHUA GINDELE
CELLO
Cellist Joshua Gindele, a founding member of the Miró Quartet, began his cello studies at the age of 3 playing a viola his teacher had fitted with an endpin. As cellist for the Miró, Josh has taken first prizes at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. In 2005, the Miró Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.
He has shared the stage with some of the classical world’s most renowned artists including Yo-Yo Ma, The New York Philharmonic, Pinchas Zukerman, Joshua Bell, Midori, Andre Watts, and Menahem Pressler. He continues to perform across four continents and on some of the world’s most prestigious concert stages.
In 2006 Joshua co‐founded www.classicallounge.com. This is an online networking site where you can meet musicians, both professional and amateur, discover new talent or get discovered, share music, post and get concert information, share opinions, post classified ads and much more. The site was sold to www.classicalconnection.com in August of 2009.
Deeply committed to music education, the Miró is currently the Faculty String Quartet-in-Residence at the Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music at the University of Texas at Austin.
An active gym rat and tennis player, Josh and his wife, Rebecca, have a son and daughter, George and Nora.