The Tokyo String Quartet, regarded as one of the world's leading string quartets, will perform at Ball State University at 8 p.m. Jan. 25 as part of the Arts Alive Series, sponsored by the College of Fine Arts. The final concert of the inaugural music series showcases the $21 million Music Instruction Building. Ball State's newest building features cutting-edge digital recording studios and the 600-seat, "tunable" David and Mary Jane Sursa Performance Hall, in which the quartet will play.

The quartet has released more than 30 recordings, including interpretations of Beethoven, Schubert and Bartók. The ensemble's members – violist Kazuhide Isomura, violinists Martin Beaver and Kikuei Ikeda and cellist Clive Greensmith – have performed in New York, Paris, Amsterdam, Beijing, Sydney, Madrid and Berlin.

"The Tokyo String Quartet has been a highly regarded ensemble for quite some time," said Robert Kvam, dean of the College of Fine Arts. "They are currently artists-in-residence at Yale University where, according to Robert Blocker, dean of the Yale School of Music, 'they are performing better than ever.'"

The ensemble formed at the Juilliard School of Music in 1969 and has served as the quartet-in-residence at Yale since 1976. The Grammy-nominated group won "Best Chamber Music Recording of the Year" from Stereo Review and Gramophone magazines. The musicians have also appeared on such television programs as "Sesame Street," "CBS Sunday Morning," PBS's "Great Performances" and "CNN This Morning."

"An interesting note, the quartet will be performing on 'the Paganini Quartet,' a group of renowned Stradivarius instruments named for classical violinist Niccolò Paganini," said Peter McAllister, director of the School of Music. "The instruments have been on loan to the ensemble by the Nippon Music Foundation for the last 10 years."    

Tickets for the Tokyo String Quartet are available at the Emens Box Office, open 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Admission is $35. Tickets are also available at Ticketmaster's Web site. For more information, call the School of Music at (765) 285-5842 or the Box Office at (765) 285-1539.

For more information, contact McAllister.

by Leslie Benson, student writer