The Radian String Quartet
Mary Beth Woodruff, violin
Basil Vendryes, viola
Andrew Smith, cello
With guest artist Robert Thies, piano
The Radian String Quartet returns to the Santa Ynez Valley Concert Series with Guest Artist Robert Thies
with an ambitious program of string masterworks including the Mozart Piano Quartet in E flat major
and the Brahms Piano Quartet in C minor.
Mary Beth Woodruff studied at the New England Conservatory of Music and received her masters at Carnegie- Mellon. Ms. Woodruff formally on faculty at Biola University Conservatory and a soloist and concert master with orchestras around the world, currently is on faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts and various festivals, Concertmaster for the Santa Maria Philharmonic. Ms.Woodruff is the Founding Artistic Director of Santa Barbara Strings.
Basil Vendryes, is Principal Violist for the Colorado Symphony Orchestra and performs extensively as a soloist and chamber musician. He is a renowned teacher at festivals throughout the world and is on faculty at the Lamont School of Music at University of Denver.
Andrew Smith is a member of the Cerberus Trio, Camerata Deia and a founding member of The Adriatic Chamber Music Festival in Italy. He is the Principal Cellist with the Las Vegas Philharmonic and is associate professor of music at the University of Nevada.
Robert Thies is an artist renowned for his consummate musicianship and poetic temperament. He first captured worldwide attention in 1995 when he won the Gold Medal at the Second International Prokofiev Competition in St. Petersburg, Russia. With this victory, Thies became the only American pianist to win a Russian piano competition since Van Cliburn's triumph in Moscow in 1958.
A pianist of “unerring, warm-toned refinement, revealing judicious glimmers of power."
Robert enjoys a diverse career as an orchestral soloist, recitalist, chamber musician, and recording artist. He has already performed 40 different concerti with orchestras all over the world, including the Saint Petersburg (RUSSIA) Philharmonic, Auckland Philharmonia, Louisville Orchestra, and the Mexico City Philharmonic.
As a Steinway Artist and frequent recitalist in the United States and abroad, Robert has developed a reputation as a “genuine” and “sincere” artist, creating delicately balanced programs and performing in a manner to draw focus to the composer rather than to himself. In 2001, under the auspices of Community Concerts, he completed a forty-city tour of the United States. In May 1999, he performed in the Hermitage Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. Two years earlier he worked with the late Henryk Gorecki in the U.S. premiere of his Piano Sonata.
Robert is highly sought after as a recital partner and collaborator in both instrumental and vocal chamber music. Offstage he is in high demand for special recording projects by contemporary composers, and he sometimes appears on soundtracks for film and television.
To order tickets: https://www.smitv.org/concert-series-tickets.html