The Cypress String Quartet (Cecily Ward, violin; Tom Stone, violin; Ethan Filner, viola; and Jennifer
Kloetzel, cello) is pleased to announce the release of its latest recording, The American Album, featuring music inspired by
America. The new album will be available from all major retailers on Tuesday, November 8, 2011, through the Cypress’ own
label. The American Album includes Antonín Dvo!ák’s String Quartet No. 12 in F Major, Op. 96 (“American”), Charles
Tomlinson Griffes’ Two Sketches Based on Indian Themes, and Samuel Barber’s String Quartet in B Minor, Op. 11.
With The American Album, the Cypress Quartet celebrates these composers’ efforts to define and develop an American sound.
Dvo!ák wrote his String Quartet No. 12, nicknamed the “American,” in Spillville, Iowa in 1893 while visiting a small Czech
farming community. Influenced by the music he encountered there, he incorporated Native American and African American
themes into the work. Of his time in Spillville, Dvo!ák later said, “That’s when I was happy.”
Charles Tomlinson Griffes’ Two Sketches is based on two Native American songs. The members of the Cypress String Quartet
have done a great deal of research on which songs Griffes used in his concert work. They spoke with an elder of the Chippewa
tribe, and found that the first sketch is based on the “Chippewa Farewell Song,” and the second is part of a Hopi festival.
Cypress cellist Jennifer Kloetzel explains further, “The farewell song may have been sung by the tribe’s warriors as they
walked to war, and then sung by the tribe’s women and children as they walked back to the village from the battlefield.”
It is the second movement of Barber’s String Quartet with which the composer earned his greatest fame. The slow movement,
marked Molto adagio, would become Adagio for Strings for orchestra after Barber expanded it for Arturo Toscanini to conduct.
Aaron Copland’s belief that Adagio for Strings “comes straight from the heart” applies equally to the string quartet version. In
his own words, Barber knew that the movement was “a knockout” as soon as he finished it.
During its fifteenth anniversary season in 2011-2012, the Cypress String Quartet is adding two new recordings to its ten-album
discography. In addition to The American Album, in March the Cypress completes its three-volume set of Beethoven’s Late
Quartets. Volume three will include the groundbreaking Opus 132. Of volume one, released in 2009, the Cleveland Plain
Dealer wrote, “The Cypress players converse with such rare sincerity as to make long-familiar music sound utterly fresh.”
Known for its elegant performances, the Cypress String Quartet has been praised by Gramophone for its “artistry of uncommon
insight and cohesion,” and its sound has been called “beautifully proportioned and powerful” by The Washington Post. The
Cypress Quartet was formed in San Francisco in 1996, and during its initial rehearsals the group created a signature sound
through intense readings of J.S. Bach’s Chorales. Built up from the bottom register of the quartet and layered like a pyramid,
the resulting sound is clear and transparent, allowing the texture of the music to be discerned immediately.
The Cypress continues to maintain a busy national and international tour schedule, making appearances on concert series and in
venues including Cal Performances, Kennedy Center, Library of Congress, Stanford Lively Arts, Krannert Center and Ravinia
Festival. Their collaborators include artists such as Leon Fleisher, Jon Nakamatsu, Awadagin Pratt, Gary Hoffman, Atar Arad,
James Dunham, and Zuill Bailey. The ensemble is a vibrant member of the San Francisco arts community and dedicates itself
to reflecting and enriching the city’s cultural landscape through collaborations with the DeYoung Museum and San Francisco
Girls Chorus.
Through its signature Call & Response program the Cypress Quartet commissions and premieres new string quartets from both
emerging and celebrated composers, asking them to write in response to established chamber repertoire. Call & Response
creates a dynamic dialogue between the past and present, between performers and composers, and among audiences of all ages.
The Cypress Quartet’s annual Call & Response concert at Herbst Theatre has earned a strong West Coast following; this major
concert is preceded by performances throughout the Bay Area in community centers, unorthodox spaces, and schools. In
addition, the Cypress frequently tours Call & Response repertoire, bringing these new works to cities across the country.
To date, the Cypress Quartet has commissioned and premiered over 30 pieces, four of which were chosen for Chamber Music
America’s list of “101 Great American Ensemble Works.” Commissioned composers include Benjamin Lees, Jennifer Higdon,
Kevin Puts, George Tsontakis, and Elena Ruehr.
The Cypress Quartet members received degrees from many of the world’s finest conservatories before coming together as a
quartet. These include The Juilliard School, Guildhall School of Music & Drama and the Royal College of Music (London),
The Cleveland Institute of Music, and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. After a residency at the Banff Centre and a
fellowship at the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies of the Aspen Music Festival, the Quartet coached intensively in London
with the Amadeus Quartet. Cypress members count the Cleveland and Juilliard Quartets as some of their greatest influences.
The members of the Cypress Quartet play exceptional instruments including violins by Antonio Stradivarius (1681) and Carlos
Bergonzi (1733), a viola by Vittorio Bellarosa (1947), and a cello by Hieronymus Amati II (1701). The Cypress Quartet takes
its name from the set of twelve love songs for string quartet, The Cypresses, by Antonin Dvo!ák.
The Cypress Quartet is managed by Christina Daysog Concert Artists.
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