Shriver Hall Concert Series: Dover Quartet & Joseph Conyers, double bass

Description

The Dover Quartet and Joseph Conyers, double bass, are the featured performers of the Howard Family Concert & The Reiko T. and Yuan C. Lee Fund for Outstanding String Performers as part of the 2022-2023 Shriver Hall Concert Series.

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine, the Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet has followed a "practically meteoric" (Strings) trajectory to become one of the most in-demand chamber ensembles in the world. In addition to its faculty role as the Penelope P. Watkins Ensemble in Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music, the Dover Quartet holds residencies with the Kennedy Center, Bienen School of Music at Northwestern University, Artosphere, and the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival. The group's awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its prestigious honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center's Hunt Family Award. Its recording of The Schumann Quartets for Azica Records was nominated for a 2020 Grammy Award. The Dover Quartet was formed in 2008 at the Curtis Institute of Music.

• Joel Link, violin
• Bryan Lee, violin
• Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, viola
• Camden Shaw, cello

Joseph Conyers was appointed assistant principal bass of the Philadelphia Orchestra in 2010 and has been acting associate principal since 2017. He previously held tenures with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra; the Grand Rapids Symphony, where he served as principal bass; and the Santa Fe Opera Orchestra. Conyers has performed with many orchestras as soloist, including the Alabama, Flagstaff, and Richmond symphony orchestras; the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; and the Sphinx Symphony Orchestra, having won second prize at the 2004 Sphinx Competition. In 2008, John B Hedges wrote a concerto for him—Prayers of Rain and Wind—commissioned by the Grand Rapids Symphony. Conyers is an artist of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, is currently on the faculty at Temple University, and has been music director of Philadelphia's All City Orchestra since 2015. He has taught at numerous summer music festivals and has given master classes and lectures across the country, including the Peabody Conservatory. Conyers is the founder of the nonprofit Project 440. Through its nationally recognized curricula, Project 440 uses music as a tool to engage, educate, and inspire young musicians, providing them with care and life skills to become tomorrow's civic-minded, entrepreneurial leaders. He received his bachelor's degree from the Curtis Institute of Music, where he studied with both Harold Robinson and Edgar Meyer. He performs on the "Zimmerman/Gladstone" 1802 Vincenzo Panormo double bass, which he has affectionately named "Norma."