Borromeo Quartet comes to IU archive' to IU

Borromeo Quartet, a world-renowned string ensemble that has been declared "simply the best there is" by The Boston Globe will participate in the Summer String School at the School of Music. Its members, first violinist Nicholas Kitchen, second violinist William Fedkenheuer, violist Mai Motobuchi and cellist Yessun Kim, who will perform in a master's class on chamber music Tuesday and Wednesday, play more than 100 concerts annually and are all on staff at the renowned New England Conservatory.\nDuring their 2003-2004 season, the quartet is scheduled to perform concerts spanning more than three continents.\nTaking its name from the location in Northern Italy where it played their first concerts together, the Borromeo Quartet was established in 1984. The quartet gained recognition quickly and was the recipients of high honors in the International String Quartet Competition in 1990, only one year after the group had been formed. The quartet's members have won many awards, including the Lincoln Center's 2001 Martin Segal Award, and collaborated with many contemporary composers such as Leon Kirchner, John Cage and Gunther Schuller.\nThe Borromeo Quartet's Public Relations Representative Joseph Correia said the quartet is the first classical music group to record all of its live performances on a living archive. Dedicated to the promotion of education and chamber music, the group is making their music more accessible by archiving all of their upcoming concerts on DVD, VHS and CD formats. Correia said the quartet hopes the effort will incite more interest in classical music fans by allowing them to have timeless access to highlights of its shows. Their performances at IU will be recorded and made available to the public at a later date.\nKitchen said the quartet recently spent time in Japan and Korea, where it participated in concerts and activities to familiarize children to chamber music. The quartet is currently at a music camp at Madeline Island where it will be holding three concerts and working with students through Sunday.