The world-renowned Alexander String Quartet returns to Sonoma by popular demand on Sunday, February 12, 2012, at Vintage House, 264 First Street East, Sonoma at 3:00 pm. Sponsored by the Sonoma Classical Music Society, the Quartet will perform three classic works of the quartet repertoire, by Haydn, Beethoven, and Schubert. Tickets for the concert are $25.00 for the general public, $20.00 for members of the Society, and $10.00 for students. Tickets may be obtained from the Society’s website, www.sonomaclassical.org, and will be available from Readers’ Books and Pharmaca approximately three weeks prior to the performance, and at the door.

February 12 marks the Alexander Quartet’s sixth appearance in Sonoma under the auspices of the Sonoma Classical Music Society. For this concert, the Alexander String Quartet will perform Franz Joseph Haydn’s “String Quartet op. 70, no.3 “Emperor”; Ludwig Van Beethoven’s “String Quartet #11 in F minor, op. 95 “Serioso”; and Franz Schubert’s “String Quartet No. 15 in G major.”

Currently celebrating its 32nd anniversary, the Alexander String Quartet (Zakarias Grafilo, violin, Frederick Lifsitz, violin, Paul Yarbrough, viola, Sandy Wilson, cello) is one of the world’s premier ensembles, widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart, and Shostakovich. It has recorded the Beethoven quartet cycle, the Shostakovich quartet cycle, and the Mozart quartets dedicated to Haydn, among other works, for Arte-Nova and Foghorn Classics. The Quartet has had a 26 year association with New York City’s Baruch College as Ensemble in Residence and has received its Presidential Medal. At home in San Francisco, the members of the Quartet are a major artistic presence, serving as Ensemble in Residence for San Francisco Performances and as directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Centre in the College of Creative Arts, San Francisco State University. Members of the Quartet have also received Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degrees from Allegheny College and St. Lawrence University.

The next concert in the Sonoma Classical Music Society’s 2012 Spring concert series will be held on Sunday, March 25th when Sonoma’s own Nigel Armstrong will perform in recital. His performance will include the John Corigliano “Stomp.” for which he won a special prize at last year’s Tchaikovsky Violin Competition in St. Petersburg. Don’t miss it!