The University of Delaware Master Players Concert Series will conclude its 2016-17 season on a high note with the fourth entry in the popular Art of the String Quartet series, featuring the Emerson String Quartet, an ensemble regarded as one of the best string quartets of our time.

The concert will take place at 3 p.m., Sunday, April 30, in the Gore Recital Hall of the Roselle Center for the Arts on the University campus in Newark. The program will include string quartets by Ravel, Grieg and Debussy.

The Emerson String Quartet has amassed an unparalleled list of achievements over four decades: more than 30 acclaimed recordings, nine Grammys including two for Best Classical Album, three Gramophone Awards, the Avery Fisher Prize, Musical America's "Ensemble of the Year" and collaborations with many of the greatest artists of this era.

Tickets are $50 for this special event and can be purchased from the REP box office at 302-831-2204, in person, or online.

A free-of-charge master class with Eugene Drucker will be held on Sunday, April 30, from 11 a.m. to 12:15 p.m.

The artists will sign CDs after the concert, including their newest album, Chaconnes and Fantasias: Music of Britten and Purcell. CDs are $20 (cash only) and will be sold in the lobby before and after the concert as well as during intermission.

Five dollar parking vouchers for the Roselle Center for the Arts will be available for purchase in the lobby before the concert and during intermission; these vouchers enable guests to skip the line when exiting the garage. Vouchers can be purchased with cash or check; ask concert staff for more details.

For more information including driving directions, parking and dining information, visit the Master Players website.

About the quartet

Formed in 1976 and based in New York City, the Emerson was one of the first quartets whose violinists alternated in the first chair position. The quartet, which took its name from the American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson, is quartet-in-residence at Stony Brook University.

During the spring of 2016, full-time Stony Brook faculty members Philip Setzer and Lawrence Dutton received the honor of distinguished professor, and part-time faculty members Eugene Drucker and Paul Watkins were awarded the title of honorary distinguished professor.

In January 2015, the quartet received the Richard J. Bogomolny National Service Award, Chamber Music America’s highest honor, in recognition of its significant and lasting contribution to the chamber music field.

Program support

This program is made possible, in part, by a grant from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.

Other sponsors include Vita Nova restaurant at the University of Delaware and the Marriott’s Courtyard Newark-University of Delaware. (See a complete list on the website).