OU to welcome Aeolus Quartet for Jan. 20 concert

The award-winning Aeolus Quartet will be joined by revered clarinetist Franklin Cohen, former principal of the Cleveland Orchestra, for a concert at 3 p.m. on Sunday, Jan. 20 at Varner Recital Hall on the campus of Oakland University.

The program features Mozart’s masterful Clarinet Quintet, as well as an early Beethoven Quartet, Op. 18, No. 3 in D major, and American composer Ben Johnston’s String Quartet No. 4, Variations on “Amazing Grace.” The concert is presented by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit in partnership with OU’s School of Music, Theatre and Dance and is made possible in part with generous sponsorship support from the Flagstar Foundation.

Tickets are $10 for students, $30 for the general public and $25 for seniors, and are available by phone at 313-335-3300 or online at www.CMSDetroit.org or www.startickets.com.

About the Aeolus Quartet

Formed in 2008 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States, including the Plowman, Coleman and Fischoff International Chamber Music Competitions. They have performed across North America, Europe, and Asia in venues such as Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Reinberger Recital Hall at Severance Hall, Merkin Hall, The Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center.

The Aeolus also served as the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and previously served in a similar capacity at the University of Texas at Austin. The Quartet is currently based in New York City.

About Franklin Cohen

Franklin Cohen has distinguished himself as one of the outstanding clarinetists of his generation. He has appeared as a soloist in nearly 200 performances at well-known venues including Carnegie Hall, Severance Hall, and Blossom Music Center, and has toured throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia with The Cleveland Orchestra.

Since 1976, Cohen has been the chair of the clarinet department at the Cleveland Institute of Music and has given countless master classes at prestigious universities and conservatories throughout the world.

He has also participated in such major music festivals as Aspen, Casals, Santa Fe, and Marlboro, has been featured alongside such well-known string quartets as the Guarneri, Miami and Tokyo, and has made numerous recordings, two of which have won Grammy Awards.