A year’s celebration of the American spirit by the Louisiana Tech Concert Association will begin Thursday, Oct. 9, when its 2008-2009 season opens with the American String Quartet.

“LTCA is celebrating our national spirit with an all-American season of professional presentations,’ said Dr. Ken Robbins, director of Tech’s School of Performing Arts. ‘The American String Quartet, the American Brass Quintet, the American Boys Chorus, the Hot Club of San Francisco and An Evening of Broadway will take our audiences on a cultural tour of the best music this country has to offer.’

In over three decades of touring, the American String Quartet has performed in all 50 states and appeared in virtually every important concert hall throughout the world.

Formed in 1974, when its original members were students at The Juilliard School, the quartet was launched by winning both the Coleman Competition and the Naumburg Award the same year.

American String Quartet

Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, the ensemble has also served as resident quartet at the Taos School of Music, the Peabody Conservatory and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The quartet’s diverse activities have included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, plus performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Americans’ innovative approach to concert programming has won them a number of notable residencies in recent years, including “Beethoven the Contemporary” at the University of Michigan, “The Six Mozart Viola Quintets” at the Aspen Music Festival (broadcast live nationally via Chicago super-station WFMT) and a recent four-year cycle titled “4-5-6