Emanuel Ax Brahms Piano Quintet in F Minor, Op. 34

Pianist Emanuel Ax was born in Lvov, Poland, and performs in recital and with major symphony orchestras around the world. He appears regularly at the BBC Proms, Blossom Festival, Edinburgh Festival, Hollywood Bowl, Mostly Mozart Festival, the Tanglewood Festival, and Ravinia Festival, among many others. Frequent chamber music performance collaborators include Isaac Stern, Yo-Yo Ma, and Young Uck Kim.

Immediately upon their debut at the 1969 Marlboro Festival, four brilliant young American musicians calling themselves the Cleveland Quartet were hailed as a chamber ensemble of exceptional quality. Over the next quarter century, they performed on every continent, including nearly 30 complete Beethoven cycles in the US and Europe. At their peak, the Cleveland Quartet gave more than 100 concerts a year. They became the first classical artists to play on the televised Grammy awards and performed at the White House for President’s Carter inauguration. “A quartet in the great tradition,” declared Stereo Review’s critic, commenting on the Cleveland’s Beethoven for RCA Victor, their exclusive label between 1972 and 1987.