Latin American Quartet to give final performance after 44 years

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Mexico’s Latin American Quartet will end its 44-year career with a final series of concerts in Mexico, including one in the main hall of Mexico City’s Palacio de Bellas Artes on Saturday 9 May. 

The ensemble comprises three brothers: violinists Saul and Aron, and cellist Alvaro Bitran, with violist Javier Montiel. Saturday’s concert marks the ensemble’s last concert as a quartet, featuring works by Boccherini, Barber, Javier Montiel and a piano quintet by Robert Schumann, featuring pianist Rudulfo Ritter.

Three more concerts will follow in Mexico in May and June. The members will perform as soloists (quartet and orchestra) with the orchestras of Monterrey, Guadalajara, with a final concert in Mexico City, on 28 June with the National Youth Orchestra.

For more than four decades, Latin American Quartet has been one of the world’s leading classical ensembles and the foremost champion of Latin American music for string quartet, performing works by composers including Villa-Lobos, Revueltas, Ginastera, and Piazzolla. 

Founded in Mexico in 1982, the ensemble has toured extensively throughout Europe, North and South America, Israel, China, Japan, and New Zealand, with appearances at major venues including Carnegie Hall in New York, Teatro alla Scala in Milan, and the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam.

It has performed with leading orchestras such as the Los Angeles Philharmonic and the Dallas Symphony, and has recorded with the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra under Eduardo Mata. 

The quartet has premiered more than 100 works written for it and has played a vital role in expanding the string quartet repertoire by introducing audiences to new and underrepresented composers. In addition to their pioneering work in Latin American repertoire, the ensemble is widely recognised for its interpretations 

The Latin American Quartet has collaborated with distinguished artists such as János Starker, Rudolf Buchbinder and Manuel Barrueco. Its extensive discography includes more than 100 recordings, notably the complete string quartets of Carlos Chávez, Alberto Ginastera, and Heitor Villa-Lobos.

The ensemble is the recipient of multiple honours, including Latin Grammy Awards for Best Classical Recording (2012 and 2016), the Mexican Music Critics Association Award, and Chamber Music America/ASCAP’s ’Most Adventurous Programming’ Award (three times). They have also been awarded France’s prestigious Diapason d’Or.

From 2004 to 2021, the Latin American Quartet was supported by Mexico’s National Fund for Culture and the Arts (FONCA).