03/25/09

Avanti Quartet

In 2004, the Avanti Quartet was formed with four dedicated professional women of diverse backgrounds.  The quartet members are Tamsen Beseke and Nicole Garcia,  violins, Laura Pearson, viola, and Simone Vitucci, cello. From the East Coast to West Coast, they have joined together in Southern California, sharing a fun-loving passion and technical aplomb for music.  They have each performed in concert venues from Carnegie Hall to Disney Hall, and from Beijing to Canada.  Their talent can be heard in the Los Angeles Opera Orchestra, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pasadena Symphony, and New West Symphony, as well as on soundtracks for major motion pictures and TV programs.  In addition to their active concert careers, they have adjudicated and taught hundreds of students from the age of three to university level.  

Holding degrees in music performance ranging from Bachelor of Arts to Masters, the quartet has performed for the Pasadena Symphony Musical Circus, Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina benefit concerts for the Red Cross, and additional concerts in the Los Angeles area.  Late in 2005, the ensemble received original manuscripts of four unpublished String Quartets by George W. Chadwick which they are preparing for future performances.  In the spring of 2006, the Avanti Quartet conducted Master Classes and performed as artists in residence at Clemson University in South Carolina.  The Quartet was selected to perform in The Tempo Educational Concert Series in 2007, giving concerts to children in the San Gabriel Valley.  They are also proud to have been selected by the Coleman Chamber Music Association to perform their academic concert series for Pasadena schools in 2009

The Los Angeles Times has praised Tamsen's playing as "both intuitive and lyrical."  They described her ensemble playing as having "a unique synergy".

Beginning her studies at the age of 14,  Tamsen Beseke worked very hard to prepare auditions for San Gabriel Youth Symphony and the Southern California Honor Orchestra.  She later received a Bachelor of Arts with honors in Performance and Teaching from the California State University at Los Angeles.  Tamsen is an active soloist, chamber, studio and orchestral musician, performing over 125 concerts a year. Being a promoter of new works, Tamsen has given several world and area premieres of concertos, chamber music, operatic and orchestral works.  Her career over the last 25 years has had her performing with such notable artists as: Placido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras, Zubin Mehta, Henryk Szeryng, Joshua Bell, Gil Shaham, The Beaux Arts Trio, and The Sequoia Quartet.  In addition to these classical musicians, Tamsen has performed and recorded with the following popular artists:  Lalo Schifrin, Frank Capp, Ray Charles, Diane Schuur, George Benson, Barry White, Doc Severenson, Jay Leno, Michael Jackson, James Galway, Roger Williams, David Foster, and Bobby Vinton. 

A native of the Chicago area, violist Laura Pearson has toured and performed as a chamber musician, orchestral player and soloist.  She received her bachelor's degree from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music as a scholarship student and completed her master's at the University of Southern California with a full scholarship.  She has played as principal of the USC Symphony Orchestra. the Golden State Pops Orchestra  and is principal of the American Youth Symphony and the YMF Debut Orchestra.  She has performed under the baton of prestigious conductors such as John Williams, Sir Simon Rattle, and Carl St. Clair.  She performed in a trio and quartet for a year with violinist Midori and has been a studio musician in Los Angeles, performing in movies such as "The Soloist" with Jamie Foxx.  Laura was recently appointed principal violist of the professional ensemble Chamber Orchestra of the South Bay, winning the first professional orchestral audition she took.  Soon after, she was awarded the viola position with the Avanti String Quartet.  

Ms. Pearson was accepted and received full scholarship offers to all six top conservatories of music she applied to for her master's degree.  For her undergraduate work, Ms. Pearson attended Oberlin as a scholarship student of Peter Slowik.  There, she help principal positions within all of the school orchestras.  Laura performed in New York twice with the Contemporary Music Ensemble, debuting works under the baton of Timothy Weiss.  In 2006, Ms. Pearson represented Oberlin as Principal Violist of the Oberlin Orchestra in their tour of China.  It was the first conservatory tour of its kind funded fully by the Chinese government and included performances in the nation's six largest cities.

Ms. Pearson has attended festivals and played in orchestras both nationally and internationally including the Sarasota Music Festival, the Banff Festival, Colorado College Music Festival, Oberlin in Italy, Killington Music Festival and Centrum Music Festival.  She was a  scholarship recipient at all of them.  She toured with an opera orchestra in Italy and has performed all over the United States as a soloist and chamber player with distinguished professionals such as Scott Yoo, William Wolfram, Virginia Barron, Geraldine Walther, and Bion Tsang.  Laura also enjoys teaching a studio of 13 violin and viola students in addition to her performing career.

Simone Vitucci has appeared in concert, television and radio broadcasts in Europe , North America , and her native South Africa . In addition to numerous recitals across North America and Europe , she has made solo appearances with the Cape Town Symphony Orchestra. Along with degrees from the universities of Miami and Notre Dame, her education includes studies with Aldo Parisot at Yale. A past prizewinner of the SASOL and UNISA music competitions in South Africa , Ms. Vitucci has, since moving to the United States , been the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant as a member of the improvisatory chamber ensemble, Clogs. She currently enjoys a career performing with a diverse range of ensembles including Clogs, Loop 2.4.3 and Stick Music.