The University of Colorado at Boulder's Tak谩cs Quartet and alumni Dave Grusin and Glenn Miller were among the winners Feb. 23 at the 45th Annual Grammy Awards.
The Tak谩cs Quartet won a Grammy Award in the "Best Chamber Music Performance" category. The quartet is in residence at the CU-Boulder College of Music and performs internationally. The recording for which the group won is of Beethoven's "Rasumovsky" Quartets, Op.59 and "The Harp" Quartet, Op.74 on the Decca Records label.
Because of their busy touring schedule, members of the quartet were not able to attend the ceremony at New York City's Madison Square Garden.
The Tak谩cs Quartet is recognized as one of the world's greatest string quartets. Since its formation in 1975, the ensemble has appeared regularly in every major music capital and prestigious festival. The quartet is based in Boulder where it has held a residency at CU-Boulder since 1983.
The Tak谩cs also is a resident quartet at the Aspen Festival and its members are visiting fellows at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. The first volume of the Tak谩cs Quartet's Beethoven Cycle was released in May 2002 and received the Gramophone "Chamber Music Recording of the Year" award for 2002. The quartet's recording of the Bart贸k cycle received the coveted Gramophone Award for 1998, and in 1999 it was nominated for a Grammy.
Ed Dusinberre, the quartet's first violinist, said, "We feel honored and ecstatic to have won the Chamber Grammy. We're also deeply grateful to Beethoven for composing such wonderful, enduring music."
Daniel Sher, dean of the CU-Boulder College of Music, said, "We are all very proud of the Tak谩cs Quartet's remarkable achievements and of this recognition of their emergence as one of the premiere string quartets in the world today."
Single tickets for the Tak谩cs Quartet Encore Series in Grusin Music Hall are still available. The next concert in that series will be held Wednesday, March 19, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets can be purchased through the CU Concerts Box Office by calling (303) 492-8008 or online at .
Dave Grusin, an alumnus of the CU-Boulder College of Music who was awarded his bachelor's degree in 1956, also won a Grammy Award in the "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalist(s)" category for his arrangement of "Mean Old Man" on James Taylor's "October Road" album.
Glenn Miller, an alumnus of CU-Boulder and one of the most popular bandleaders of the 1940s swing era, also was posthumously honored at the Grammy Awards with a "Lifetime Achievement Award."
The Grammy Awards celebrate the best in recording arts and sciences. Covering 104 categories, the awards honor recordings in musical fields as diverse as pop, rock, jazz, blues, rap, classical and even polka. A Grammy is awarded by and to artists and technical professionals for artistic or technical achievement, not sales or chart positions.