Fry Street Quartet dubbed “Best of State”
The Fry Street Quartet, the professional string quartet in residence at Utah State University, can add another title to its growing list of awards and honors
— “Best of State.”
Fry Street members William Fedkenheuer, violin; Rebecca McFaul, violin; Russell Fallstad, viola; and Anne Francis, cello, were honored at the 2009 Best of State Awards gala in Salt Lake City this spring. The quartet received a Best of State medal in the Arts and Entertainment category and was named the state's “Best Instrumental Group.”
“The Fry Street Quartet is without question to be reckoned with among today's quartets, It has arrived.”
—Edward Reichel, Deseret Morning News
What the Salt Lake City Best of State gala audience learned is recognized by many in Logan – the Fry Street Quartet is a treasure to be enjoyed statewide and beyond. In 2009, the quartet successfully completed a two-week marathon when it presented the Beethoven Cycle – all 17 of Beethoven's string quartets. The Salt Lake Tribune called the accomplishment a “rite of passage” in the string quartet world. USU Music Department Head Craig Jessop compared the feat to climbing Mount Everest. Edward Reichel summarized the quartet's accomplishment in a Deseret Morning News review at the conclusion of the Beethoven Cycle. “The Fry Street Quartet is without question to be reckoned with among today's quartets,” he wrote. “It has arrived.”
But it is the combination of the quartet's extensive concert experience and the direct, one-on-one educational contact with students at USU that makes the Fry Street Quartet so unique in Utah, giving the university bragging rights to the only professional string quartet in residence at any of the state's institutions of higher education.
The “Best of State” Awards were created to recognize outstanding individuals, organizations and businesses in Utah. “We are delighted and flattered to be honored with this award,” said quartet member Rebecca McFaul. “Utah is our home base, and our Logan audience is special to us. These are the people who have watched and listened for years, witnessed our growth, experienced our projects and repertoire choices. This creates a bond between the quartet and the audience that is unique and treasured by us.”
“The ‘Best of State’ award recently bestowed upon the Fry Street Quartet represents what we at Utah State have known and recognized for several years,” Jessop said. “The quartet is simply one of the most significant developments and acquisitions to the university's Music Department in many years. The impact of having a full-time, professional string quartet on our faculty has transformed the string program at USU to one of the strongest in the western United States.”
The Fry Street Quartet began its international career in 2002 as cultural ambassadors to the Balkan States, sponsored by Carnegie Hall and the U.S. Department of State. The group has been the faculty quartet in residence in the Caine School of Arts at USU since 2002 as well. The quartet frequently visits Harrisburg, Penn., as Market Square's “Summermusic” artists in residence, as well as the Mozart Gemeinde chamber music series in Austria, where it recently forged an exchange relationship between the University of Carinthia in Klagenfurt and Utah State University.
—Patrick Williams '74
