The Reynolda Quartet returns to Reynolda for a recital of works by Beethoven and Haydn – University of North Carolina School of the Arts

Top Searches:
School of Filmmaking Third-Year Films May 7, 2025
School of Filmmaking Fourth-Year Films May 16, 2025
The Reynolda Quartet, composed of renowned faculty artists from the School of Music at UNCSA, will return to the Reynolda House Museum of American Art this Sunday for a program titled “In the Wake of the Ninth,” which will feature works by Joseph Haydn and Ludwig van Beethoven.
The performance will be at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 4, at Reynolda House Museum of American Art, 2250 Reynolda Road. Tickets are $25 for adults, available online or by calling the box office at 336-721-1945. UNCSA and Wake Forest University students, faculty and staff get in free with advance registration.
Founded in 2019 as a partnership between two of Winston-Salem’s premier cultural organizations, Reynolda House Museum of American Art and UNCSA, the quartet today includes world-renowned musicians Ida Bieler and Janet Orenstein, violins; Jordan Bak, viola; and Brooks Whitehouse, cello.
Reynolda Quartet / Photo: Reynolda House
The concert will open with Haydn’s String Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2, known as “Quinten,” composed in 1797. Nicknamed for the falling fifths that repeat throughout the first movement, the piece opens with a bold, almost obsessive theme that drives the energy of the allegro. The remaining movements highlight Haydn’s lyrical writing, rhythmic playfulness and inventive use of form. Also on the program is Beethoven’s String Quartet in E-flat major, Op. 127, the first of his late quartets and the first major work he completed after the Ninth Symphony. Written in 1825, the piece is expansive and deeply expressive, opening with a stately “maestoso – allegro” and moving through a lyrical slow movement, a playful third movement and a dramatic finale. With its rich contrasts and emotional depth, the quartet reflects the same bold vision that shaped Beethoven’s late style.
“The Reynolda Quartet was formed in 2019 to honor the deeply intertwined connections between visual art, history and music — each drawing inspiration from the other,” said Reynolda House’s Betsy Main Babcock Deputy Director Phil Archer. “Today, the Quartet performances draw a beautifully diverse audience inclusive of UNCSA and other local college students, fans of classical music and multigenerational families.
“Having built her home around an Aeolian pipe organ, I believe Katharine Smith Reynolds would be pleased to know that chamber music is still an instrument for community-building here at Reynolda,” Archer added.
“As a quartet, we are extremely excited to be playing two works from these two great composers at the peak of their creative output,” said Whitehouse. “Both Haydn and Beethoven saved some of their best work for the string quartet, and both of these works are from their glorious late periods in that genre. We are honored to be presenting them this Sunday at the Reynolda House Museum of American Art.”
Award-winning Jamaican American violist Jordan Bak has achieved international acclaim as a trailblazing artist, praised for his radiant stage presence, dynamic interpretations and fearless power. Bak has appeared as soloist with such orchestras as Sarasota Orchestra, London Mozart Players, New York Classical Players, Juilliard Orchestra and Brandon Hill Chamber Orchestra, and has performed under such esteemed conductors as Howard Griffiths, Stephen Mulligan, Keith Lockhart, Gerard Schwarz and Ewa Strusińska. 
As a recitalist and chamber musician, he has been heard at some of the world’s greatest performance venues including Carnegie Hall, Alice Tully Hall, Wigmore Hall, Jordan Hall, Merkin Concert Hall, Princeton University Concerts, Perelman Theater at The Kimmel Center, Elgar Concert Hall and Helsinki Musiikkitalo.
Before joining the UNCSA Music faculty as assistant professor of viola, Bak was a faculty member of Bowling Green State University in Ohio and served as a visiting artist and ambassador for Music Masters in London. Bak was only the third violist ever to earn the Artist Diploma from The Juilliard School, where he was awarded the prestigious Kovner Fellowship.
An alumna of the UNCSA School of Music, Ida Bieler joined the faculty in 2013. She has won prestigious music competitions on three continents, has been a regular performer in major music capitals throughout the world, has recorded for radio and television on five continents and has appeared with leading international orchestras. She is on the faculty of both the Robert Schumann Hochschule in Düsseldorf, Germany, and Kunstuniversität Graz in Austria. Bieler is the creator and director of the Vivaldi Project, a teacher training program in Düsseldorf and at UNCSA, aimed at educating underprivileged youth.
Husband and wife string musicians Brooks Whitehouse and Janet Orenstein are founding members of The Guild Trio, winner of both the United States Information Agency Artistic Ambassador and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs competitions. The ensemble has performed throughout the United States and Canada, as well as Europe and Australia. The trio has been a frequent feature on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today,” and has also appeared on the University of Missouri’s public television series “Premiere Performances,” and “Front Row Center” on KETC-TV9 in St. Louis.
Orenstein has performed in the U.S. and abroad as a chamber musician, soloist and advocate of contemporary music. As a chamber musician, she has appeared in New York’s Alice Tully and Merkin concert halls, as well as at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Orenstein has performed at the Apple Hill Chamber Music Festival in Nelson, New Hampshire; the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival in Burlington, Vermont; and the International Musicians Seminar at Prussia Cove in Cornwall, England. She joined the UNCSA faculty in 2012 and has taught violin and chamber music at the University of Virginia, University of North Carolina-Greensboro (UNC-G) and Wake Forest University.
Whitehouse has performed and taught throughout the United States and abroad, holding artist-in-residence positions at the State University of New York Stony Brook; the Guild Hall in East Hampton, New York; the University of Virginia; and Tanglewood Music Center. As a soloist, he has appeared with the Boston Pops, the New England Chamber Orchestra and other orchestras. His recitals throughout the Northeastern United States have been broadcast on WQXR’s “McGraw-Hill Young Artist Showcase,” WNYC’s “Around New York” and the Australian and Canadian Broadcasting Corporation networks. Whitehouse is also cellist for the European-based Atma Trio and for the Low and Lower duo with bassist Paul Sharpe. He has recorded for the Centaur, CRI and Innova labels. Before joining the faculty of UNCSA, Whitehouse taught at the University of Florida and UNC-G.
Reynolda is set on 170 acres in Winston-Salem, and comprises Reynolda House Museum of American Art, Reynolda Gardens and Reynolda Village Shops and Restaurants. The museum presents a renowned art collection in a historic and incomparable setting: the original 1917 interiors of Katharine and R.J. Reynolds’s 34,000-square-foot home. Its collection is a chronology of American art and featured exhibitions are offered in the Museum’s Babcock Gallery and historic house bedrooms. The Gardens serve as a 134-acre outdoor horticultural oasis open to the public year-round, complete with colorful formal gardens, nature trails and a greenhouse. In the Village, the estate’s historic buildings are now home to a vibrant mix of boutiques, restaurants, shops and services. Plan your visit at reynolda.org and use the mobile app Reynolda Revealed to self-tour the estate.
Contact Media Relations
Get the best news, performance and alumni stories from UNCSA.
SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTERS(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)(OPENS IN NEW TAB)
May 02, 2025
filter: institutional
We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.
1533 South Main St.
Winston-Salem, NC
27127-2738

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.
We encourage you to enable Javascript to enhance your enjoyment of our website.

source