The Cleveland Quartet, one of the most respected American chamber ensembles of recent years, has announced that it will disband in the fall of 1995, after 26 years of performing and recording.
One reason for the split is that William Preucil, the quartet's first violinist since 1989, has been appointed concertmaster of the Cleveland Orchestra. Preucil, a former Utah Symphony concertmaster, begins his new job in April 1995 and will divide his time between the orchestra and the quartet until the end of the latter's farewell tour, which has not yet been scheduled.His departure marks the latest in a number of personnel changes for the Cleveland Quartet. Of its original members, only cellist Paul Katz and second violinist Peter Salaff remain from the 1969 lineup. In 1980 violist Martha Katz, Katz's wife, was replaced by Atar Arad, who seven years later ceded his seat to James Dunham. First violinist Donald Weilerstein left the group in 1989 and was replaced by Preucil.
"This time we never even considered looking for a replacement," Katz told the New York Times. "My feeling was that the quartet was in many ways a privileged existence, and I'm proud of everything we've done. But I also feel that I only have one life, and I have other interests that have been on the back burner for the last 26 years."
The quartet had already planned to take a sabbatical from its teaching duties at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester. Still on the agenda is the conclusion of the Beethoven quartet cycle it is recording for Telarc Records and the premieres of works by Osvaldo Golijov and Stephen Paulus.
- WASHINGTON OPERA has wasted little time looking for a successor to Martin Feinstein, who announced recently that he would step down as general director in 1995. In recent weeks the company has been discussing the possibility of a mutual future with Placido Domingo.
"I cannot deny that there have been conversations," said Pat Fleischer Mossel, the company's director of development, marketing and public relations.
Domingo's representative, Edgar Vincent, said, "There have been talks, but nothing has been decided." He added, though, that whatever decision Domingo made, he would retain his relationship with the Los Angeles Opera, where he has been artistic adviser and a frequent performer, both onstage and on the podium, since the company was founded in 1986.
Other names mentioned as prospects for Washington include David Gockley, general director of Houston Grand Opera.
- STANISLAW SKROWACZEWSKI has been appointed artistic adviser to the Milwaukee Symphony, which has not yet found a successor for music directore Zdenek Macal, who is leaving at the end of next season to become director of the New Jersey Symphony. Skrowaczewski will oversee programming beginning with the 1995-96 season and will conduct three or four subscription weeks while the search continues.
- MARVIN HAMLISCH, composer of "A Chorus Line" and a number of Oscar-winning film scores, has been appointed principal pops conductor of the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra. His contract runs for two seasons, beginning in the fall.
- JACQUELINE TAYLOR, managing director of the New York's Tisch Center for the Arts and the 92nd Street Y, has been appointed executive director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. She replaces Charles Kargacas, who left the post last winter after a series of disputes with the society's artistic director, David Shifrin.