Photo by Juergen Frank
Brentano String Quartet
Since its inception in 1992, the Brentano String Quartet has appeared throughout the world to popular and critical acclaim. Within a few years of its formation, the Quartet garnered the first Cleveland Quartet Award, the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, and Britain’s Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding Debut. They were also invited by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center to be the inaugural members of Chamber Music Society Two. The Quartet served as Quartet-in-Residence at London’s Wigmore Hall, was Princeton University’s first Ensemble-in-Residence for 15 years, and is currently Yale School of Music’s Resident String Quartet.
In recent seasons the Quartet has traveled widely, appearing all over the United States and Canada, in Europe, Japan, and Australia. It has performed in the world’s most prestigious venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; Library of Congress in Washington; Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The Quartet has participated in summer festivals such as the Aspen Music Festival, Music Academy of the West, Edinburgh Festival, Kuhmo Festival in Finland, Taos School of Music, and the Caramoor Festival.
In addition to performing the entire two-century range of the standard quartet repertoire, the Brentano Quartet has a strong interest in both very old and very new music. It has performed many musical works pre-dating the string quartet as a medium, among them madrigals of Gesualdo, fantasias of Purcell, and secular vocal works of Josquin. Also, the Quartet has worked closely with some of the most important composers of our time, among them Elliott Carter, Charles Wuorinen, Chou Wen-chung, Steven Mackey, Bruce Adolphe, György Kurtág, David Horne, and Gabriela Lena Frank. The Quartet has been privileged to collaborate with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman, mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato, pianist Richard Goode, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida.
The Brentano String Quartet is Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violins; Misha Amory, viola; and Nina Lee, cello.