Photo: Henry Fair
Escher String Quartet
Representation: Asia, Australasia and Europe
Adam Barnett-Hart, violin
Wu Jie, violin
Pierre Lapointe, viola
Dane Johansen, cello
‘Finely honed technique and a focused ensemble blend are this group's strong suits...a dark ambrosial brew all its own.’
The Boston Globe
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its individual sound, inspired artistic decisions and unique cohesiveness. Championed by members of the Emerson String Quartet, the group are proud to have been appointed BBC New Generation Artists from 2010-2012. Having completed a three-year residency as artists of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s “CMS Two” programme, the ensemble has already performed at prestigious venues and festivals around the world including Alice Tully Hall, the 92nd Street Y and Symphony Space in New York, Kennedy Center, the Louvre, Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, Music @ Menlo, West Cork Chamber Music Festival, the City of London Festival and a tour of China including Beijing, Shanghai and Hangzhou.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher String Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be the quartet-in-residence at each artist's summer festival: The Young Artists Programme at Canada’s National Arts Centre and The Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY. The Eschers have collaborated with artists such as Andrés Diaz, Lawrence Dutton, Kurt Elling, Leon Fleisher, Anja Lechner, Vadim Gluzman, Angela Yoffe, Gary Hoffman, Joseph Kalichstein, Kurt Muroki, Joseph Silverstein, pop folk singer-songwriter Luke Temple, Khatia Buniatishvili and Pinchas Zukerman. The quartet has served as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence in Caramoor – where they performed their first commissioned work by Pierre Jalbert. In 2012 they will perform the debut of Ryan Wigglesworth’s Piano Quintet with Francesco Piemontesi commissioned as part of their BBC New Generation Artists Scheme.
The 2011-2012 season begins with a performance of Vivian Fung’s Pizzicato for String Quartet, Mendelssohn and Bottesini at the opening night of The Chamber Music Society of the Lincoln Center; this is the first of multiple performances at the Lincoln Center during the season. They will continue their successful collaboration with guitarist Jason Vieaux as well as being in residency at the Chamber Music Society of St. Cloud where celebrated mezzo-soprano Sasha Cooke joins them for Barber’s Dover Beach. In the UK, the Quartet will continue making studio recordings with the BBC to be broadcast throughout the year, as well as having their debut concert at Wigmore Hall in February 2012. The quartet continues to tour festivals in Europe and further afield, making both their Turkish and Australian debuts. Teaching and master-classes continue as the quartet start a new collaboration with the Royal Academy of Music leading one of the institution’s chamber music days.
Future releases include the complete Zemlinsky Quartets on Naxos in Autumn 2011; the Escher String Quartet will also record the complete Mendelssohn Quartets for release by BIS in Summer 2012. ‘Stony Brook Soundings’, Vol. 1 (Bridge Records) features the quartet in the premiere recordings of five new works. Previous recordings include Amy Beach Piano Quintet and in 2007 ‘Bridging the Ages’ from Music @ Menlo.
The Escher String Quartet takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
Promoters please note: if you wish to include this biography in a concert programme etc, please contact Hazard Chase to ensure that you receive the most up to date version.
Email: Hannah Marsden
