Borromeo
String Quartet
Nicholas Kitchen, Violin
Kristopher Tong, Violin
Mai Motobuchi, Viola
Yeesun Kim, Cello
Since making its acclaimed debut in 1989, the Borromeo String Quartet has
become one of the most sought-after quartets in the world. Audiences and
critics alike champion the quartet’s exceptional ability to bring contemporary fire to often-heard works from the classical
repertoire, while making challenging new music approachable and
enlightening.
The Borromeo String Quartet has redefined the classical music landscape through
the innovative use of MacBook Pro laptops, video projection, and iPads in
performance. The quartet collaborates extensively with The Chamber Music
Society of Lincoln Center and the Library of Congress, and can be heard throughout
the year on National Public Radio and Public Radio International. It was the
ensemble-in-residence for NPR’s Performance
Today in 1998 and 1999, has had a longstanding residency at Boston’s
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and performs an ongoing series at the Tenri
Cultural Institute in New York City.
The Borromeo has collaborated with artists that include Angélique Kidjo and
Branford Marsalis; violinist Midori; pianists Christoph Eschenbach, Leon
Fleisher, Gary Graffman, Menahem Pressler, and Peter Serkin; sopranos Dawn
Upshaw and Audra McDonald; clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and David Shifrin;
and cellist Bernard Greenhouse, as well as members of the Brentano, Guarneri,
Juilliard, and Cleveland string quartets.
As quartet-in-residence at the New England Conservatory for 20 years, the Borromeo has opened “doors of perception” to a
generation of young musicians who are now themselves heard by audiences
around the world. An informal public master class series, titled Early Evenings with the Borromeo,
regularly attracts standing-room-only
crowds. The ensemble returned to the Taos School of Music in New Mexico
last summer for its seventh season of mentoring outstanding young musicians.
The Borromeo String Quartet has been heard in the most illustrious concert
halls, including Tokyo’s Casals Hall, Daiichi Seimei Hall, the Concertgebouw,
Wigmore Hall, and the Opéra national de Paris–Bastille, as well as the Library
of Congress, Alice Tully Hall, Jordan Hall, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and
the Kennedy Center. It has been invited to perform at music festivals around
the world, including Spoleto, Orlando in the Netherlands, Music Isle in Korea,
and throughout North America at the Rockport, Maverick, Marlboro, La Jolla,
Music@Menlo, Ravinia, Vancouver, and Tanglewood music festivals. First
violinist Nicholas Kitchen was artistic director of the Cape Cod Chamber Music
Festival for six seasons.
In 2007, the Borromeo String Quartet received the prestigious Avery Fisher
Career Grant, and since 2006, the Aaron Copland House has honored the quartet’s
commitment to contemporary music with its Borromeo String Quartet Award, which
introduces the work of important young composers to audiences internationally. The Borromeo has enjoyed collaborations with
such composers as Gunther Schuller, Lera Auerbach, Steve Mackey, Osvaldo
Golijov, Derek Bermel, John Cage, György Ligeti, John Harbison, Leon
Kirchner, Thomas Adès, Robert Maggio, James Matheson, and Mohammed Fairouz.
The quartet recently released a CD of music by Béla Bartók, Gunther Schuller,
and Mohammed Fairouz. It has also recorded the masterworks of Beethoven, and
its disc of works by Ravel was honored with the Chamber Music America / WQXR
Award for Recording Excellence. Visit borromeoquartet.com for more information.