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 and the Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 1996, the
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center invited the Brentano Quartet to be the inaugural
members of Chamber Music Society Two, a program that has become a coveted distinction for
chamber groups and individuals ever since. The quartet made its first European tour in
1997, and was honored in the UK with the Royal Philharmonic Award for Most Outstanding
Debut. That debut recital was at London's Wigmore Hall, where the quartet has since
appeared regularly and served as the hall's quartet-in-residence during the 2000-2001
season.
In recent seasons, the Brentano Quartet has traveled widely, appearing throughout the US,
Canada, Europe, Japan, and Australia. It has performed in the world's most prestigious
venues, including Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York; the Library of Congress
in Washington, DC; the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam; the Konzerthaus in Vienna; Suntory Hall
in Tokyo; and the Sydney Opera House. The quartet has participated in summer festivals such
as Aspen, the Music Academy of the West in Santa Barbara, the Edinburgh Festival, the Kuhmo
Festival in Finland, the Taos School of Music, and the Caramoor Festival. Beginning in June
2013, the quartet will serve as the collaborative ensemble for the Van Cliburn
International Piano Competition, succeeding the Takács Quartet.
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 that pre-date 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, and
György Kurtág. The quartet has commissioned works from Wuorinen, Adolphe, Mackey, David
Horne, and Gabriela Frank. The quartet celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2002 by
commissioning 10 composers to write companion pieces for selections from Bach's Art of
Fugue, the result of which was an electrifying and wide-ranging single concert
program. A similar project, titled Fragments: Connecting Past and
Present, commemorates its 20th anniversary in 2011-2012. The quartet has also worked
with the celebrated poet Mark Strand, commissioning poetry from him to accompany works of
Haydn and Webern.
The Brentano Quartet has collaborated with such artists as soprano Jessye Norman, pianist
Richard Goode, and pianist Mitsuko Uchida, with whom it enjoys an especially close
relationship, appearing with her on stages in the US, Europe, and Japan.
The quartet has recorded Haydn's Op. 71 string quartets and has also recorded a Mozart
disc for Aeon Records, consisting of the Quartet, K. 464, and the Quintet, K. 593, with
violist Hsin-Yun Huang. A forthcoming release on Aeon will feature Beethoven's quartets,
Op. 127 and Op. 131. In the area of newer music, the Brentano Quartet has released a disc
of the music of Steven Mackey on Albany Records, and has also recorded the music of Bruce
Adolphe, Chou Wen-chung, and Charles Wuorinen.
In 1998, cellist Nina Maria Lee joined the Brentano Quartet, succeeding founding member
Michael Kannen. The following season, the quartet became the first resident string quartet
at Princeton University. The quartet's duties at Princeton are wide-ranging, including
performances at least once a semester, as well as workshops with graduate composers,
coaching undergraduates in chamber music, and assisting in other classes at the music
department.
The quartet is named for Antonie Brentano, whom many scholars consider to be Beethoven's
"Immortal Beloved," the intended recipient of his famous love confession. Visit
brentano.com for more information.