_ ESQYRE
Music, String Quartet, Classical Music, & Orchestral PerformanceWebsite: www.escherquartet.com
Biography
The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet has performed at the BBC Proms at Cadogan Hall and is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its home town of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
The Escher Quartet tours the U.S. extensively, performing in numerous cities and venues including New York’s Alice Tully Hall and Rockefeller University, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, the Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa, La Jolla Music Society, Savannah Music Festival, and Chamber Music Society of Detroit.
The Escher Quartet has made a distinctive impression throughout Europe, with recent debuts including the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, Berlin Konzerthaus, London’s Kings Place, Slovenian Philharmonic Hall, Les Grands Interprètes Geneva, TelAviv Museum of Art, and Auditorium du Louvre.
Alongside its growing European profile, the Escher Quartet continues to flourish in its home country, performing at the Aspen Music Festival, Bravo! Vail, Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, Bowdoin Music Festival, Toronto Summer Music, Chamber Music San Francisco, Music@Menlo, and the Ravinia and Caramoor festivals. The quartet has held faculty positions at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, TX and the University of Akron, OH. In 2019 the quartet formed ESQYRE, an organization committed to bringing high music performance and education to students throughout the world.
Recordings of the complete Mendelssohn quartets and beloved romantic quartets of Dvorak, Borodin and Tchaikovsky were released on the BIS label in 2015-18 and received with the highest critical acclaim, with comments such as “…eloquent, full-blooded playing… The four players offer a beautiful blend of individuality and accord” (BBC Music Magazine). In 2019, DANCE, an album of quintet’s with Grammy award winning guitarist Jason Vieaux, was enthusiastically received. The Escher’s most recent recording, the complete quartet of Charles Ives and Samuel Barber, was met with equal excitement, including “A fascinating snapshot of American quartets, with a recording that is brilliantly detailed, this is a first-rate release all around” (Strad Magazine).The quartet has also recorded the complete Zemlinsky String Quartets in two volumes, released on the Naxos label in 2013 and2014.
Within months of its inception in 2005, the ensemble came to the attention of key musical figures worldwide. Championed by the Emerson Quartet, the Escher Quartet was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be Quartet in Residence at each artist’s summer festival: the Young Artists Program at Canada’s National Arts Centre; and the Perlman Chamber Music Program on Shelter Island, NY.
The Escher Quartet takes its name from the Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher, inspired by Escher’s method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.
ESQYRE, the quartet’s new Ohio based not-for-profit is committed to providing a comprehensive educational program through music performance and education for people of all ages. After four very successful years as Quartet in Residence at Tuesday Musical in Akron, OH, members of the Escher Quartet saw the continued need and possibilities for more in-depth engagement with schools and community organizations throughout Ohio and beyond. Based in Ohio, the organization is committed to music education and performance through long term, in-depth, engagements and programs.
Grade Levels/Age Groups
- Grades 4-5
- Grades 6-8
- Grades 9-12
- Adults
- Older Adults
Facilities and Resources Required
- Performance Space
- Chairs
Organizational Involvement
Availability
Upon Request
RECENT PROJECTS: Residency, Ashland City Schools, Completed year three of a grade 7-12 residency with the Jr. and Sr. High Schools Orchestra Program. The residency included synchronous and recorded coachings, master classes, in person side-by-side performances, sectionals and public performances. Orchestra Instructor Jocelyn Taylor involved quartet members in lessons and discussions throughout the year. Students explored opportunities for careers as professional musicians. The residency culminated with a performance during the Fine Arts Signing Day, in May 2024.
Performance and Q&A, Wooster City Schools. Grades 9-12 had the opportunity to learn about chamber music, hear first hand performances, explore the musicology of the works performed, and discuss possible careers as professional musicians.
Salon Concert, Wooster, Presented an evening focused on music education in public schools, the intersection of ESQYRE, the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education, and current legislative issues to a group of local educators and administrators.