Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center have announced the appointment of two outstanding young ensembles, the Calidore String Quartet and the Schumann Quartet, to its CMS Two program beginning with the 2016-2017 season.
Selected by a distinguished panel of performers, educators, and artistic administrators, each quartet will have a three-year CMS Two residency, with opportunities to participate in the Society's New York concert series as well as touring, recording (on both the in-house CMS Studio Recordings label and the CMS Live! digital download series), broadcasts on CMS’s syndicated radio series and American Public Media’s Performance Today, television broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center, and numerous educational outreach programs.
In announcing the awards, CMS co-artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han spoke of the aim of the Society to nurture the careers of the rising young chamber musicians, and to foster an inter-generational roster of talent.
Above: Calidore String Quartet - Jeffrey Myers (violin); Jeremy Berry (viola); Estelle Choi (cello); and Ryan Meehan (violin)
The Calidore String Quartet has established an international reputation for its informed, polished, and captivating performances. Within two years of its formation in 2010 at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, the Calidore String Quartet won grand prizes in virtually all the major American chamber music competitions, including the Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions and captured top prizes at the 2012 ARD Munich International String Quartet Competition, and the Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition. The Calidore String Quartet perform throughout North America, Europe and Asia and have debuted in such prestigious venues and festivals as Verbier, Ravinia, Wigmore Hall, Lincoln Center, Seoul’s Kumho Arts Hall and the Schneider Concert Series in New York City. In 2014, the Calidore were selected by the Emerson Quartet to become artists-in-residence and visiting faculty at Stony Brook University (SUNY), where they are privileged to be mentored by the Emerson Quartet and cellist David Finckel.
The Calidore have been described as “a miracle of unified thought” (La Presse, Montreal) and as "four highly intelligent, deeply sensitive virtuosos" (Strings Magazine).
Above: Schumann Quartet Erik Schumann (violin); Liisa Randalu (viola); Mark Schumann (cello); and Kenneth Schumann (violin)
The Schumann Quartet - three brothers Erik, Ken, and Mark Schumann, along with Estonian violist Liisa Randalu - have impressed audiences worldwide ever since winning the renowned Concours de Bordeaux in May 2013. Critics have praised their “high emotional intelligence” and “supreme technical accomplishment...”.
Founded in 2007 in Cologne, and in its current formation since 2012, the Schumann Quartet attracted much attention early on. The ensemble is a prize-winner of such international competitions as the Premio Paolo Borciani in Italy and the Osaka International Music Competition in Japan, and winner of the Schubert and Modern Music Competition in Graz, Austria in 2012.
In February 2014, the Jürgen Ponto Foundation awarded its Music Prize for String Quartet to the Schumann Quartet. In the 2015-2016 season, the ensemble will hold a residency at the Schloss Esterhazy, which includes concerts and the world premiere of a work commissioned for the Quartet.