The Cassatt String Quartet was founded in 1985. Originally the first participants in

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

's Young Artists Quartet Program, the Quartet has gone on to win many teaching fellowships and awards and has toured internationally. Named after impressionist painter

Mary Cassatt Mary Stevenson Cassatt (; May 22, 1844June 14, 1926) was an American painter and printmaker. She was born in Allegheny, Pennsylvania (now part of Pittsburgh's North Side (Pittsburgh), North Side), but lived much of her adult life in France, whe ...

, the quartet is based in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. The Cassatt Quartet has performed at New York's

Alice Tully Hall Alice Tully Hall is a concert hall at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City. The hall is named for Alice Tully, a New York performer and Philanthropy, philanthropist whose donations assis ...

and Weill Recital Hall at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhattan), 57t ...

, the Tanglewood Music Theater, the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

and

Library of Congress The Library of Congress (LOC) is a research library in Washington, D.C., serving as the library and research service for the United States Congress and the ''de facto'' national library of the United States. It also administers Copyright law o ...

Washington, DC Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and Federal district of the United States, federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from ...

. Internationally, it has taken the stage at the

Théâtre des Champs-Élysées The Théâtre des Champs-Élysées () is an entertainment venue standing at 15 avenue Montaigne in Paris. It is situated near Avenue des Champs-Élysées, from which it takes its name. Its eponymous main hall may seat up to 1,905 people, while th ...

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, Maeda Hall in

Tokyo Tokyo, officially the Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan, capital and List of cities in Japan, most populous city in Japan. With a population of over 14 million in the city proper in 2023, it is List of largest cities, one of the most ...

, the

American Academy in Rome The American Academy in Rome is a research and arts institution located on the Gianicolo in Rome, Italy. The academy is a member of the Council of American Overseas Research Centers. History 19th century In 1893, a group of American architect ...

, the

Palacio de Bellas Artes The Palacio de Bellas Artes (Palace of Fine Arts) is a prominent cultural center in Mexico City. It hosts performing arts events, literature events and plastic arts galleries and exhibitions (including important permanent Mexican murals). "Bella ...

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

and the Festival de Música de Cámera in

San Miguel de Allende San Miguel de Allende () is the principal city in the Municipalities of Mexico, municipality of San Miguel de Allende (municipality), San Miguel de Allende, located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico. A part of the Bajío region, the t ...

. Composers whose works the quartet has performed include Tina Davidson,

Jay Reise Jay Reise (born 1950) is an American composer. Biography Reise spent his childhood surrounded by classical music and jazz, but began his composition studies with Jimmy Giuffre and Hugh Hartwell in 1970. After graduating at Hamilton College in 1 ...

, Andy Tierstien, Joan Tower, and Dan Welcher. The acclaimed quartet has built a reputation for being a champion of work by living composers. Named three times in ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. It was founded on February 21, 1925, by Harold Ross and his wife Jane Grant, a reporter for ''The New York T ...

'' magazine's Best Of The Year CD Selection, they have recorded for the Koch, Naxos, New World, Albany and CRI Labels.

History

The Cassatt Quartet was founded in 1985 by four young artists at Juilliard who were inspired by the work of artist Mary Cassatt. It won the Coleman Chamber Music Competition one year later, and two top prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 1989. At that time the quartet consisted of Laura Goldberg and Muneko Otani, violins; Sarah Adams, viola; and Anna Cholakian, cello. Founding members included cellist Anna Cholakian and violinist Laura J. Goldberg. Goldberg went on to join the

pre-college teaching faculty and later left the quartet. She later founded Arts Ahimsa, a group that uses music and the arts to promote non-violence. In 1991 the quartet, composed of Muneko Otani, Laura Goldberg (violin); Michiko Oshima (viola); Anna Cholakian (cello) performed for the soundtrack of the TV Show Fishing with John. That work appears in a CD produced in 1998. As of 1993, the members of the quartet were Anna Cholakian, cello, Muneko Otani and Sunghae Anna Lim, violins, and Michiko Oshima, viola. Cholakian was lost to cancer in February 1996. Composer Andrew Waggoner dedicated his Symphony No. 2 to Anna Cholakian's memory, indicating that the third movement echoed, among other things "an old Armenian song beloved of Anna and her father, “Hokis Murmur (My Soul is Sad).” Composer David Lang also wrote a piece in memory of Cholakian, 'Cello', as part of his piano works series, "memory pieces." Members of the Cassatt Quartet have served in residency at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, and created the Louis Krasner Graduate String Quartet Program for training young, professionally oriented string quartets at the Setnor School of Music of Syracuse University while in extended residency there. Quartet members as of 2001 were Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, violins; Tawnya Popoff, viola; and Caroline Stinson, cello.''Legacy'' liner notes

Current members

* Muneko Otani serves on the faculty of

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

Mannes College of Music The Mannes School of Music (), originally called the David Mannes Music School and later the Mannes Music School, Mannes College of Music, the Chatham Square Music School, and Mannes College: The New School for Music, is a Music school, music con ...

in New York City, and the Mozarteum Summer Festival in

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

. Otani plays a 1770 J.B. Guadagnini of Parma

violin The violin, sometimes referred to as a fiddle, is a wooden chordophone, and is the smallest, and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in regular use in the violin family. Smaller violin-type instruments exist, including the violino picc ...

. * Jennifer Leshnower coaches chamber music worldwide, including masterclasses in

Ireland Ireland (, ; ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe. Geopolitically, the island is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Irelan ...

Trinity College, Dublin Trinity College Dublin (), officially titled The College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, and legally incorporated as Trinity College, the University of Dublin (TCD), is the sole constituent college of the Univ ...

and the Royal Irish Academy of Music. Leshnower's violin is a 1655 Jacobus Stainer. * Ah Ling Neu, violist, has performed chamber music as a former member of the Ridge Quartet and the New York Philomusica, and her summer festival appearances include the Marlboro Music Festival, Tanglewood and White Mountains Music Festivals. She presently teaches at Columbia University and Williams College. * Elizabeth Anderson was formerly cellist of the Naumburg Award-winning Meliora Quartet and is Assistant Principal Cellist with the New York City Opera Orchestra. As recitalist she has toured throughout the United States, Europe and Asia.

Discography

* ''Cassatt: The Cassatt String Quartet'', Composers Recordings, Jun 8, 1994 * ''Julia Wolfe: Arsenal for Democracy'', Polygram Records, Jun 4, 1996 * ''Francis White: The Composer in the Computer Age IV'', Centaur, Jan 21, 1997 * ''Nothing Devine is Mundane: Songs of Virgil Thompson'', Albany Records, Dec 16, 1997 * ''Mary Jane Leach: Adriane's Lament'', New World Records, Feb 24, 1998 * ''Gisburg: Trust'', Tzadik, Oct 20, 1998 * ''The Music of Ursula Mamlok'', Composers Recordings, Apr 13, 1999 * ''Margaret Brouwer: Crosswinds'', New World Records, Nov 1, 2001 * '' Andrew Waggoner: Legacy'', New World Records, Nov 1, 2001 * ''The Music of Ezra Laderman, Vol. 3'', Albany Records, Jan 29, 2002 * ''Chamber Music by Lawrence Dillon'', Albany Records, Jul 30, 2002 * ''Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets'', Cantaloupe, Feb 11, 2003 * ''Daniel S. Godfrey: String Quartets'', KOCH International Classics, Apr 27, 2004 * ''Steven Stucky: In Shadow, In Light'', Albany Records, May 25, 2004 * ''Sebastian Currier: Quartetset, Quiet Time'', New World Records, Feb 7, 2006 * ''Tina Davidson: It Is My Heart Singing'', Albany Records, Jun 1, 2006 * ''Jay Reise: Chamber Music'', Albany Records, Mar 4, 2008 * ''Music of Ezra Laderman, Vol. 8'' Albany Records, Dec 1, 2008 * ''Andy Teirstein "Open Crossings"'' Naxos Records * ''Dan Welcher "String Quartets Nos. 1-3"'' Naxos Records * ''Ravel and Dvorak'' "String Quartet and Quartet Op. 105 in A-Flat Major", 2008

Recognition and awards

* First Prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition in 1986. * First Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition * 2nd Place at the Banff International String Quartet Competition, plus 'Best performance of the piéce de concert (Allan Bell, Arche II)', 1989 * The 1995 CMA/ASCAP First Prize Award for Adventurous Programming * A 1996 recording grant from the Mary Flagler Cary Charitable Trust *''Julia Wolfe: The String Quartets'' listed in ''The New Yorkers Year's Best CDs of 2003 * ''Daniel S. Godfrey: String Quartets'' listed in ''The New Yorkers Year's Best CDs of 2004 * Sebastian Currier, ''Quartetset/Quiet Time'' listed in ''The New Yorkers Year's Best CDs of 2006Best Of 2006
by Russell Platt, ''The New Yorker'', January 15, 2007

References

External links

Cassatt Quartet website

by Allan Kozinn, September 21, 2008. {{Authority control Contemporary classical music ensembles Musical groups established in 1985 American string quartets 1985 establishments in New York City