The Escher String Quartet is an American

string quartet The term string quartet refers to either a type of musical composition or a group of four people who play them. Many composers from the mid-18th century onwards wrote string quartets. The associated musical ensemble consists of two Violin, violini ...

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 ...

, where they serve as Artists of the

Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center (CMS) is an American organization dedicated to the performance and promotion of chamber music in New York City and around the world. It is the largest organization of its kind in the country for chamber m ...

. Their name derives from the Dutch artist

M. C. Escher Maurits Cornelis Escher (; ; 17 June 1898 – 27 March 1972) was a Dutch graphic artist who made woodcuts, lithography, lithographs, and mezzotints, many of which were Mathematics and art, inspired by mathematics. Despite wide popular int ...

Biography

The Escher Quartet was founded in 2005 in New York City, where its original members were studying at the

Manhattan School of Music The Manhattan School of Music (MSM) is a private music conservatory A music school is an educational institution specialized in the study, training, and research of music. Such an institution can also be known as a school of music, music a ...

. The group tours the US as well as internationally and has performed in Europe, Australia, and China.

Escher String Quartet
Retrieved 13 June 2014. Among the venues where the ensemble has performed are the

Auditorium du Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is a national art museum in Paris, France, and one of the most famous museums in the world. It is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement (district or ward) and home to ...

in Paris,

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, ...

in Washington DC, the

Concertgebouw Concertgebouw may refer to one of the following concert halls: * Concertgebouw, Amsterdam, Netherlands * Concertgebouw, Bruges, Belgium * Concertgebouw de Vereeniging, Netherlands {{disambiguation Buildings and structures disambiguation pages ...

in Amsterdam, and

Wigmore Hall The Wigmore Hall is a concert hall at 36 Wigmore Street, in west London. It was designed by Thomas Edward Collcutt and opened in 1901 as the Bechstein Hall; it is considered to have particularly good building acoustics, acoustics. It specialis ...

in London. The quartet served on the

BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists scheme (also known as the NGA scheme) was launched in 1999 by Adam Gatehouse as part of the BBC's commitment to young musical talent. Each autumn six or seven young artists at the beginning of careers on the ...

from 2010 until 2012.

BBC Radio 3 BBC Radio 3 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It replaced the BBC Third Programme in 1967 and broadcasts classical music and opera, with jazz, world music, Radio drama, drama, High culture, culture and the arts ...

BBC New Generation Artists
Retrieved 13 June 2014. They were also invited by

Pinchas Zukerman Pinchas Zukerman (; born 16 July 1948) is an Israeli-American violinist, violist and conductor. Life and career Zukerman was born in Tel Aviv, to Jewish parents and Holocaust survivors Yehuda and Miriam Lieberman Zukerman. He began his musica ...

to serve as Quartet in Residence at the Young Artists Programme at Canada's National Arts Centre and were invited by

Itzhak Perlman Itzhak Perlman (; born August 31, 1945) is an Israeli-American violinist. He has performed worldwide and throughout the United States, in venues that have included a state dinner for Elizabeth II at the White House in 2007, and at the First ina ...

to the

Perlman Music Program The Perlman Music Program is a summer program for gifted young musicians. Founded by Toby Perlman, wife of Israeli-American violinist Itzhak Perlman, in 1995, the program is headquartered in Shelter Island, New York. It offers exceptionally talente ...

on Shelter Island, New York. From 2007 until 2009, the quartet was in residence at

Stony Brook University Stony Brook University (SBU), officially the State University of New York at Stony Brook, is a public university, public research university in Stony Brook, New York, United States, on Long Island. Along with the University at Buffalo, it is on ...

br>"New Southampton Sunday Music Series Kicks Off With Escher String Quartet"
. Retrieved 13 June 2014. Escher has been mentored by the

Emerson String Quartet The Emerson String Quartet, also known as the Emerson Quartet, was an American string quartet initially formed as a student group at the Juilliard School in 1976. It was named for American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson and began touri ...

and has collaborated with artists that include Leon Fleischer, David Finckel, Wu Han, Benjamin Grosvenor, jazz vocalist

Kurt Elling Kurt Elling (born November 2, 1967) is an American jazz singer and songwriter. Born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Rockford, Elling became interested in music through his father, who was Kapellmeister at a Lutheran church. He sang in cho ...

, and jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman

Emerson String Quartet
. Retrieved 13 June 2014. In 2013 the Escher Quartet was awarded the Lincoln Center's

Avery Fisher Career Grant The Avery Fisher Career Grant, established by Avery Fisher, is an award given to up to five outstanding instrumentalists each year (since 2004, chamber music groups are also eligible). The Career Grants are a part of the Avery Fisher Artist Program ...

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Avery Fisher Career Grants 2013
Retrieved 26 June 2014. In 2015 the quartet was awarded the Martin. E. Segal Award by Lincoln Center. In 2023–2024 the Escher Quartet served as season artists for the

Members

*Adam Barnett-Hart,

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 ...

*Brendan Speltz, violin *Pierre Lapointe,

viola The viola ( , () ) is a string instrument of the violin family, and is usually bowed when played. Violas are slightly larger than violins, and have a lower and deeper sound. Since the 18th century, it has been the middle or alto voice of the ...

*Brook Speltz,

cello The violoncello ( , ), commonly abbreviated as cello ( ), is a middle pitched bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), tuned i ...

Former Members

*Aaron Boyd, violin

Recordings

The Escher String Quartet is best known for its recordings of

Alexander von Zemlinsky Alexander Zemlinsky or Alexander von Zemlinsky (14 October 1871 – 15 March 1942) was an Austrian composer, conductor, and teacher. Biography Early life Zemlinsky was born in Vienna to a highly diverse family. Zemlinsky's grandfather, Anton ...

's complete string quartets. In 2015, the quartet began releasing recordings of Mendelssohn's complete string quartets on the BIS label.BI

" BIS Artists: Escher String Quartet". Retrieved 12 October 2015 * Music@Menlo: ''Bridging the Ages'', Disc 5. 2008. Music@Menlo Live *Amy Cheney Beach Piano Quintet / Alan Louis Smith Vignettes: ''Covered Wagon Woman''. 2011. Chamber Music Society Studio Recordings *''Stony Brook Soundings'', Vol. 1, 2011.

Bridge Records Bridge Records is an independent record label that specializes in classical music located in New Rochelle, New York. History A classical guitarist, David Starobin recorded the Boccherini Guitar Quintet in E minor in the 1970s. This was his firs ...

Cahill, Greg (October 2010)
"An Impressive Collection of Modern Chamber Works from Stony Brook"
''Strings''. *Alexander Zemlinsky String Quartets, Vol. 1, 2013.

Naxos Naxos (; , ) is a Greek island belonging to the Cyclades island group. It is the largest island in the group. It was an important centre during the Bronze Age Cycladic Culture and in the Ancient Greek Archaic Period. The island is famous as ...

*Alexander Zemlinsky String Quartets, Vol. 2, 2014. Naxos *Mendelssohn: String Quartets No. 1 in E Flat Major and No. 4 in E Minor, 2015. BIS *Mendelssohn: String Quartets No. 2 in A Minor and No. 3 in D Major, 2015. BIS *Mendelssohn: String Quartets No. 5 in E Flat Major and No. 6 in F Minor, 2016. BIS *Dvořák: American Quartet; Tchaikovsky: Quartet No. 1; Borodin: Quartet No. 2, 2018. BIS *Samuel Barber: String Quartet in B minor, Op.11; Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1 (From the Salvation Army) and String Quartet No. 2, 2021.BIS
Samuel Barber: String Quartet in B minor, Op.11; Charles Ives: String Quartet No. 1 (From the Salvation Army) and String Quartet No. 2
Retrieved 9 May 2022. BIS *Pierre Jalbert: String Quartet No. 4, Air in Motion, and String Quartet No. 6 (“Canticle”), 2023. Orchard Classics – with Carol Wincenc (flute) *Pierre Jalbert: String Quartet No. 5 ''Terra Incognita'', 2023. Orchard Classics

References

External links

* * {{Portal bar, Classical music Musical groups from New York City Musical groups established in 2005 American string quartets