The St. Lawrence String Quartet is a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

string quartet The term string quartet can refer 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 violinist ...

, and one of Canada's premier chamber ensembles. The Quartet was founded in 1989 and has served residencies at the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most ...

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...

, the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institu ...

, the Hartt School, and Stanford University. In 1992 the Quartet won first prize in the Fourth Banff International String Quartet Competition and the

Young Concert Artists International Auditions Young Concert Artists is a New York City-based non-profit organization dedicated to discovering and promoting the careers of talented young classical musicians from all over the world. The competition, founded in 1961, allows artists from all over ...

. They have also won a

Juno Award The Juno Awards, more popularly known as the JUNOS, are awards presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music. New members of the Canadian Music Hall o ...

and a Preis der Deutsches Schallplaten Kritik, for their EMI recording of

Schumann Robert Schumann (; 8 June 181029 July 1856) was a German composer, pianist, and influential music critic. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers of the Romantic era. Schumann left the study of law, intending to pursue a career a ...

Quartets. The Quartet recorded four CDs for EMI (including quartets by

Tchaikovsky Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky , group=n ( ; 7 May 1840 – 6 November 1893) was a Russian composer of the Romantic period. He was the first Russian composer whose music would make a lasting impression internationally. He wrote some of the most pop ...

, Schumann,

Shostakovich Dmitri Dmitriyevich Shostakovich, , group=n (9 August 1975) was a Soviet-era Russian composer and pianist who became internationally known after the premiere of his First Symphony in 1926 and was regarded throughout his life as a major compo ...

, and

Osvaldo Golijov Osvaldo Noé Golijov (; born December 5, 1960) is an Argentine composer of classical music and music professor, known for his vocal and orchestral work. Biography Osvaldo Golijov was born in and grew up in La Plata, Argentina, in a Jewish famil ...

's "Yiddishbuk." A new CD of

Haydn Franz Joseph Haydn ( , ; 31 March 173231 May 1809) was an Austrian composer of the Classical period. He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio. His contributions to musical form have le ...

is in production). Among the composers whose works the Quartet was to premiere in 2008 to 2010 were

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was an American statesman, attorney, diplomat, writer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Befor ...

(to be premiered January 2009),

Ezequiel Viñao Ezequiel Viñao (born July 21, 1960 in Buenos Aires) is an Argentine-American composer. He emigrated to the United States in 1980 and studied at the Juilliard School. His compositions include ''La Noche de las Noches'' (1989) for string quartet ...

(to be premiered December 2009), Osvaldo Golijov (including a new string quartet in preparation), David Bruce (for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Carnegie Hall), and Canadian composers

Derek Charke Derek Charke (; born 1974) is a Canadian classical composer and flutist. Career In 2012, Derek Charke won the Juno Award for Classical Composition of the Year for his work, "Sepia Fragments." The following year Charke's work, "Between the Shore ...

, Suzanne Hebert-Tremblay, Brian Current,

Elizabeth Raum Elizabeth Raum (born 13 January 1945) is a Canadian oboist and composer. Biography Elizabeth Raum was born in Berlin, New Hampshire in 1945, but became a Canadian citizen in 1985. She studied oboe performance with Robert Sprenkle at the Eastma ...

, and Marcus Goddard, each representing a different province in Canada. Other collaborations by the Quartet with composers have included R. Murray Schafer (first performance of his ''String Quartet 3'', in 1994, and of his "Four-Forty" in 2002),

Jonathan Berger Jonathan Berger (born 1954) is an American composer. His works include opera, orchestral, chamber, vocal, choral and electro-acoustic music. He has been commissioned by major ensembles including the Kronos Quartet, the St. Lawrence String Quarte ...

(premiere of "Miracles and Mud," 2001 and "The Bridal Canopy," 2008),

Christos Hatzis Christos Hatzis ( el, Χρήστος Χατζής; born 1953) is a Juno Award-winning Greek-Canadian composer. Many of his compositions are performed internationally, and he is a professor at the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. Early l ...

("Awakenings," May 2005), and

Roberto Sierra Roberto Sierra (born 9 October 1953) is a Puerto Rican composer of contemporary classical music. Life Sierra was born in Vega Baja, Puerto Rico. He studied composition in Europe, notably with György Ligeti in Hamburg (1979–1982), Germany. A ...

("Songs from the Diaspora," February 2007).

Members

*The first violin chair is currently open following the death of Geoff Nuttall. *Owen Dalby, second violin (joined May 31, 2015) *Lesley Robertson,

viola ; german: Bratsche , alt=Viola shown from the front and the side , image=Bratsche.jpg , caption= , background=string , hornbostel_sachs=321.322-71 , hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite chordophone sounded by a bow , range= , related= *Violin family ...

(a co-founder of the quartet) *Christopher Costanza,

cello The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a Bow (music), bowed (sometimes pizzicato, plucked and occasionally col legno, hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually intonation (music), t ...

(joined September 2003)

Prior members

* Geoff Nuttall, first

violin The violin, sometimes known as a ''fiddle'', is a wooden chordophone (string instrument) in the violin family. Most violins have a hollow wooden body. It is the smallest and thus highest-pitched instrument (soprano) in the family in regular ...

and a co-founder of the quartet died on October 19, 2022. * Marina Hoover, cello (co-founding member) retired from the quartet in 2003 * Scott St. John, second violin from 2006 through 2013 * Barry Shiffman, second violin (co-founding member)

References

External links

*
Article at thecanadianencyclopedia.ca
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:St. Lawrence Quartet Musical groups established in 1989 Canadian string quartets Juno Award for Classical Album of the Year – Solo or Chamber Ensemble winners EMI Classics and Virgin Classics artists