Aeolus Quartet, Quartet

Biography

Hailed by Strad Magazine for their "high-octane" performances and by the Reading Eagle for their "spirited and precise" playing, the Aeolus Quartet is among the finest young quartets performing today. Formed in 2006 at the Cleveland Institute of Music under the tutelage of Peter Salaff, William Preucil, and the Cavani Quartet, the Quartet is currently the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Texas at Austin. Their activities there include extensive teaching and performing responsibilities, educational outreach to communities through UT's Rural Chamber Music Outreach Initiative, and intensive study with the Miró Quartet.

The Aeolus Quartet are recent winners of the 2009 Coleman International Chamber Music Competition in Pasadena, CA, where they received the Coleman-Barstow Prize for Strings. They have also won awards in the Chamber Music Foundation of New England's 2010 International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition and the 2010 Plowman Chamber Music Competition. Their 2010-2011 season includes performances in New York City, Dallas, Houston, Austin, Reading, Boston, and other cities across the United States, including a tour promoting the works of American composers made possible by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. Summer 2010 saw the Quartet as young artists-in-residence at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado. In addition, the Quartet has performed at the Perlman Music Program in Shelter Island, NY, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in Manhattan, NY, the St. Lawrence String Quartet Festival in Stanford, CA, and Sunflower Music Festival in Topeka, KS.

In 2009, the Quartet was selected for a residency at the Center for Advanced String Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School. During their time as fellows at Aspen, they were mentored by members of the Juilliard and Cleveland Quartets and worked extensively with the Takács, American, and Jupiter Quartets. In the fall of 2008 the Aeolus Quartet was invited to participate in the Jeunesses Musicales Festival in Weikersheim, Germany. At the final concert, their performance of Bartok’s Quartet No. 5 was broadcast nationally on German public radio. The Aeolus Quartet has also received private instruction from the Artemis, Tokyo, and Borromeo Quartets.

In the summer of 2007 the Aeolus Quartet was the first College Quartet in Residence at the Pine Mountain Music Festival in Houghton, MI. There, the Aeolus Quartet toured with works by Beethoven and Sibelius throughout Michigan and Wisconsin. They also presented the world premiere performances of "The Diaries of Adam and Eve," an opera for string quartet and voice by Evan Premo. Other collaborations include the world premiere of Alexandra Bryant's String Quartet No. 1, "Of This Earth," and a performance of Milhaud's Bass Quintet No. 2, Op. 316, with Cleveland Orchestra bassist Scott Haigh. Their recording of the Sibelius Quartet in D minor, Op. 56, 'Voces Intimae,' and the Beethoven Quartet in C Major, Op. 59, No. 3, was broadcast on Minnesota public radio. In the fall of 2009 they presented the world premiere of Bryant's String Quartet No. 2, "The Still Point," in Reading, PA. Commenting on this performance, Susan Pena of the Eagle noted: "..."all of it made sense, and all of it was sensitively, lovingly performed."

Dedicated to bringing music into the community, the Aeolus Quartet designed and performed a program for elementary students in the Cleveland Public School system in an April 2009 project made possible by the Frances E. Sykora Outreach Performance Fund. The significant impact of this program has led to its becoming an ongoing project in the Cleveland Public School system.

The Quartet is named for the Greek god Aeolus, the keeper of the four winds. He is known for welcoming Odysseus and his crew with music during their journey back to Ithaca in Homer’s Odyssey.

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