Aeolus Quartet
String Quartet
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Nicholas Tavani & Rachel Shapiro, violins
Caitlin Lynch, viola
Jia Kim, celloWith performances acclaimed for both “high-octane” excitement (Strad) and “dusky lyricism” (New York Times), the Aeolus Quartet has been awarded prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings "worthy of a major-league quartet" (Dallas Morning News). Formed in 2008, the Quartet is comprised of violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Caitlin Lynch, and cellist Jia Kim. Mark Satola of the Cleveland Plain Dealer writes, “The quartet has a rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.” The Aeolus Quartet has performed in venues ranging from the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Lincoln Center's Great Performers Series to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, to Dupont Underground, a subterranean streetcar station in DC's Dupont Circle. They were the 2013-2015 Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School and are currently Quartet-in-Residence at Musica Viva NY.
Recently garnering praise by the Wall Street Journal for their “vibrant” performance in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group, the Aeolus Quartet’s 2023-24 season also includes featured performances presented by Carnegie Hall Citywide at Madison Square Park, Chamber Music Detroit, and Interlochen Center for the Arts. The Quartet serves as the Artistic Directors for the Charles Wadsworth Piano Competition, an innovative competition with an emphasis on chamber music and a commitment to creating equal access for all applicants.
Strong advocates for contemporary music, the Aeolus Quartet has premiered works by Jonathan Bailey Holland and worked closely with composers such as John Corigliano, Keeril Makan, Missy Mazzoli, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Timothy Mauthe, and Alexandra T Bryant.
The Aeolus Quartet has released several critically acclaimed albums of classical and contemporary works through Naxos and Azica labels which are available on iTunes, Amazon, and major retailers worldwide. The Quartet’s Many-Sided Music initiative has produced two albums in an ongoing effort to promote works by American composers. The latest of these, Ariel and Other Poems, was recorded with Azica Records and released in July 2021.
The Aeolus Quartet’s numerous honors include First Prize at the Coleman International Chamber Ensemble Competition, as well as Grand Prize at both the Plowman Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition. They were also prizewinners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and the International Chamber Music Ensemble Competition in New England. The Austin Critics' Table named the Aeolus Quartet their 2016-17 "Best Touring Performance” for Rambunctious, a collaboration with Spectrum Dance Theater.
The Quartet has performed across North America, Europe, and Asia in venues such as Alice Tully Hall, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Reinberger Recital Hall at Severance Hall, The Library of Congress, Renwick Gallery, St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and the Shanghai Oriental Arts Center. In addition, the quartet was featured on the hit Netflix miniseries, The Defenders.
Dedicated to sharing the joy of chamber music with new audiences, the Aeolus Quartet has been widely recognized for their highly creative and engaging educational programs. The Quartet was honored to receive a Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Grant, and in recognition of the Quartet’s artistic achievement, CMA awarded this project with the “Guarneri Quartet Residency” title. This residency promoted engagement with multiple interactive performances at Duke Ellington School for the Arts, the Sitar Arts Center, and George Washington University. The Aeolus Quartet received the Educator Award presented by the Fischoff National Chamber Music Association in acknowledgment of the positive impact of their educational efforts in underserved communities. Additionally, the Quartet was awarded the John Lad Prize, which culminated in a residency involving large-scale community engagement work, masterclasses, and performances at Stanford University. The Aeolus Quartet has served as teaching faculty at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Stanford University’s Education Program for Gifted Youth, the Austin Chamber Music Workshop, Point CounterPoint, and the Chloe Trevor Music Academy. Working in collaboration with the University of Texas through the Rural Chamber Music Outreach Initiative, the Quartet has presented educational programs and performances in communities throughout the state of Texas. Through their multiple residencies with the Chamber Music Society of Detroit alone, the Aeolus Quartet has reached over 18,000 students in the greater Detroit metro area.
The Aeolus Quartet has been fortunate to collaborate with many of today’s leading artists, including Renee Fleming, Ida Kavafian, Joel Krosnick, Peter Wiley, Michael Tree, and Paul Neubauer. They studied extensively with the Juilliard, Guarneri, St. Lawrence, Cavani, and Miró Quartets. Other mentors include Peter Salaff, Donald Weilerstein, Itzhak Perlman, and Mark Steinberg. Members of the Quartet hold degrees from the Juilliard School, the Cleveland Institute of Music, the University of Maryland, and the University of Texas at Austin.
Thanks to the generosity of the Five Partners Foundation, the four members play on a set of instruments by famed Brooklyn luthier Samuel Zygmuntowicz. The Quartet is named for the Greek god Aeolus, who governed the four winds. This idea of a single spirit uniting four individual forces serves as an inspiration to the members of the Aeolus Quartet as they pursue their craft.
*Updated January 2024
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DUSKY LYRICISM FROM THE AEOLUS QUARTET
“Ricky Ian Gordon’s elegantly impassioned score drew dusky lyricism from the Aeolus Quartet, conducted here by Lidiya Yankovskaya.”
– Zachary Woolfe, The New York TimesAEOLUS QUARTET GIVES DYNAMIC CONCERT FOR MUSIC IN THE GREAT HALL
“What was most rewarding on Sunday was the way the Aelous Quartet combined smoothly meshed technique with a sense of spontaneity and discovery….The Aelous players dug into the thorny work with admirable technical clarity, tonal vibrancy and, above all, an appreciation for the dark vein of lyricism running through it. The surging performance communicated richly at every turn.”
– Tim Smith, Baltimore SunAEOLUS QUARTET DELIVERS DIVINE DVORÁK; TESLA’S RAVEL SIMPLY PERFECT IN DAY THREE OF BANFF COMPETITION
“But perhaps it was Aeolus Quartet who produced the most unexpected performance of all: a highly intelligent, crisp, but deeply considered reading of Dvorák’s Quartet No. 14 in A-flat major, a difficult work to pull off on several different levels.And what a pleasure it was to hear this piece so well performed and to hear Aeolus meet the interpretive, harmonic and formal challenges inherent in the work. The folkloric aspects in the suave and lovely Lento movement, the structural sophistication so typical of late Dvorák which Aeolus brushed aside with enviable ease, and especially the unstinting ensemble panache to exploit those darker chordal sonorities combined with a completely authentic presentation of the Czech folkloric and seemingly inexhaustible rhythmic ideas were all elements fully at the command of a masterful Aeolus Quartet. An overwhelming presentation, especially the ending to the fourth movement — froze me in my seat.”
– Stephan Bonfield, Calgary HeraldAEOLUS QUARTET GETS NEW ROCKY RIVER CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY YEAR OFF TO VIBRANT START
“Immediately evident, too, was the Aeolus Quartet’s fully formed personality. A rich and warm tone combined with precise ensemble playing (that managed also to come across as fluid and natural), and an impressive musical intelligence guided every technical and dramatic turn.”
– Mark Satola, Cleveland Plain DealerSAMPLING LINCOLN CENTER’S GREAT PERFORMERS WITH THE AEOLUS QUARTET
“Base camp seldom looked so bleak, or the journey more arduous, but the practically aching lustre of the payoff made everything worthwhile. The crowd didn’t know what hit them.”
– Delarue, New York Music DailyPASSIONATE AEOLUS ON MUSIC MOUNTAIN
“Aeolus’ performance of Felix Mendelssohn’s String Quartet no. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 (1827) offered the palpable treat of the afternoon…The audience at august Gordon Hall was ecstatic, hypnotized, demanding a second bow, rising to their feet. While I had sensed slight nervous tension in the players at the opening of the performance, it was clear that they were glowing, relaxed, bathing in that extraordinary aura of something special well-achieved.”
– Kevin T. McEneaney, The Millbrook IndependentA DUAL HYMN TO THE MODERN IN QUARTET AND DANCE CONCERT AT FREER|SACKLER
“Though the musical selection ranged from sugary neo-tonality to more discordant asperities, the ensemble’s clean intonation and collaborative spirit showed everything in the best light. Dense, dissonant homophony in Akira Miyoshi’s String Quartet No. 3 (“Constellation in black”) was frenetic and strident, enlivened by contrapuntal lines on which each voice rocketed out of the tumult. Regular shifts of texture sustained interest until the piece evaporated in a mist of harmonics and ethereal notes.”
– Charles T. Downey, Washington Classical Review -
SAMPLE PROGRAMS
Program I: Chiaroscuro
Paul Wiancko: LIFT
Schubert: Quartet in G Major D. 887*Exploring the line where light and shadow meet, Wiancko’s exuberant, modern-day masterpiece LIFT is “an investigation of elation and journey of a soul.” The program is anchored by Schubert’s epically powerful G Major string quartet, at turns darkly brooding and impossibly joyful, the tension between the two unresolved and the music richer for it.
Program II: Where Love is Deep
Haydn: Quartet in C Major Op. 54 No. 2
Reena Esmail: Zeher
Smetana: Quartet No. 1 in e minor “From My Life”*Connection and community have never been more important in art and in life. Reena Esmail’s dynamic work Zeher (“Poison”) encapsulates the composer’s hope for the world to “neutralize this disease [the pandemic] through a lot of compassion and love for one another,” her music at turns meandering and churning in two Hindustani raags. The Quartet Op. 54 No. 2 by Franz Joseph Haydn is a fiery and deep work written with the intent to showcase the virtuosity of the violinist Johann Tost, a loyal friend who took responsibility for ensuring the publication of Haydn’s Op. 54 and Op. 55 quartets. Smetana’s intensely personal Quartet No. 1 “From My Life” closes the program. Dedicating the sublime slow movement to his wife, Smetana wrote that his choice of instrumentation held special significance: “...the aim of the work, which is almost intimate… is why it is written purposely for four instruments, as though in a small friendly circle they are discussing among themselves what so obviously troubles me. That’s all.”
Program III: Joys and Sorrows
Beethoven: 18/6
Shaw: Blueprint
Smetana: Quartet No. 1 in e minor “From My Life”
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Dvořák: Quartet in G Major No. 13, Op. 106*This program is about our human life– joys and sorrows, the dark and light, conflict and triumph! Experience the endless invention, poignancy, mystery, and brilliance of these masterpieces with the pairing of Beethoven’s 18/6 and Carline Shaw’s Blueprint which has direct quotations from 18/6, finishing the program with “From My Life”, Smetana’s quartet which the composer himself said to be a tone picture of his life.
*Updated January 2024