Celebrating its sixteenth anniversary in 2022, the Jasper String Quartet is recognized as one of the leading American string quartets on the performance stage today.
A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the quartet has been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” (The Strad) and described by Gramophone as “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced.” The New York Times named their album Unbound as one of the 25 Best Classical Recordings of 2017.
The Jasper String Quartet is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians. In addition, the quartet is the founder and artistic director of Jasper Chamber Concerts. The Jasper Quartet is committed to celebrating the diverse array of compositional voices writing for string quartet on every program.
“flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced.”
— Gramophone
In the fall of 2022, the quartet will record the complete string quartets of Vivian Fung for the Sono Luminus label. Other highlights of the 2022/23 season include premiere performances of new commissions by Ingrid Arauco and Reinaldo Moya, and residencies at Michigan State University and Shenandoah Conservatory.
In the 2022/23 season, the Jasper Quartet also continues in their seventh season as artistic directors of Jasper Chamber Concerts. Jasper Chamber Concerts is dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber music performances, with concerts held in the Chestnut Hill Skyspace, a uniquely elegant venue designed by renowned artist James Turrell and architect James Bradberry.
In February 2021, the Quartet released their latest album recorded with the Jupiter String Quartet of music by Osvaldo Golijov, Felix Mendelssohn and Dan Visconti to great critical acclaim. The Whole Note called the album a “simply thrilling performance — vibrant, pulsating and dynamic” and Music City Review said “the performances captured are artistically nuanced, executed with gorgeous technique and plenty of personality.”
Jasper String Quartet is passionate about connecting with audiences beyond the concert hall and has performed hundreds of outreach programs in schools and community centers.
The quartet received a Residency Partnership grant from Chamber Music America for the 2020/21 season and has received numerous Picasso Project grants from Public Citizens for Children and Youth to support its ongoing work with public schools in Philadelphia. The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association recognized the Quartet's “outstanding and imaginative programming for children and youth in the United States” with their 2016 Educator Award.
The quartet regularly serves as featured artists-in-residence for Swarthmore College and teaches on the faculty of the Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute.
Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, Jasper String Quartet launched its professional career in 2006 while studying with James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith as Rice University’s graduate quartet-in-\residence. In 2008, the quartet continued its training with the Tokyo String Quartet as Yale University's graduate quartet-in-residence. In 2008, the Jaspers swept through the competition circuit, winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. They were also the first ensemble honored with Yale School of Music’s Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, an award established in 1945, and selected by the faculty for “best fulfilling… lofty musical ideals.” In 2010, they joined the roster of Astral Artists after winning their national auditions.
The quartet was the 2010–12 ensemble-in-residence at Oberlin Conservatory and, in conjunction with Astral Artists, was awarded a 2012 Chamber Music America grant through its Residency Partnership Program for work in Philadelphia schools. From 2009 to 2011, the Jaspers were the Ernst C. Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and Arts (Katonah, New York).
The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.
Visit www.jasperquartet.com for more information. The quartet is represented by artist manager Marianne LaCrosse of CTM Classics (marianne@ctmclassics.com).