Winner of the prestigious 2012 CMA Cleveland Quartet Award, the Jasper String Quartet has been hailed as “sonically delightful and
expressively compelling” (The Strad) and “powerful” (The New York Times).
The Classical Voice of North Carolina says they play “with sparkling vitality and great verve…polished, engaged, and in tune with one another.”
Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the Jasper Quartet recently released two highly acclaimed albums for the Sono Luminus label,
featuring the works of Beethoven, Schubert, and Aaron Jay Kernis. The quartet is the Ensemble-in-Residence at
Classic Chamber Concerts in Naples, Florida and, in conjunction with Astral Artists, the Jaspers were awarded a 2012 grant from
Chamber Music America through its Residency Partnership Program.
After winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Jasper Quartet
went on to win the Grand Prize at the 2008 Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs 2008,
and the Silver Medal at both the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions.
They were a winner of Astral Artists’ 2010 National Auditions and they were the first ensemble to win the Yale School of Music’s
Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, an award estabished in 1945 for “best fulfilling…lofty musical ideals".
In addition, they recently completed their 2010-2012 position as Ensemble-in-Residence at Oberlin Conservatory.
The Jasper Quartet performs pieces emotionally significant to its members ranging from Haydn and Beethoven through Berg, Ligeti, and living composers. They have commissioned string quartets from some of today's best emerging composers, including Andrew Norman, Nicholas Omiccioli, Conrad Tao and Annie Gosfield. The quartet has also developed strong relationships with Aaron Jay Kernis, Lera Auerbach, and Leo Blanco. Working intimately with each of these composers has provided valuable insights into the master composers of all centuries.
The Jasper Quartet has brought well over 100 outreach programs into schools and enjoys educational work of all kinds. During their 2007 Melba and Orville Roleffson Residency at the Banff Centre, the Jaspers embarked on a “guerilla chamber music” project, performing concerts in unusual settings around Alberta, Canada. More recently, the quartet has worked closely with the Caramoor Center for Music and Arts and with Astral Artists to bring outreach activities to schools.
Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Jasper Quartet began pursuing 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.
The Jasper Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.
Website: www.jasperquartet.com/