Argus Quartet
Praised for their “supreme melodic control and total authority” (Calgary Herald), the Argus Quartet is quickly gaining a reputation as one of today’s most dynamic and versatile young ensembles.
Argus is dedicated to reinvigorating the audience-performer relationship through innovative concerts and diverse repertoire – connecting with and building up a community of engaged listeners is at the core of the quartet’s mission. The quartet also believes that today’s ensembles can honor the storied chamber music traditions of our past while forging a new path forward. In that spirit, their repertoire includes not just staples of the chamber music canon but also a large number of pieces by living composers.
First prize winners at the 2017 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, the Argus Quartet’s recent and upcoming performances include appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall and Zankel Hall, Roulette, the Albany Symphony’s American Music Festival, Bang on a Can at the Noguchi Museum, the Hear Now Music Festival, Providence College, the University of Michigan, James Madison University’s Contemporary Music Festival, Princeton University, the Shalin Liu Performance Center at Rockport Music among others.
In the fall of 2017, the Argus Quartet began an appointment as the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the Juilliard School, where they work closely with the Juilliard String Quartet – Argus will make their Lincoln Center recital debut with a performance at Alice Tully Hall in May of 2018.
The Argus Quartet has performed at a number of leading music festivals including the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Birdfoot Festival, the Cello Biënnale Amsterdam, and Music Academy of the West. During the 2016-17 season, they served as the Ernst Stiefel Quartet in Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts.
Recent commissions include new quartets by Donald Crockett, composer and GRAMMY nominee Eric Guinivan, the 2014 Hermitage Prize winner Thomas Kotcheff, and Guggenheim Fellowship recipient Juri Seo. The quartet has received grants from Chamber Music America and the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in support of their commissioning efforts