Brentano String Quartet

Mark Steinberg, violin

Serena Canin, violin

Misha Amory, viola

Nina Lee, cello

Among the world’s elite ensembles, the Brentano String Quartet consistently gives “exemplary performances” yielding “startling musical revelations.” (The Guardian, London) "It’s hard to communicate the sheer exuberance of these four artists, and the remarkable insight and discipline they brought to works that demanded impeccable musicianship” (Louisville Courier-Journal).

Many Spivey Hall chamber-music fans recall the Brentano’s extraordinary November 2002 Art of the Fugue program that interlaced music of J.S. Bach and ten living composers.  This spirit of innovative programming continues with Fragments, a fascinating montage of pieces (often incomplete) by Dufay, Bach, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, and Shostakovich serving as inspiration for specially-commissioned companion pieces by Charles Wuorinen, Sofia Gubaidulina, John Harbison, Vijay Iyer, Bruce Adophe and Stephen Hartke.

The Fragments commissions are made possible by a consortium of 14 leading presenters, including Carnegie Hall, San Francisco Performances, Da Camera of Houston, Chamber Music Society of Detroit, Krannert Center for the Performing Arts/University of Illinois, The Hopkins Center at Dartmouth College, and Clayton State University’s Spivey Hall.

“What the Brentanos do is something beyond exceptional blend, balance, intonation, and ensemble; they seem to act in concert like the muscles of a limb, pulling in various directions yet with a single intent, accomplished in a single gesture”  (San Francisco Classical Voice).