Morrison Artists Series: Daedalus Quartet
“An exceptionally refined young ensemble with a translucent sound.”
— The New Yorker
“One of the finest young groups to emerge in our current golden age of string quartets.”
— The New Yorker
Daedalus Quartet
- Min-Young Kim, Violin
- Matilda Kaul, Violin
- Jessica Thompson, Viola
- Thomas Kraines, Cello
Since winning the top prize in the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2001, the Daedalus Quartet has impressed critics and listeners alike with the security, technical finish, interpretive unity and sheer gusto of its performances. The New York Times has praised the Daedalus Quartet’s “insightful and vibrant” Haydn, the “impressive intensity” of its Beethoven, “luminous” Berg, and the “riveting focus” of Dutilleux. The Washington Post has acclaimed the quartet’s performance of Mendelssohn for its “rockets of blistering virtuosity,” while the Houston Chronicle has described the “silvery beauty” of its Schubert and the “magic that hushed the audience” when the quartet played Ravel, the Boston Globe the “finesse and fury” of Shostakovich, the Toronto Globe and Mail the “thrilling revelation” of its Hindemith and the Cincinnati Enquirer the “tremendous emotional power” of its Brahms.
Since its founding the Daedalus Quartet has performed in many of the world’s leading musical venues; in the United States and Canada these include Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center (Great Performers series), the Library of Congress, Corcoran Gallery in Washington, D.C., and Boston’s Gardner Museum, as well as on major series in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, Winnipeg and Vancouver. Abroad the ensemble has been heard in such famed locations as the Musikverein in Vienna, Mozarteum in Salzburg, Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Cité de la Musique in Paris and in leading venues in Japan.
The Daedalus Quartet has won plaudits for its adventurous exploration of contemporary music, most notably the compositions of Elliott Carter, George Perle, György Kurtág and György Ligeti. The quartet has also collaborated with some of the world’s finest instrumentalists: these include pianists Marc-André Hamelin, Simone Dinnerstein, Awadagin Pratt, Joyce Yang and Benjamin Hochman; clarinetists Paquito D’Rivera, Ricardo Morales and Alexander Fiterstein; and violists Roger Tapping and Donald Weilerstein.
The Daedalus Quartet has served as quartet-in-residence at University of Pennsylvania since 2006. In 2007, the quartet was awarded Lincoln Center’s Martin E. Segal Award. The quartet won Chamber Music America’s Guarneri String Quartet Award, which funded a three-year residency in Suffolk County, Long Island, from 2007 to 2010.
The quartet’s many recordings have been described as "unforgettable music" (Classical Lost and Found) and praised in Strad Magazine for its "exemplary intonation and balance. The award-winning members of the Daedalus Quartet hold degrees from the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Cleveland Institute and Harvard University.
Program:
- Leoš Janáček (1854 – 1928): String Quartet No. 1 (1923), “Kreutzer Sonata”
- Louis Karchin (1951 – ): String Quartet No. 3, World premiere performance, commissioned by the Morrison Artists Series for the Daedalus Quartet
- Johannes Brahms (1833 – 1897): String Quartet No. 3 in B-flat major, Op. 67 (1875)