 Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices, the Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia. Named Musical America's 2009 Ensemble of the Year, the Quartet has gained international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. Shortly after its 1994 formation in
California, the Pacifica Quartet won top prizes in the music world's most prestigious competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Prize. The Quartet has since received many honors, including being appointed quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a position held for 43 years by the Guarneri String Quartet. In 2002 and 2003 the Pacifica Quartet won wide acclaim for the first single-concert performances of Elliott Carter's complete five-quartet cycle: The New York Times called the accomplishment "brilliant" and "astounding," and the Chicago Tribune
praised the Quartet's "astonishing talent, energy, and dedication." In 2002 the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award and the appointment to Lincoln Center's CMS Two. In 2006 the Pacifica was awarded a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming only the second chamber ensemble so honored in the Grant's long history. Also in 2006 the Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone and heralded as one of "five new quartets you should know about," the only American quartet to make the list. More recently, the Pacifica's recording of Carter's Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 won the 2009 Grammy
Award for Best Chamber Music Performance. The members of the Pacifica Quartet were appointed to the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2003 and serve as quartet-in-residence. They are also resident performing artists at the University of Chicago and Visiting Artists in Chamber Music at the Longy School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. For more information, please visit www.pacificaquartet.com. |
