Lauded for stellar and diverse qualities, among them “lyricism, and sophistication†(The Strad), “crisp, incisive playing…with just the right quotient of sass†(The Ann Arbor News) and “glorious sonorities…a thrillingly athletic performance†(The Washington Post), the Enso String Quartet has earned its place in the ensemble world with high profile engagements, residencies and critically acclaimed recordings, all underscored by impressive competition successes. The ensemble received multiple honors at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition and claimed victories at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, Fischoff National Competition and Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.
The 2007 - 08 season sees a mixture of new and return engagements for the Enso Quartet which takes them from coast to coast and from traditional concert halls to many new and exciting venues. In the spring of 2008 they are honored to be giving the world premiere of Joan Tower’s Piano Quintet with the composer at the piano. Recent seasons have included performances at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Chautauqua Institution, the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, the Krannert Center, the Lincoln Center of New York, and the Library of Congress, and overseas for concerts in Central America, Europe, Australia and New Zealand.
The Enso Quartet’s members are already sought after as teachers and chamber music coaches, having served as lecturers at Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, artists-in-residence at the 2007 Interlochen Adult Amateur Chamber Music Camp and faculty Quartet-in-Residence at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. The quartet has worked closely with the Rice University Composition Department in the creation and recording of many new works, and they have also been resident with the Houston-based new music organization Musiqa. They have given first performances of many new works, including by composers Karim Al-Zand, Anthony Brandt and Kurt Stallman. The Enso String Quartet is committed to nurturing new generations of musicians and enjoys ongoing residencies with Young Audiences of New York and Houston, Connecticut’s Music for Youth as well as performing their own educational outreach programs throughout the country.
The ensemble’s 2005 debut on Naxos Records, a 2-CD set of Ignaz Pleyel’s six string quartets, Op. 2, has garnered rave reviews. The Strad called the disc “an auspicious start to the Enso String Quartet’s recording career,†Gramophone hailed their playing as “lively and intelligentâ€, and Fanfare Magazine praised the ensemble for its "extraordinary talent...exceptional sense of vitality and elegance.†Upcoming projects with Naxos Records are the piano quintets of Ernst von Dohnányi and the three string quartets of Alberto Ginastera featuring the esteemed soprano Lucy Shelton.
The Enso String Quartet has been featured in the American Ensembles column of Chamber Music magazine, and its performances have been broadcast live on PBS, Chicago’s WFMT, Wisconsin Public Radio, Minnesota Public Radio, Interlochen Public Radio, Houston’s KUHF, Australia’s ABC Classic FM, Radio New Zealand and Canada’s CBC radio. The quartet formed in 1999 at Yale University and has completed graduate residencies at Northern Illinois University and at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. Its members hold degrees from The Juilliard School, Curtis Institute of Music, New England Conservatory, Guildhall School of Music (UK) and the University of Canterbury (New Zealand). The Enso Quartet plays on a matched set of instruments by London-based luthier, Nigel Harris.
The ensemble's name, enso, is derived from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things; perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit.
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