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.
First prize winners of the 2017 Concert Artists Guild Victor Elmaleh Competition, and 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, and the Muziekgebouw aan ‘t IJ in Amsterdam.
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.
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.
Argus served as the Quartet in Residence at New Music on the Point under the guidance of the JACK Quartet, and was also selected as one of three ensembles to perform works from Kronos Quartet’s “Fifty for the Future” commissioning project at Carnegie Hall.
The quartet has played alongside many of today's leading chamber musicians, including the Brentano Quartet and David Shifrin, and have performed works by some of the most important composers of our time: Augusta Read Thomas, Garth Knox, Jason Eckardt, Christopher Theofanidis, Martin Bresnick, Andrew Norman, and many more.
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.
In the Fall of 2017, the Argus Quartet will begin an appointment as the Graduate Quartet in Residence at the Juilliard School, where they will will 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.
From 2015-17 the quartet served as the Fellowship Quartet in Residence at the Yale School of Music and was the first ensemble to be mentored by the Brentano String Quartet in that capacity.
Education and outreach are an important part of the Argus Quartet’s mission. The quartet has worked with students through residencies and masterclasses at the Yale University, James Madison University, Rockport Music, the Milken School, the Young Musicians Foundation, California State University Long Beach, Los Angeles City College, and Princeton University.
For music samples click hehttp://argusquartet.com/media/audio/re.