Biography

Grand-prize winners of the 2007 Plowman National Chamber Music competition and the 2008 Chamber Music Foundation of New England International competition, the Alianza String Quartet have been described as “a showstopper” (Columbia [Mo.] Daily Tribune), “among the best in the USA” (President of the American Academy of Arts and Letters), “a group of tremendous vision and integrity” (Clive Greensmith, cellist, Tokyo String Quartet). Following their 2007 Carnegie Hall debut, the New York Times reported that “the Alianza players are musical, well trained and have an unusually elegant sound – they boil over with an edge-of-the-seat eagerness.” Classical Source praised their “elegant phrasing – rock-steady intonation, burnished sound and lively, characterful playing.”

The Alianza String Quartet were officially formed in 2004 at Yale University’s School of Music. From 2006 to 2008 they were in residence as postgraduate associates of the Yale School of Music and were closely mentored by the Tokyo String Quartet. As teaching assistants to the Tokyo quartet they also coached undergraduate and graduate ensembles.

The Alianza Quartet have had successful summer residences and debut performances at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, CT, Pacific Music Festival (PMF), Japan, French Academy in Rome (Villa Medici), Italy, Aix-en-Provence Festival, France, and the Aldeburgh Festival, England. In Japan, they performed at venues such as Sapporo’s Kitara Concert Hall and the Hakodate Arts Hall. Their residency culminated in a performance with members of the Tokyo String Quartet on the Sapporo Art Park “Leonard Bernstein Memorial Stage.” While in Europe, the ASQ were given the opportunity to work closely with pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard, members of the Berlin Philharmonic and Mahler Chamber Orchestra and composers Michael Jarrell and Jerome Combier, whose works they premiered.

Within the USA, the quartet have performed throughout the east coast and mid-west at venues such as Carnegie Hall’s Weill and Zankel recital halls, Merkin Concert Hall and Juilliard’s Paul Recital Hall in New York City, Yale University’s Sprague Memorial Hall and British Art Center, University of Notre Dame DeBartolo Performing Arts Center, and the Missouri Theatre Center for the Arts, Columbia, Mo.  They have been featured on the Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music Series, NY, Danbury Concert Association Series, CT, Cosmos Club Concerts, Washington DC, Horowitz Piano series, CT, Redbank Chamber Music Series, NJ, Hammond Performing Arts Series, Boston, Temple Emanuel Chamber Music Series, Newton, MA to name a few.

The ASQ have been fortunate to coach with ensembles such as the Takacs and Juilliard String Quartets and participated in the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in 2005 and 2006. They have won the Yale School of Music Chamber Music Competition and have been finalists at the Coleman National Chamber Music competition.

The Alianza quartet maintains a strong commitment to contemporary music. The quartet recently premiered Ezra Laderman’s twelfth and last string quartet, written specifically for them. Albany Records have just released the Alianza quartet’s recording of Laderman’s last three quartets this year. The ASQ also recently led a 2-day contemporary music workshop for student and faculty composers at Central Connecticut State University.

The Alianza String Quartet is represented by Lisa Sapinkopf Artists and is an organization member of Chamber Music America.