Winner of the 2012 Cleveland Quartet Award, the Jasper String Quartet has been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad) and as “powerful” (The New York Times). They play “with sparkling vitality and great verve, ...polished, engaged, and in tune with one another.” (Classical Voice of North Carolina) Based in New Haven, Connecticut, the quartet holds ensemble-in-residence positions at Oberlin Conservatory of Music and Classic Chamber Concerts in Naples, Florida.
After winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Jaspers went on to win the Grand Prize at the 2008 Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs 2008, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. They were the first ensemble to win the Yale School of Music’s Horatio Parker Memorial Prize (2009), an award established in 1945 and selected by the faculty for “best fulfilling… lofty musical ideals”. In 2010 the quartet joined the roster of Astral Artists after winning that organization’s national auditions.
The Jaspers perform pieces emotionally significant to its members ranging from Haydn and Beethoven through Berg, Ligeti, and living composers. They have already commissioned four string quartets from todays up-and-coming composers and critics and audiences continue to commend the Jasper Quartet’s “programming savvy” (clevelandclassical.com). They have performed throughout the United States and in Canada, England, Italy, Japan, Korea, and Norway.
The Jasper Quartet has also brought well-over 100 outreach programs into schools and enjoys educational work of all types. In their Melba and Orville Roleffson Residency at the Banff Centre they embarked on “guerilla chamber music,” performing concerts in unusual settings around Alberta, Canada. More recently, the quartet has worked closely with Caramoor and with Astral Artists to bring outreach activities to schools. They recently completed their two-year Ernst C. Stiefel Quartet Residency at the Caramoor Center for the Music and the Arts.
Originally formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Jasper Quartet began pursuing a professional career in 2006 when they studied with James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and Kenneth Goldsmith as Rice University’s Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2008, the quartet continued its training with the Tokyo String Quartet as Yale University's Graduate Quartet-in-Residence.
They are named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and J and Rachel are married. Barrett Vantage Artists represents the quartet throughout the world and Astral Artists represents the quartet in Pennsylvania.
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J Freivogel, first violinist of the Jasper String Quartet, grew up as the youngest brother/second violinist of his family’s quartet. He attended Oberlin College and Conservatory for Bachelor’s degrees in Violin Performance and Politics and, during his time there, won the Kauffman Chamber Music prize three times, the Presser Music Award, the Hurlbutt prize for most outstanding violinist, and the concerto competition. He received his Master’s in String Quartet Performance from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and an Artist’s Diploma at the Yale School of Music as graduate quartet-in-residence with the Jasper Quartet (www.jasperquartet.com). His principal teachers include Marilyn McDonald, Sylvia Rosenberg, and Cho- Liang Lin for violin, and James Dunham, Norman Fischer, and the Tokyo String Quartet for chamber music. He is married to cellist Rachel Henderson Freivogel and they live in New Haven, CT.
Sae Chonabayashi, violin, was born in Ibaragi, Japan and began playing violin at age three. She attended the prestigious Toho Gakuen School of Music in Japan from the age of fifteen, where she completed her studies with Koichiro Harada, a founding member of the Tokyo String Quartet. In 2001, Sae came to the United States to study with Donald Weilerstein at the Cleveland Institute of Music. As a full scholarship student, she continued her studies with Mr. Weilerstein at the New England Conservatory, where she received undergraduate and graduate diplomas. She won third prize in the 2006 Swedish Duo International Competition. At Rice University Sae studied with Cho-Liang Lin.
Sam Quintal, violist of the Jasper String Quartet, was born and raised in Fairbanks Alaska. He began playing the violin at age six and viola at age 11. As a member of the Jasper Quartet he has won many awards including the Cleveland Quartet Award. He has performed extensively in North America, from Zankel Hall and Merkin Hall in New York, to Harris Hall in Aspen and performances at the Banff Center in Canada. He earned his B.M. in violin performance from Oberlin Conservatory studying with Marilyn McDonald, his M.M. from Rice University studying viola with James Dunham, and his Artist's Diploma from Yale University studying with the Tokyo String Quartet.
Rachel Henderson Freivogel, is the founding cellist of the Jasper String Quartet. She began her studies with her mother in her hometown of Ann Arbor, MI at the age of four and completed her undergraduate studies at Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she also received a Master’s Degree in Historical Performance. With the Jasper String Quartet she has won several awards including the Cleveland Quartet Award, as well as the Grand Prize at the Plowman, Yellow Springs and Coleman Chamber Music Competitions. She received her Master’s Degree in String Quartet from Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and her Artist's Diploma in String Quartet from Yale School of Music. Her principal teachers include Norman Fischer, Clive Greensmith and Catharina Meints. She is married to violinist J Freivogel.