Jasper String Quartet
Celebrating its eighteenth season in 2024, the Jasper String Quartet is hailed as “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet’s  “programming savvy” (clevelandclassical.com) evocatively connects the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire in thought-provoking programs.

A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the Quartet’s playing is “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including Unbound, named by the New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.

The Jasper String Quartet is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, the Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute, and the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians.

Current activities
Upcoming performance highlights include the premiere of Vivian Fung’s “Songs for the Next Generation” with tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang at the Kaufman Music Center, as well as collaborations with soprano Maria Brea and the Jupiter String Quartet. In the 2024-2025 season, the Quartet returns to The Kennedy Center, Market Square Concerts, and Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas, among others. 

In October 2023, the Quartet released the premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s String Quartets 1-4 for the Sono Luminus label and will release Reinaldo Moya’s Pájaros Garabatos with soprano Maria Brea in 2024. Critics praise the Quartet’s recordings as “artistically nuanced, executed with gorgeous technique and plenty of personality” (Music City Review).

The Jasper Quartet also continues in its eighth season as Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, a series founded by the Quartet and dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber music performances.

Community Engagement and Teaching
The Jasper Quartet is passionate about connecting with audiences beyond the concert hall and has performed hundreds of outreach programs in schools and community centers.

Through JCC Community Connections, the Quartet fosters love and passion for music among underserved audiences with multiple days of educational programming in Philadelphia public schools and multiple performances at senior living facilities in the greater Philadelphia region each year.

Additionally, the Quartet continues its long-running residency at Arlington High School, now in its 14th year. Generously supported by the Howland Chamber Music Circle, the Quartet performs and works with the AHS orchestras and chamber music ensembles over four residency days each year. 

The Quartet has received multiple Chamber Music America Residency Partnership grants and numerous Picasso Project grants from Public Citizens for Children and Youth to support its ongoing work with public schools. The Fischoff National Chamber Music Association recognized the Quartet's "outstanding and imaginative programming for children and youth in the United States" with their 2016 Educator Award. 

The Quartet regularly serves as Featured Artists-in-Residence for Swarthmore College and is the Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute.

Our History
Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Jasper Quartet launched their professional career in 2006 while studying 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. In 2008, the Jaspers swept through the competition circuit, winning the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions. They were also the first ensemble honored with Yale School of Music’s Horatio Parker Memorial Prize, an award established in 1945, and selected by the faculty for “best fulfilling… lofty musical ideals." In 2010, they joined the roster of Astral Artists after winning their national auditions.

The Quartet was the 2010-12 Ensemble-in-Residence at Oberlin Conservatory and, from 2009-2011, was the Ernst C. Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and Arts (Katonah, NY).

The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and is represented by Artist Manager Marianne LaCrosse of Suòno Artist Management.

For more information, please visit www.jasperquartet.com.

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