Catalyst Quartet

Hailed by the New York Times at their Carnegie Hall debut as “invariably energetic and finely burnished… playing with earthy vigor” the Catalyst Quartet, prize winners of the Gianni Bergamo Classical Music Award 2012 (Switzerland) is comprised of top Laureates and alumni of the internationally acclaimed Sphinx Competition. Known for “rhythmic energy, polyphonic clarity and tight ensemble-playing” (New York Concert Review). The quartet has toured domestically and abroad including sold out performances at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Chicago’s Harris Theater, the Frank Gehry designed New World Center in Miami, and Carnegie Hall (Stern Auditorium), to name a few. They have also appeared on multiple radio and television broadcasts such as American Public Media’s Performance Today, Chicago (WFMT), Houston (KUHF), Seattle (KING FM), Vermont Public Radio, Detroit Public Television; and have contributed to online and print media including The Strad and Strings magazine. The Catalyst Quartet has held residencies and given master classes at institutions such as the University of Washington, University of Michigan, Rice University, Cincinnati Conservatory of Music, In Harmony Project (UK), Pennsylvania State University, and the University of South Africa. They also serve as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at Oberlin College and Roosevelt University. The Quartet has been guest artists at Festival del Sole, Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, Sitka Music Festival, Juneau Jazz and Classics, the Britten-Pears Young Artist Programme, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Strings Music Festival, and the Grand Canyon Music Festival. The Catalyst Quartet’s debut album, The Bach/Gould Project, featuring their own arrangement of J.S. Bach’s Goldberg Variations and Glenn Gould’s String Quartet can be found on the Azica Records label. They are also featured on the album STRUM, the string works of quartet violinist Jessie Montgomery (available fall 2015). The Catalyst Quartet proudly endorses Pirastro strings. www.pirastro.com Communication and the delivery of ideas is at the heart of our music making, creating projects and programs that are about something meaningful. #catalyst