Cali String Quartet 2015-2016
Posted in: Cali News
The Cali School of Music welcomes the Julius Quartet as its graduate string quartet-in-residence for 2015-2016. Each year the School offers a fellowship to a new quartet. They will be coached intensively by the Shanghai Quartet, present outreach concerts and workshops throughout the NJ/NY tri-state area, continue to present concerts throughout the Northeast, and perform a debut at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall.
Established in 2012 in Boston, the Julius Quartet not only performs in the New England area, but also engages in outreach opportunities and community events. The quartet has performed recitals at the Boston Conservatory, Rockport Music, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, and the Massachusetts State House. They were featured in the Music from Salem festival, where they performed with artists Rhonda Rider, Lila Brown and Judith Gordon. They were called a “captivating young string quartet” by The Bennington Banner after performing at the Bennington festival. At the Boston Conservatory they have participated in the prestigious String Masters Series and were featured in the Contemporary Music Festivals where they collaborated with composer Louis Andriessen and with clarinetist Michael Norsworthy. In the spring of 2014, the Julius Quartet completed a tour of Tampa, Florida as guest artists at the University of South Florida and gave masterclasses to the numerous youth orchestras and ensembles in the area. They have participated in the prestigious Chamber Music Residency program at the BANFF Centre, the Worcester Chamber Music Society Summer Festival and The Apple Hill Center for Chamber Music.
In addition to performing, they worked with “Bridging the Gap”, a program for youth at risk associated with the Salvation Army. There, the group interacted with kids of various ages, teaching them to use musical improvisation as a way to discover their individual voice.
The members of the quartet, violinists Hyun Jeong Helen Lee and David Do, violist John Batchelder, and cellist Byron Hogan. Are passionate chamber musicians. The group strives to not only explore the extensive quartet repertoire but also to present their unique voice within the music. Recently, the group was awarded 1st prize at the first annual MA-ASTA String Quartet/Quintet Competition, and was nominated for the Harvard Musical Association’s Arthur Foote Award by the Boston Conservatory’s Music Division Director, Dr. Abra Bush.