2004 Winners: The Euclid Quartet

The Euclid Quartet with (left-right) competition organizers Otto Kauder, Stanley Ritchie, Mary Miller and judges Aldo Parisot and Joel Lester.

The following biography was compiled in 2004. For more current information, please visit www.euclidquartet.net.

Praised by the Ann Arbor News for the “poetry and mathematics” of their playing, the Euclid Quartet is a dynamic young ensemble known for the warmth and beauty of their sound. Numerous performances throughout the United States and Canada have earned the quartet significant recognition, including top prizes at the Carmel Chamber Music Competition and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs competition. For the summers of 2002 and 2003 they were one of three ensembles selected worldwide to participate as a fellowship quartet at the Aspen Music Festival in Colorado. They have appeared at the Kent/Blossom (Ohio) and Orford (Québec) music festivals, and at the Audubon Quartet Seminar in Virginia. The Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival (Detroit, Michigan) presented them in several performances, some in collaboration with with Joseph Silverstein. They have also performed at Carnegie Hall as part of a series on the Bartók string quartets.

The Euclid Quartet is dedicated to performing new music, and has commissioned works from several noted young composers, including Armando Bayolo, James Leatherbarrow, and Evan Rapport. They have given master classes at Eastern Michigan University, Morningside College, Reed College, and high schools with highly regarded music programs across the state of Iowa. In 2001, the quartet was appointed Resident String Quartet of the Sioux City Symphony and faculty members at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa. As part of their residency, the quartet members teach students of all levels, coach chamber music, and have written and presented several highly successful educational presentations for children.

Formed in Ohio in 1998, the quartet takes its name from the famous Euclid Avenue in Cleveland, home to a wealth of artistic and cultural institutions. The quartet has had the privilege of working with many distinguished musicians, including members of the American, Audubon, Cleveland, Emerson, Guarneri, Juilliard, LaSalle, Miami, and Takacs quartets.