Donald Sinta Quartet, Quartet

Biography

The Donald Sinta Quartet, First Prize Winner of the Concert Artists Guild Competition, has earned praise from audiences and critics alike for its virtuosic performances, compelling recordings and distinctive repertoire.  Hailed as “…a tight-knit ensemble exploding with power and virtuosity and an un-concealable ambition to connect with its newly found listeners” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), the DSQ performs entirely from memory, which strengthens an already palpable connection with its audiences.  Named for its mentor, legendary University of Michigan Saxophone Professor Donald Sinta, the quartet’s additional competition successes include the Alice Coleman Grand Prize at the 2013 Coleman Chamber Music Competition and First Prize in the 2012 North American Saxophone Alliance Quartet Competition. 

The DSQ’s busy 2016-17 season includes a five-city tour of North Carolina, and concerts in Pittsburg, KS, Nantucket, MA, and Detroit, MI, among others.  Following their February 2016 guest appearance with the Reno Philharmonic performing William Bolcolm’s Concerto Grosso for Saxophone Quartet and Orchestra plus music of Gershwin, the DSQ will be performing that program in Illinois with the DuPage Symphony Orchestra in March 2017. 

In 2011, the DSQ gave the World Premiere of Bolcom’s own transcription of the Concerto Grosso with Concert Band, joining the University of Michigan Symphony Band for performances at Walt Disney Concert Hall in Los Angeles, the National Center for the Performing Arts in Beijing and the Shanghai Conservatory. The quartet’s subsequent recording of the work garnered praise: Audiophile Audition declared them “superb musicians” and American Record Guide called it “the highlight of the album.”DSQ has also made radio appearances on New York’s WQXR and Interlochen Public Radio, and is featured frequently on American Public Media’s Performance Today.

Recent career highlights include DSQ’s New York recital debut at Weill Recital Hall, Purdue University Convocations, Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, Chautauqua Institution, Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival, Rockport Chamber Music Festival, Music from Angel Fire and in Michigan at the Great Lakes Music Festival the Detroit Institute of Arts.  

Featured international appearances include recitals in Strasbourg, France (for the 17th World Saxophone Congress), St. Andrews, Scotland (as part of the 16th World Saxophone Congress), Paris, France, Geneva and Montreux, Switzerland, and Thessaloniki, Greece, as well as a trip to Japan as one of a select group of ensembles chosen for the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition.

As advocates of new music, the quartet runs the National Saxophone Quartet Composition Competition, which selects two new quartet works from up-and-coming composers.  The group has just recorded its debut CD, to be released in 2017 on CAG Records. Founded and still based in Michigan, DSQ’s members are all Selmer-Paris Artists.