Ensō String Quartet, Quartet

Biography

In addition to audience appreciation and critical acclaim, the Enso String Quartet has earned its place in the ensemble world with multiple honors at the 2004 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and victories at the 2003 Concert Artists Guild International Competition, the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and the Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.

Engagements in 2006 - 07 include the Library of Congress, Da Camera of Houston, the Ravinia Festival's Rising Stars series, and a return to Lincoln Center. Previous seasons have brought the ensemble to Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, the Chautauqua Institution, the Kennedy Center, the Phillips Collection, and overseas to Panama, Costa Rica, England, France, Australia and New Zealand.

The ensemble's 2005 debut on Naxos Records, a 2-CD set, has garnered rave reviews. Upcoming projects with Naxos Records are the piano quintets of Ernst von Dohnanyi and the three string quartets of Alberto Ginastera.

The Enso String Quartet was formed in 1999 while its members were students at Yale University. They completed graduate residencies at Northern Illinois University with the Vermeer Quartet and at the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University. The ensemble was appointed Quartet-in-Residence at the summer 2006 Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Since 2004, the quartet's members have been Lecturers at Rice University's Shepherd School of Music.

The ensemble's name, enso, is derived from the Japanese zen painting of the circle which represents many things: perfection and imperfection, the moment of chaos that is creation, the emptiness of the void, the endless circle of life, and the fullness of the spirit.