Pacifica String Quartet

Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet has carved out a compelling and critically lauded musical path, resulting in Musical America naming the group its 2009 “Ensemble of the Year.” The Pacifica also received the music industry’s most coveted recognition with its 2009 “Best Chamber Music Performance” Grammy Award for its recording of Elliott Carter’s String Quartets Nos. 1 & 5 (Naxos). Since the group first came together in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet has swept top awards in the U.S. and abroad, including the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006, making the Pacifica only the second chamber music ensemble ever to be selected.

The Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, Asia, and Australia, performing in the world’s major concert halls in cities such as London, Paris, Berlin, Amsterdam, Vienna, and Tokyo. Each season, the ensemble can be heard on many of the nation’s most prominent radio broadcasts, including Chicago’s WFMT, Boston’s WGBH, and American Public Media’s Performance Today and St. Paul Sunday.

Prolific in the recording studio, the Pacifica Quartet’s CD Declarations: Music Between the Wars showcased music composed during the turbulent decades between World Wars I and II. In January 2008, the Quartet released the first in a two-disc set of the complete string quartets of Elliott Carter, released on the Naxos label in celebration of the composer’s 100th birthday. The second disc, presenting the three remaining string quartets, was released in February 2009. The Pacifica’s recent recordings of the complete string quartets of Felix Mendelssohn have also attracted effusive praise from critics in the U.S. and abroad. On the heels of the release, the ensemble was featured on the cover of Gramophone magazine.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Pacifica Quartet will assume the quartet-in-residence position at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, having taken over that role from the Guarneri Quartet, which is stepping down after 43 years. Additionally, the Quartet will return to Europe for two separate tours, perform with acclaimed pianist Menahem Pressler, appear at the Casals Festival, and participate in Beethoven cycles around the United States.

The members of the Pacifica Quartet share a unique history of personal and musical friendship. First violinist Simin Ganatra, born and raised in southern California, initially played with cellist Brandon Vamos and violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson while they were all teenagers. Sibbi later introduced violist Masumi Per Rostad to the group. Originating on the west coast, where it played many of its earliest concerts together, the Quartet takes its name from the awe-inspiring Pacific Ocean. Throughout their journey as a string quartet, its members continually strive to be Distinct as the billows/yet one as the sea. (James Montgomery)

For further information about the Pacifica Quartet, please visit www.pacificaquartet.com. For their New Orleans concert they will be joined by the acclaimed pianist Menahem Pressler.