Touring music of the masters as well as exciting original works from visionary composers of our time, the Fry Street Quartet has perfected a “blend of technical precision and scorching spontaneity” (The Strad) and is hailed as “a triumph of ensemble playing” (The New York Times). A quartet that knows no boundaries, its work integrates a global perspective into new projects while nurturing the classical pillars behind today’s repertoire. Winners of the Fischoff Competition Grand Prize, the quartet is an established quartet at the highest artistic level. Recent projects include the premiere of Canções da America by Grammy-nominated composer Clarice Assad, commissioned by the Fry Street Quartet and recorded at Guarneri Hall in Chicago; a set of programs exploring Britten, Purcell and Mozart with acclaimed guest violist Toby Appel; and the creation of the Fry Street Chamber Music Festival for pre-College students. The FSQ is celebrating the 10th anniversary of its global sustainability initiative Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project. Now presented as a feature-length cinematic edition Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project, fuses compelling science, evocative imagery, and powerful music in an exploration of nature, humanity, and the paths that lie before us.

Since securing the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the quartet has reached audiences from Carnegie Hall to London, and Sarajevo to Jerusalem, exploring the medium of the string quartet and its life-affirming potential with “profound understanding…depth of expression, and stunning technical astuteness” (Deseret Morning News). Recent highlights include residencies in Berkeley and Chautauqua, a debut tour of China and the release of their recording of As One, the acclaimed chamber opera by Laura Kaminsky.

With a discography that includes a wide range of works from Haydn and Beethoven to Stravinsky, Janacek and Rorem, the quartet is known for being “equally at home in the classic repertoire of Mozart and Beethoven or contemporary music.” (Palm Beach Daily News) It’s CD of Laura Kaminsky’s acclaimed opera AS ONE, debuted at #3 on the Billboard Classical Chart. Gramophone cites the “radiant performance” of all the artists, and the Fry Street Quartet’s “elegance and subtlety” while calling the CD “A remarkable achievement.” [CD link] The Navona label has released The Crossroads Project, which features a pair of new works by Kaminsky and Libby Larsen, both commissioned by the Fry Street Quartet. [CD link]

The FSQ’s tour repertoire reaches many corners of the musical spectrum, including works of Britten, Schubert, Beethoven and Bartok, as well as programs of American women composers Clarice Assad, Laura Kaminsky, Amy Beach, Joan Tower and Libby Larsen. Over the current two seasons, the Salt Lake City-based NOVA series will present the FSQ’s complete Bartok Cycle, pairing these monumental works with Haydn’s String Quartets Op. 76.

In addition to collaborations with acclaimed instrumentalists (including Joseph Kalichstein, Wu Han, Paul Katz, Toby Appel, Donald Weilerstein, Misha Dichter, Andres Cardenes and Roger Tapping, among others), the Fry Street Quartet has commissioned and toured new works by a wide range of composers. Pandemonium by Brazilian composer Clarice Assad received its Fry Street premiere with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra; Michael Ellison’s Fiddlin‘ was co-commissioned by the Arizona Friends of Chamber Music Series and the NOVA series; Laura Kaminsky’s Rising Tide was commissioned especially for the quartet’s global sustainability initiative, The Crossroads Project.

After dozens of performances in three different countries, Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project continues to resonate with audiences. [Video link] This fresh approach to communicating society’s sustainability challenges draws upon all the senses with a unique blend of science and art, and has been featured on NPR’s joe’s big idea (aired during All Things Considered), as well as in publications by Yale Climate Connections, Reuters, and the New York Times. Recent seasons have included the multiple performances of Laura Kaminsky’s new chamber opera, As One (premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music with soprano Sasha Cooke and baritone Kelly Markgraff), as well as the premiere of Emergence by Libby Larsen, which anchors the Crossroads Project’s second chapter, Crossroads: Emergence for string quartet, film, and actor.

The quartet’s significant touring history includes performances at major venues, festivals, and for distinguished series such as Carnegie Hall and the Schneider Series at the New School in New York, the Jewel Box series in Chicago, the Chautauqua Institution, Chamber Music Columbus, the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach, the DiBartolo Performing Arts Center at Notre Dame, the Theosophical Society in London, and the Mozart Gemeinde in Klagenfurt, Austria. The quartet also enjoys a continuing residency with the Salt Lake City-based NOVA series. Projects have included the Schoenberg Chamber Symphony under the direction of Utah Symphony Music Director Thierry Fischer, the Utah premieres of string quartets by Michael Ellison and Andrew Norman, and frequent collaborations with members of the Utah Symphony.

The Fry Street Quartet was founded in Chicago in 1997 under the mentorship of Marc Johnson, cellist of the Vermeer Quartet. (“Fry Street” was the location of the quartet’s first rehearsal space in the Chicago neighborhood once ruled by Al Capone.) Cultivating authentic and creative artistic voices alongside collaborative skills through chamber music is central to the quartet’s teaching.

The Fry Street Quartet is pleased to hold the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Endowed String Quartet Residency at the Caine College of the Arts at Utah State University.