Pacifica Quartet
Based in Bloomington, Indiana, the Pacifica Quartet is a leading American chamber ensemble. The quartet has emphasized the performance of complete cycles of chamber music by various composers.
The Pacifica Quartet was formed in southern California in 1994. Its original members were violinists Simin Ganatra and Sibbi Bernhardsson, violist Kathryn Lockwood, and cellist Brandon Vamos; as of the mid-2020s, the group included Ganatra, Vamos, violinist Austin Harman, and violist Mark Holloway. The Pacifica Quartet won a Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1998 and several other awards that propelled the players to a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2006. The group made its recording debut in 2000 on the Cedille label with the album String Quartets by Easley Blackwood. The Pacifica Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone magazine that year as one of five new string quartets worthy of attention, and in 2009, the quartet was named ensemble of the year by Musical America.
The Pacifica Quartet has specialized in quartet cycles by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, and Elliott Carter, often performing them over just a few days in impressive feats of endurance and concentration. These concerts have taken place in major venues worldwide; the Carter set was performed over three nights at Suntory Hall in Tokyo. The group has appeared on chamber music series across North America, often championing contemporary music. They have premiered quartets by Keeril Makan and Shulamit Ran. The Pacifica Quartet was on the faculty of the University of Illinois from 2003 to 2012 and now teaches at the University of Indiana as well as heading the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School.
The quartet has made more than 15 recordings, mostly for the Naxos and Cedille labels. A highlight of the 2010s was a sequence of four albums entitled The Soviet Experience, featuring quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his contemporaries. For Hyperion, in 2015, the group made an acclaimed recording of Leo Ornstein's rare and difficult piano quintet with pianist Marc-André Hamelin. The Pacifica Quartet was heard in 2019 with guitarist Sharon Isbin on the album Souvenirs of Spain & Italy on Cedille. The quartet released the album Contemporary Voices in 2020, returning in 2022 with American Stories. That album featured clarinetist Anthony McGill and earned a Grammy Award nomination for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance.
© James Manheim /TiVo
Diskografie
18 Album, -en • Geordnet nach Bestseller
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The Soviet Experience: The Complete String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 01.09.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quatuor à cordes (Intégrale) (Felix Mendelssohn)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cedille Records am 01.01.2005
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Stories
Anthony McGill, Pacifica Quartet
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 11.11.2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Souvenirs of Spain & Italy
Emilio Pujol, Sharon Isbin, Pacifica Quartet, Unknown Artist
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 23.08.2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Declarations - Music Between the Wars (Leos Janacek - Ruth Crawford Seeger - Paul Hindemith)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cedille Records am 26.09.2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leo Ornstein: Piano Quintet & String Quartet No. 2
Marc-André Hamelin, Pacifica Quartet
Klassik - Erschienen bei Hyperion am 28.08.2015
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Piano Quintet, Op. 34 - R. Schumann: String Quartet, Op. 41 No. 1
Pacifica Quartet, Menahem Pressler
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 10.03.2017
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart & Brahms Clarinet Quintets
Anthony McGill, Pacifica Quartet
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 06.05.2014
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
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The Soviet Experience, Vol. 4: String Quartets of Dmitri Shostakovich and His Contemporaries (Pacifica Quartet)
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 19.11.2013
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Quatuors pour cordes n° 1 & 5
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 01.01.2008
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Soviet Experience (Volume 3) : Chostakovitch & Weinberg : Quatuors à cordes
Quartette - Erschienen bei Cedille am 05.03.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Soviet Experience (Volume 1)
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille am 06.09.2011
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Soviet Experience (Volume II) (Dimitri Chostakovitch - Serge Prokofiev)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cedille Records am 27.02.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Quatuors à cordes (Easley Blackwood)
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cedille Records am 15.03.2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Leo Ornstein: Piano Quintet & String Quartet No. 2
Marc-André Hamelin, Pacifica Quartet
Klassik - Erschienen bei Hyperion am 28.08.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
American Voices
Pacifica Quartet, Uniting Voices, Josephine Lee
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cedille Records am 10.05.2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo