JACK Quartet
The JACK Quartet, often known simply as JACK, has specialized in the performance of contemporary music for string quartet. In addition to performing and recording, the group's work has a strong educational component.
The JACK Quartet was founded in 2005 by violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Kevin McFarland, whose initials spelled out the name. The original members were students at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York, but it was in New York City that they joined forces and studied with the Kronos, Arditti, and Muir Quartets. Violinist Austin Wulliman and cellist Jay Campbell replaced Streisfeld and McFarland in 2016, but the name was retained.
JACK has performed at top international venues, including Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Muziekgebouw in Amsterdam. It has appeared not only at venerable outposts of the European avant-garde, such as the Donaueschingen Festival in Germany, the Venice Biennale in Italy, and the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, but also at Indonesia's Bali Arts Festival, with works by such composers as Iannis Xenakis, Georg Friedrich Haas, Helmut Lachenmann, and Steve Reich at the center of its repertory. It has been heard on several programs on U.S. National Public Radio and its affiliates, as well as on national radio in Australia. In 2009, JACK made its recording debut with an album of the complete string quartets of Iannis Xenakis.
JACK has combined concertizing with a strong educational mission. It has begun educational residencies with composition students from institutions, including New York University, Columbia University, and the University of Iowa, with whose String Quartet Residency Program it has a long relationship. The group has held summer teaching residencies at New Music on the Point, a contemporary chamber music festival in Vermont for young performers and composers. Additionally, the quartet makes regular visits to schools such as Columbia University, Harvard University, and Stanford University. JACK has recorded for the Mode, Tzadik, and Wergo labels, among others; the year 2018 saw the group collaborate with mezzo-soprano Inbal Hever on a release of music by Chaya Czernowin. The JACK Quartet remained busy through the COVID-19 pandemic, issuing no fewer than six albums in the musically depressed year of 2020 alone. The quartet released the album Christopher Otto: rags'ma on the Greyfade label in 2021 and returned in 2022 on Naxos with the album Derek Bermel: Intonations. The group was also heard with the choir The Crossing on the album Sila -- The Breath of the World that year on the Cantaloupe label.
© James Manheim /TiVo
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Sila: The Breath of the World
The Crossing, JACK Quartet, University of Michigan Percussion Ensemble, University of Michigan Chamber Musicians, Donald Nally
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cantaloupe Music am 23.09.2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
John Luther Adams: Lines Made by Walking
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cold Blue Music am 18.09.2020
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Jason Eckardt: Passage
Klassik - Erschienen bei KAIROS am 29.01.2024
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Caleb Burhans: Past Lives
Simon Jermyn, JACK Quartet, Duo Harpverk, Caleb Burhans
Klassik - Erschienen bei Cantaloupe Music am 08.03.2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Radulescu: Piano Sonatas & String Quartets, Vol. 1
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 18.03.2016
5 de Diapason16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Wind in High Places
JACK Quartet, Northwestern University Cello Ensemble, Hans Jørgen Jensen
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Cold Blue Music am 01.01.2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bermel: Intonations
JACK Quartet, Wiek Hijmans, Derek Bermel, Christopher Otto
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Naxos am 26.08.2022
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Clara Iannotta: Earthing
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei wergo am 04.09.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Catherine Lamb: String Quartets
JACK Quartet, Christopher Otto, Austin Wulliman, John Pickford Richards
Klassik - Erschienen bei KAIROS am 01.12.2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Aaron Cassidy: A Way of Making Ghosts
Aaron Cassidy, ELISION, Ensemble musikFabrik, JACK Quartet, line upon line percussion, Manuel Nawri
Klassik - Erschienen bei KAIROS am 01.12.2022
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Lachenmann: Complete String Quartets
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 18.02.2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Scott Lee: Through the Mangrove Tunnels
JACK Quartet, Steven Beck, Russell Lacy
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Panoramic Recordings am 13.11.2020
24-Bit 48.0 kHz - Stereo -
Xenakis Edition, Vol. 10: String Quartets
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 05.05.2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
JACK Quartet: Ligeti / Pintscher / Cage / Xenakis - Wigmore Hall Live
Klassik - Erschienen bei Wigmore Hall Live am 04.06.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Xenakis: Works with Piano
Aki Takahashi, Rohan de Saram, Callithumpian Consort, JACK Quartet, Stephen Drury
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 01.01.2010
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Respect in Yule
Respect Sextet, JACK Quartet, Ensemble Signal, Marco Cappelli, Brad Lubman
Pop - Erschienen bei Mode Records - Avant am 27.11.2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schöllhorn: Clouds and Sky
Jan Philip Schulze, Gareth Davis, Ensemble S, WDR Sinfonieorchester Köln, JACK Quartet, Peter Rundel
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 26.03.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Roger Reynolds: Flight & Not Forgotten
Klassik - Erschienen bei Mode Records am 18.09.2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Amy Williams: Crossings
Klassik - Erschienen bei Albany am 01.05.2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
RYAN CARTER: Chamber Works
JACK Quartet, Yarn/Wire, Calder Quartet, Emanuele Torquati, Duo Dillon-Torquati, Keith Kirchoff
Klassik - Erschienen bei KAIROS am 01.07.2019
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bracing Change
JACK Quartet, Doric String Quartet, Carducci String Quartet, Guy Johnston
Kammermusik - Erschienen bei NMC Recordings am 19.05.2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo