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Fine Arts Quartet

The Fine Arts Quartet has been one of the most enduring major string quartets in the modern era, and despite numerous personnel changes over the years, its collective talent and style have remained consistent. The group is known for the diversity and breadth of its repertoire, which, in addition to the traditional literature, encompasses contemporary pieces and rarely played older works. The quartet has appeared on television and radio broadcasts in the U.S. and Europe; it has recorded over 200 works and toured extensively. The Fine Arts Quartet expanded its recording catalog in 2023 with the album George Enescu: Early Chamber Music. The Fine Arts Quartet was founded in Chicago in 1946. The original players, all then-current or one-time members of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, were Leonard Sorkin (first violin), Joseph Stepansky (second violin), Sheppard Lehnhoff (viola), and George Sopkin (cello). The ensemble began to coalesce in 1940 with second violinist Ben Senescu, but World War II delayed its establishment until 1946. The Fine Arts Quartet is almost unique among American string quartets in having made appearances on such major U.S. television programs as The Today Show and The Ed Sullivan Show. It has also appeared on countless radio and public television broadcasts, both in the U.S. and Europe. From its founding through 1954, the group played regularly on Sunday mornings for ABC radio network broadcasts. It began making occasional television appearances in the '50s, and in 1958, it launched its annual European tour. In the late '60s, the Fine Arts Quartet toured Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia under the sponsorship of the U.S. State Department. From 1963 until 2018, the quartet made the University of Wisconsin at Milwaukee its base of operations. There have been numerous changes over the years to the Fine Arts Quartet's roster, particularly in the viola post. In 1982, Ralph Evans replaced Sorkin, the last original member. Efim Boico has served as the second violinist since 1983, and 2018 saw the addition of two new players: Gil Sharon on viola (the 11th person in this position) and Niklas Schmidt on cello. In recognition of the Fine Arts Quartet's commitment to contemporary music, it received a 2003-2004 Award for Adventurous Programming from Chamber Music America and ASCAP. The quartet's recordings have been on such labels as Naxos, Music & Arts, and Lyrinx, and, in the more distant past, Columbia Masterworks, Everest, and Vox. It has received many awards and recognitions from Gramophone Magazine, Musicweb International, BBC Music Magazine, and American Record Guide, as well as multiple Grammy nominations. Among the group's acclaimed recordings are the 1998 Dvorák quartets opp. 96 and 105, the 2003 complete Mozart string quintets, both on Lyrinx, and the 2009 Fauré piano quintets, with Cristina Ortiz, on Naxos, which won a Grammy Award. Other significant recordings include Ysaÿe's Harmonies du Soir and the complete quartets of Schumann and Haydn. The Fine Arts Quartet has issued several recordings of Ignaz Lachner's arrangements of Mozart's piano concertos with pianist Alon Goldstein. In 2023, the Fine Arts Quartet joined pianists Gisele Witkowski and Fabio Witkowski for a recording of music by George Enescu.
© Robert Cummings & Keith Finke /TiVo
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116 album(s) • Sorted by Bestseller

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