Formosa Quartet

The Formosa Quartet is celebrated for their exploratory approach to the standard quartet literature. The October 4 program features Brahms’s String Quartet No.3 in B-flat Major, Op.67 and Bartok’s String Quartet No. 5. An insatiable search for the fresh and new in string quartet expression led them to juxtapose Hungarian Dances by contemporary composer Dana Wilson (commissioned by the Formosa Quartet and dedicated to them) and a dazzling signature “Set” — one of their own creative, original arrangements of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry.

Winning the First Prize and the Amadeus Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in 2006 established the Formosa Quartet in the pantheon of fine young string quartets performing today. Their critically acclaimed performances at venues including the Library of Congress, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, and the Kammermusiksaal at the Berliner Philharmonie have been described as “spellbinding” (The Strad) and “remarkably fine” (Gramophone).

The Formosa Quartet undertakes a variety of residencies across North America and Asia and serves as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music, the Texas Music Festival, and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada. During their stay with Hill and Hollow Music, they will work with string students at the Peru Central School and will also lead a community workshop in Saranac for adult string players in the region.