Austin Hartman and Hyunsu Ko, violins

Mary Persin, viola

Jacob Braun, cello

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Winner of the 2003 Naumburg Chamber Music Award, Astral Artist National Auditions, and top prizes at the Premio Borciani and London International Competitions, the Biava String Quartet established an enthusiastic following in the United States and abroad, impressing audiences with its sensitive artistry and communicative powers. Formed in 1998 at the Cleveland Institute of Music, the Quartet took its name from Maestro Luis Biava, a mentor since its inception.

The Quartet held the Lisa Arnhold Quartet Residency at the Juilliard School, serving as graduate quartet in residence and teaching assistants to the Juilliard Quartet. The Quartet served in the same position with the Tokyo Quartet at Yale University and was the first ensemble to complete the Training Program in the Art of the String Quartet at the New England Conservatory under the direction of Paul Katz.

The Biava Quartet performed to acclaim in important venues throughout North America, Europe, and Asia, including Alice Tully Hall, Carnegie Hall, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Baroque Art Hall in Seoul. Highlights from recent seasons included appearances at the Chautauqua Institution; the Mostly Mozart, Rockport, Kingston, and Aspen Music Festivals in the U.S.; and the Pacific Music Festival in Japan.

Dedicated to the creation and performance of contemporary works (in addition to performing established classical repertoire), the Quartet has championed music of American composers Mason Bates, William Bolcom, Kenji Bunch, John Harbison, Ezra Laderman, Kevin Puts, and Stacy Garrop.

The Biava Quartet recorded for Naxos and Cedille (performing Stacy Garrop’s String Quartet No. 2, “Demons and Angels” on Composers in the Loft, CDR 90000 100) and has been heard on London’s BBC Radio 3, National Public Radio, American Public Media’s Performance Today, and other national broadcasts. The Quartet was featured in Strings and Strad magazines and has been the subject of a PBS documentary film.

After twelve celebrated seasons and many accolades, the group concluded its public performances in June 2010. Stacy Garrop’s String Quartet No. 3, “Gaia” was the Biava Quartet’s final recording.

The Biava String Quartet's Naumburg commission was by Mason Bates, "From Amber Frozen" receiving its world premiere on the Biava's Naumburg concert that took place on May 12, 2004 in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall.

Mason Bates stated about "From Amber Frozen":

"The quartet forms itself gradually, growing its melodic and textural ideas at an evolutionary pace .. a role-colored world as if viewed by an insect from the Jurassic, forever sealed in a crystal of dried amber on a tree.

So the ensemble hatches from its shell in embryonic form, a lopsided groove of plucked out-of-tune notes and woody rustlings, with bell-like sustained notes foreshadowing the coming melody. This texture of shattered lines that weave in and out of each other is as much informed by today's electronica as it is from Indonesian gamelon- all passed through the prism of the string quartet's rich and varied textures.

As the ensemble, evovles from rhythmic pointillism to more sustained lines, a melody asserts itself. The lyrical urge very gradually infects the group, melting the crystalline beats into warmer, more emotive thoughts - and by the work's center, the core of animal warmth has succeeded in fusing the shattered lines of the opening into a single lyrical expression. The long-lined melody that follows reaches its expressive peak at the exact moment that the work begins to devolve, as bowed lines become dancing, detuned grooves dispersed throughout the group. By the work's end, it has morphed well-beyond full-circle-having returned to its initial rhythmic space, it loses pitch altogether."

Biava String Quartet's Naumburg program

May 12, 2004 at Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center

Mendelssohn: String Quartet in A minor, Op. 13

Mason Bates: "From Amber Froze" World premiere, Naumburg commission

Beethoven: String Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 127

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