Winners of the First Prize and the Amadeus Prize at the Tenth London International String Quartet Competition in 2006, the Formosa Quartet was formed in 2002 when the four founding members came together for a concert tour of Taiwan, the land of their shared heritage. Reviewing their critically acclaimed debut CD released by EMI, The Strad states, “their imaginative account of Mozart … is spellbinding,” while Gramophone describes their playing as “remarkably fine both in meticulous response to the letter and in a desire to look beyond the notes.” Past performances include the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Cultural Center, Wigmore Hall, the Royal Academy of Music, the New School in New York, the Caramoor Festival, the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the Library of Congress in Washington D.C., San Francisco State University, the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, La Jolla Summerfest, Music Mountain, and a winner’s tour of the UK.

In addition to their performances of traditional repertoire, the Formosa Quartet has also embraced the works of contemporary composers, with world premieres of Shih-hui Chen’s 陳士惠 Mei Hua for String Quartet and of Thomas Oboe Lee’s Piano Quintet, as well as performances of pieces by Bright Sheng, Dana Wilson, and Richard Wilson.

The members of the Formosa Quartet – Jasmine Lin, Wayne Lee, Che-Yen Chen, and Ru-Pei Yeh – have established themselves as leading solo, chamber, and orchestral musicians. With degrees from Juilliard, Curtis, and New England Conservatory, they have performed in major venues around the United States, Asia, Europe, South America, Australia, and have been top prizewinners in prestigious competitions such as the Paganini, Primrose, Naumburg, and Tertis competitions. As chamber musicians, they have appeared regularly at the Marlboro, La Jolla Summerfest, Kingston, Seattle Chamber Music Society, Santa Fe, Ottawa, Ravinia, South Bank, and Berlin festivals, as well as at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Jupiter Chamber Music Series. They have won positions in the San Diego, Cincinnati Symphonies, and New York Philharmonic, and have been teaching at University of Southern California, California State University Fullerton, Roosevelt University Taos School of Music, Stanford University, McGill University, and The Juilliard School.