The Co-Artistic Director of Opus 71 Concerts is also our violist! We are happy to be invited – and we didn’t even ply him with banana cream pie.
Program:
Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D 804 “Rosamunde”
A Formosa Quartet Set*
(*) An assortment of shorts from the FQ’s collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements
New Jersey is where some of our family, oldest friends, favorite kimchi-makers, most visionary colleagues, and strongest memories are. So this is for all of you – a potent, pensive, and playful program that packs a punch.
Program:
Bach: Selected Chorales
Schubert: String Quartet No. 13 in A minor, D 804 “Rosamunde”
A Formosa Quartet Set*
(*) An assortment of shorts from the FQ’s collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements
Memories of steep cliffs, sprawling coastline and the call of owls at night have lingered vividly since our last visit to Gualala in 2019. It is the perfect terrain that will amplify the drama between two important string quartets from the early 19th Century.
Program:
Beethoven: String Quartet No. 1 in F major, Op. 18, No. 1
Clancy Newman: Pop-Unpopped, #1 Songs from Around the World*
***
Schubert: String Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D 810 “Death & the Maiden”
*Formosa Quartet commission
It’s been a year of deli cravings, fish market fantasies and excitement for a return to the vibrancy of Ann Arbor’s Kerrytown. We can’t wait to present a very special program as part of Artistic Director Monica Swartout-Bebow’s series at the historic Kerrytown Concert House.
Nothing warms the spirit like the abounding exuberance of Beethoven’s first ever string quartet - except perhaps getting swept up in the vineyards and Pacific views of the “American Riviera”. We are excited to present a music from across four centuries at the Santa Barbara Museum of Art, whose permanent collection spans nearly 5000 years!
We cannot wait to return to Four Seasons Arts in Berkeley, California this 2024-2025 season! Our performance in 2019 to a packed house with the most generous reception was beyond memorable. The Bay Area is a special place for us and we hope many of you will join us. Save the date in your calendar!
Formosa Quartet returns to the University of Houston for Part II of our second season as Quartet in Residence at the Moores School of Music. We look forward to a host of workshops, masterclasses, and dialogues with the wonderful students of UH that are sure to inspire and invigorate.
We look forward to performing with pianist and co-artistic director of Lyrica Chamber Music, David Kaplan, described by The New York Times as “excellent and adventurous,” and praised by the Boston Globe for his “grace and fire” at the keyboard. The program will feature music by Haydn, Dana Wilson, and Shostakovich’s Piano Quintet.
We are always eager to cap off the season with two weeks with the wonderful students at NYO Canada, our home away from home. With state of the art facilities, cutting edge programming, and a formidable administrative team, musical possibilities, like the poutine, are endless.
The Wild, the Pop, and the Comic | Formosa Quartet in Collaboration with UH
Our week at UH culminates with a much anticipated collaboration with faculty and students at the stunning Hobby Center in downtown Houston. Although we are exploring it for the first time, the center opened in 2002 and the grounds have been home to several important arts and cultural centers going back almost a century! Purchase Tickets today!
Program:
Geminiani / Michi Wiancko: La Follia
— UH String Orchestra, Kirsten Yon and Mann-Wen Lo (violins); Amber Archibald (viola); Eunghee Cho (cello); Formosa Quartet
A Formosa Quartet Set
* intermission *
Stephen Prutsman: “Sherlock Jr” with a screening of Buster Keaton's 1924 comedy “Sherlock, Jr.”
— Timothy Hester, piano; Formosa Quartet
The community at UH truly feels like family, and we can’t wait to reunite for the start of our second season as Quartet in Residence at the Moores School of Music. This week will include a host of workshops, masterclasses, and dialogues that are sure to inspire and invigorate.
Formosa Quartet heads over to Stillwater, OK where we are excited to reconnect with McKnight Center Director of Artistic Planning Argeo Ascani for this Tuesday evening recital featuring Beethoven String Quartet Op. 18 No. 1 and a specially curated Formosa Set.
Following the previous night’s soiree, we look forward to a program abounding in youthful energy to TPAC’s Williams Theater. Beethoven’s first (dazzling) attempt at writing a string quartet is paired with Haydn’s penultimate opus - written within one year of each other!
Program:
Haydn - String Quartet in G major, Op. 77 No. 1
A Formosa Set*
(Including Rhiannon Giddens At the Purchaser’s Option and Charlton Singleton Testimony)
Beethoven - String Quartet in F major, Op. 18 No. 1
(*) An assortment of shorts from the FQ’s collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements
We are excited to be opening the season with a debut at Chamber Music Tulsa! Join us for the first of two performances at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center - a Saturday night salon in the Westby Pavillion. Music, food, drinks, and conversation will be aflow!
Program:
Haydn: String Quartet in G major, Op. 77, No. 1, Hob.III:81
A Formosa Quartet Set
FQ looks forward to working with NYO Canada’s wonderful students in 2 weeks of chamber music coachings, lessons, masterclasses, seminar, and performances! For more information, visit https://nyoc.org/
For over three decades, the Immanuel and Helen Olshan Texas Music Festival has brought Classical music’s rising stars to Houston for intensive study and exceptional performance. The Formosa Quartet looks forward to their inaugural summer at TMF as the resident string quartet faculty where they will collaborate with TMF’s world class faculty and conduct intensive chamber music coachings with all of the student chamber music.
Formosa Quartet returns to the Maui Chamber Music Festival where we cannot wait to make music with our dear friends and music directors, Yizhak Schotten and Katherine Collier, and rockstar musician colleagues from all over the country. Click for more information about the schedule of concerts!
What better way to cap off our return to Taiwan than a performance at the gorgeous National Recital Hall! Post-concert night market celebration? Most definitely!
Our journey in the south of Taiwan continues with a performance at the Pingtung Performing Arts Center!
Hsinchu – did you know that its nickname is the Windy City? A breeze for those visiting from Chicago.
Our first stop in Taiwan is in Taoyuan. For all those with just enough layover time, Mozart, Dvorak, and a Formosa Quartet Set await your ears.
We’re excited to make our Malaysian debut as the opening event on this tour!
Our Taiwan tour, after multiple pandemic-related postponements, is HAPPENING!! One of our favorite places to play, celebrate, dine, breakfast, snack, hang, laugh, walk, relax, and seven. Yes, you can use seven as a verb. Dates and venues will be posted soon.
We are thrilled to be joining the talented students of the Academy of MIC for a masterclass this afternoon! The Academy is an intensive program for exceptionally gifted pre-college students, offering a rich curriculum of classes and performance opportunities geared towards preparing the nation’s top young musicians for the next chapters of their lives. Led by Executive Director Sue Polutnik and Director James Setapen, the Academy draws students from all across the country, some flying over a thousand miles weekly to attend.
This intimate space, located in the bustle of downtown Chicago, overlooks one of the most perfect lakefront views in the city. Nab a front row seat to enjoy Formosa Quartet’s tonal painting while the surrounding sky and water change color just as dramatically…
🚨 CAPACITY FOR THIS EVENT IS NOW FULL. We look forward to seeing you at a future performance!
We look forward to sharing our program titled Unexpected and Thrilling with music lovers in Ann Arbor, Michigan! The first half of the program features Mozart's "Dissonance" Quartet. Perhaps Mozart's most famous string quartet, the piece owes its nickname to the jarring and unexpected harmonies that introduce the first movement. The rest of the program is devoted to "A Formosa Quartet Set," an assortment of shorts from the FQ’s collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements. Curated especially for each concert, an FQ Set is like a flight of desserts after a main course, offering a chance for audiences to “let their hair down," tap their toes, and enjoy the string quartet medium in somewhat less-conventional contexts.
We culminate our residency as the 2023-2024 McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair at Eastern Michigan University with our program “American Mirror” featuring music by Derrick Skye and Formosa Quartet’s Roadmap, a selection of iconic songs that shaped American popular music and culture arranged by some of today’s most celebrated composers. Get your FREE TICKETS at Ludus.
In this second week of onsite residence at EMU as the McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair, we continue to probe the questions posed by our American Mirror Project as we offer a week of music and dialog revolving around our American Mirror Program, the centerpiece of which will be our own brand-new commission, Dana Wilson’s Mirror, a piece which invites the community in which we perform to add their own ‘American mirrors’ directly to the performance.
Formosa Quartet returns to the city of Houston with a performance at the POST, the former and historic Barbara Jordan Post Office in downtown. They’ll be performing works by Mozart, Dvorak, and a Formosa Quartet Set specially curated to fit the dynamic space. RSVP to reserve your seat!
Some of our topmost highlights of the year are our weeks at UH, collaborating with the amazing students and string faculty there, exploring new projects, exchanging ideas, continuing the never-ending dialog about the relevance of our work and its sociocultural ramifications and responsibilities.
The Formosa Quartet presents “The American Mirror Project: A Reflection of Ypsilanti” as part of their socio-culturally probing project. This program explores the richness of Ypsilanti, Michigan—the land of the Anishinaabe or “original people,” the city’s deep gospel traditions and its role as a major stop on the Underground Railroad to the present day mirrors contributed by members of the Eastern Michigan University community. This program will include…
Come observe the Formosa Quartet work with students in the EMU Choir. This open rehearsal will center around a collaboration featured on “The American Mirror Project | An Ypsilanti Mirror” concert on Saturday, January 20 at 7:30 PM.
The Formosa Quartet is honored to perform in Eastern Michigan University’s Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration concert in historic Pease Auditorium. This concert includes a collection of performances by EMU Students/Staff, Alumni and Community Members.
Come observe the Formosa Quartet work with students in the EMU Symphony Orchestra. This open rehearsal will center around a collaboration featured on “The American Mirror Project: A Reflection of Ypsilanti” concert on Saturday, January 20 at 7:30 PM.
Curious how an award-winning chamber music ensemble works behind-the-scenes? How do they dissect pieces of music, learn to create a cohesive sound, communicate ideas from concept to physical execution? Come observe an open rehearsal by the award-winning Formosa Quartet followed by a Q&A with the artists.
In this special McAndless Lecture presented by Eastern Michigan University’s Honors College Star Lecture Series, join the Formosa Quartet on a musical tour of America. From the blues to bluegrass to jazz to Motown, the Formosa Quartet will discuss the historical context behind musical selections as well as the group’s own journey in developing the American Mirror Project inspired by Derek Skye’s work of the same name. The American Mirror Project, which examines perceptions and assumptions about American culture through the lens of music and the performing arts, seeks to hold a mirror up to America through thought-provoking and dynamic musical performances. Read more…
The Formosa Quartet begins their first on-campus visit as the McAndless Distinguished Scholars in the Humanities at Eastern Michigan University with a Meet & Greet in the Atrium of Strong Hall. The general public is invited to meet the artists, learn about their American Mirror Project, and hear a snippet of music!
We are honored to be named the 2023-2024 McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair at Eastern Michigan University. In this 1st of 2 onsite residency weeks, we look forward to collaborating with various areas of university, engaging with their students and faculty in a thoughtful exploration of the American Mirror Project, a deeply personal undertaking which examines perceptions and assumptions about American culture through the lens of music and the performing arts. Read more…
We’re beyond thrilled to make our Philadelphia Chamber Music Society debut with our Curtis and Marlboro friends! Program includes Haydn’s Quartet Op. 76 No. 2 (Fifths), a rocking Formosa Quartet Set, and the Dvořák String Sextet with the glorious Hsin-Yun Huang (viola) and Peter Wiley (cello).
