CHICAGO, IL | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — Acclaimed for their “brilliant authenticity” (Sequenza 21) and for “going beyond the beautiful” (MUSO Magazine), the Formosa Quartet is excited to welcome violinist David Bernat to the ensemble. Bernat succeeds violinist Wayne Lee, who joined in 2012 and is retiring from the quartet to devote more time to his family and establish deeper roots in the Seattle area.
Left to right: Deborah Pae, cello; Matthew Cohen, viola; David Bernat, violin; Jasmine Lin, violin
Photo courtesy of Formosa Quartet
Bernat shared: “I am thrilled to be joining Debbie, Jasmine, and Matt in this upcoming chapter of the Formosa Quartet! From my first experience playing with the quartet, I felt a unique warmth of spirit that allowed for a thrilling spontaneity and a true sense of exploration in the music making. It is particularly inspiring that these qualities extend into their constantly evolving vision for programming and their activities as educators. I am eager to begin creating with them, and am excited for the adventures ahead.”
On his twelve years in the ensemble, Lee reflected: “Being a member of the Formosa Quartet has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I got to spend 12 years living and breathing string quartets with some of the best musicians I know, who also happen to be some of the best human beings that I know. After so many concerts performed, pieces learned, places seen, and meals shared, we have made countless, priceless memories together, and I remember most of them like they happened yesterday. My world is infinitely bigger and richer thanks to my FQ family.
“As I transition from quartet member to quartet groupie, I can’t wait to see what will happen in this next phase of FQ’s evolution. Jasmine, Matt, and Debbie have found a very special new colleague in David, and I know that the four of them will continue to represent this art form with the fiercest commitment: always searching, constantly reinventing, never taking anything for granted. I will be in the audience cheering them on.”
Matthew Cohen, Deborah Pae, and Jasmine Lin expressed: “In Wayne we could not have had a better colleague. Our quartet owes so much of its success to his artistry, intelligence, business savvy, sophistication, imaginativeness, heart, and team spirit. While we will miss him greatly, we are tremendously excited to welcome David, whose brilliance, uniqueness, and creativity open up whole new worlds of possibility in our onward journey.”
David Bernat, violin | Photo credit: Masaaki Kuwajima
ABOUT DAVID BERNAT
Recognized for his deeply personal approach to music and ability to connect with a wide range of audiences, violinist David Bernat leads a multifaceted career as a performer, educator, and artistic director of the Grace Note Farm Music Festival. Both a sought-after soloist and chamber musician, his recent engagements include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Marlboro Music Festival, and Red Barn Chamber Music in Iowa City, as well as radio appearances on the BBC Radio 3 program “In Tune” and at WQXR’s Greene Space. A passionate advocate for contemporary music, Bernat has enjoyed close collaborations with composers Thomas Adès, John Adams, John Harbison, Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lerdahl, and George Walker. A graduate of the New England Conservatory, he is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at the Juilliard School and a member of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect during the 2023-2025 seasons. Bernat is also a distinguished chess player, achieving a National Master title in 2021 making him among the top one percent of players in the United States.
Formosa Quartet at the San Diego Museum of Art
Photo credit: Gary Payne, Courtesy of Art of Elan
ABOUT THE FORMOSA QUARTET
Hailed for their “absolutely delicious” performances (The STRAD) of “much charm” (Classic FM), the Formosa Quartet has sustained a career of innovation, storytelling, and advocacy since winning the 1st Prize and Amadeus Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Whether at the Smithsonian, the Berliner Philharmonie, or in educational institutions across the country – whether in their uncompromisingly exploratory approach to the standard literature; their specially curated sets of folk, pop, and jazz arrangements; or their socioculturally probing American Mirror Project – the Formosa Quartet is committed to an insatiable search for the fresh and new in string quartet expression.
They proudly serve as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music and form an octet with violins Andrea Guarneri (1662) and G.B. Guadagnini (1753), a Peter Westerlund viola (2014), and a Vincenzo Postiglione cello (1885).
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