Miró Quartet
Daniel Ching, violin | William Fedkenheuer, violin | John Largess, viola | Joshua Gindele, cello
“Throughout, the Miró Quartet played with explosive vigor and technical finesse.”
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The Quartet recorded the complete Beethoven cycle in chronological order over 15 years which was released in 2020 and Gramophone called "sublime."
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The Miró Quartet has served as the Faculty Quartet in Residence at UT Austin's Butler School of Music since 2003 mentoring artists in the Young Professional String Quartet. Passionate about the future of chamber music, the Miró appears regularly at the Norfolk Music Festival and has given master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world.
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The Miró works with some of the preeminent composers of our time including Pulitzer Prize-winners Caroline Shaw and Kevin Puts, as well as Tamar-kali, David Shiff, David Schikele, and more.
The Miró Quartet is one of America’s most celebrated and dedicated string quartets, having been labeled by The New Yorker as “furiously committed” and noted by the Cleveland Plain Dealer for its “exceptional tonal focus and interpretive intensity.” For over twenty-five years the Quartet has performed throughout the world on the most prestigious concert stages, earning accolades from critics and audiences alike. Based in Austin, TX, and thriving on the area’s storied music scene, the Miró takes pride in finding new ways to communicate with audiences of all backgrounds while cultivating the longstanding tradition of chamber music.
In their 2023-24 season, the Miró Quartet embarks on a new performance and recording project with pianist Lara Downes. Here on Earth features musical depictions of planet earth, its evolution, and the lives of its inhabitants, with works spanning a century of cultural shift that begins with Darius Milhaud’s La Création du Monde, performed in a new arrangement for piano and string quartet. Upcoming performances include the premiere of a new version of Kevin Puts’ Credo with the Naples Philharmonic, as well as performances for the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Mondavi Center for the Performing Arts, the Saratoga Perfoming Arts Center, and Premiere Performances in Hong Kong.
Formed in 1995, the Miró Quartet was awarded first prize at several national and international competitions including the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition. Deeply committed to music education, members of the Quartet have given master classes at universities and conservatories throughout the world, and since 2003 the Miró has served as the quartet-in-residence at the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music. In 2005, the Quartet became the first ensemble ever to be awarded the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant.
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Having released many celebrated recordings, the Miró recently produced an Emmy Award- winning multimedia project titled Transcendence. A work with visual and audio elements available on live stream, CD, and Blu-ray, Transcendence encompasses philanthropy and documentary filmmaking and is centered around a performance of Franz Schubert’s Quartet in G major on rare Stradivarius instruments. The Miró records independently and makes its music available on a global scale through Apple Music, Amazon, Spotify, Pandora, and YouTube. The Miró Quartet took its name and its inspiration from the Spanish artist Joan Miró, whose Surrealist works — with subject matter drawn from the realm of memory, dreams, and imaginative fantasy — are some of the most groundbreaking, influential, and admired of the 20th century.
Visit miroquartet.com for more information.
May 2023 – Please do not edit without permission.
Videos
Programs & Repertoire
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PROGRAM I - QUARTETS THROUGH THE AGES
W.A. Mozart: Quartet No. 19 in C major, K. 465 “Dissonance”
Jake Heggie: New Commission, title TBA
*****
Claude Debussy: Quartet in G minor, Op. 10PROGRAM II - THE JOURNEY HOME
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in D major, Op. 20, No. 4
Samuel Barber: Adagio -or- George Walker: Lyric for Strings
Kevin Puts: Home
*****
Johannes Brahms: Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 51, No. 2
[Encore: Robert Schumann, Scherzo from Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44]PROGRAM III - POEMS AND PROSE
Antonín Dvořák: Selections from “Cypresses” (3-4 pieces with spoken poetry)
Franz Schubert: Quartet No. 14 in D minor, D. 810 “Death and the Maiden”
II. Andante con moto
Caroline Shaw: Microfictions, Volume 1 (commissioned for the Miró Quartet)
*****
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Op. 131
[Encore: Maurice Ravel, Scherzo from String Quartet in F major] -
PROGRAM I – AMERICAN ALBUM: VOICES OF HOME
Samuel Barber: Quartet No. 1 in B minor
George Walker: “Lyric for Strings”
Caroline Shaw: “Microfictions [Vol. 1]” (2021), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
*****
Kevin Puts: “Home” (2019), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
American Songbook Suite: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, “Fascinating Rhythm”, “Over the Rainbow”PROGRAM II – MIRÓ STORIES (30TH ANNIVERSARY SEASON)
Franz Joseph Haydn: Quartet in G major, Op. 77, No. 1
Chan Ka Nin: Quartet No. 3 (1998), written for the Banff International String Quartet Competition, prize winning piece for the Miró
*****
Claude Debussy: Quartet in G minor, Op. 10PROGRAM III – THE LAST DAY
No intermission, salon style concert with speaking between all selectionsJoseph Haydn: Quartet in D minor, Op. 76, No. 2, “The Fifths” [selections]
Jake Heggie: “The Last Day” (2024), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
W.A Mozart: Quartet in C major, K. 465, “Dissonance” [movement 2]
Franz Schubert: Quartet in D minor, D. 810, “Death and the Maiden” [movement 2, Variations]
Maurice Ravel: Quartet in F major [movement 2]
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in E minor, Op. 59, No. 2 [movement 4]
Fiddle Tune Encore: “Orange Blossom Special” -or- TBD
American Songbook Selection: “Over The Rainbow” -or- TBDCOLLABORATIVE PROGRAMS
PROGRAM I – BRAHMS QUINTETS
with Masumi Per Rostad, violaJohannes Brahms: Viola Quintet No. 1 in F major, Op. 88
*****
Johannes Brahms: Viola Quintet No. 2 in G major, Op. 111PROGRAM II – TRIBUTE TO BENNY GOODMAN AND THE BUDAPEST QUARTET
with David Shifrin, clarinetLudwig van Beethoven: Quartet in G major, Op. 18, No. 2
Alan Shulman: “Rendezvous with Benny”
David Schiff: Three Swing Arrangements: “A Smooth One”, “How am I to Know”, “Temptation Rag”
*****
W.A. Mozart: Clarinet Quintet in A major, K. 581PROGRAM III (SPRING 2025) - MUSICAL MYSTICS
A program of music for Saxophone and String Quartet with Steven Banks and the Miró QuartetHildegarde of Bingen: O Virtus Sapientiae
Caroline Shaw: Other Song, And So
Ludwig van Beethoven: Heiliger Dankgesang from String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
Steven Banks: What’s Old is New (new commission)
*****
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind“My current obsession as an artist is in exploring the concepts of timelessness and ultimate truths like interconnectedness. The act of creating this piece will be a meditation on the concepts explored by the other works on this program; wisdom, the passage of time, faith, communion, transience, and others that I am sure to find along the way. The set of songs at the beginning of the program allows the saxophone to explore its vocal abilities. Golijov’s Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind draws influence from Klezmer music. The Yiddish word klezmer derives from two Hebrew roots: klei (“vessel” or “instrument”) and zemer (“song”). In my piece, the saxophone and its string counterparts will sing. There may be references to the spiritual songs of my youth, and perhaps from the singing styles of the other composers on the program, among other possibilities.”
-Steven Banks, composer“What’s old is new is ever ever told…”
-Other Song, Caroline Shaw -
PROGRAM I – AMERICAN ALBUM: VOICES OF HOME
Samuel Barber: Quartet No. 1 in B minor
George Walker: “Lyric for Strings”
Caroline Shaw: “Microfictions [Vol. 1]” (2021), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
*****
Kevin Puts: “Home” (2019), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
American Songbook Suite: “Smoke Gets in Your Eyes”, “Fascinating Rhythm”, “Over the Rainbow”PROGRAM II – THE LAST DAY
Giacomo Puccini: “Crisantemi”
Jake Heggie: “The Last Day” (2024), commissioned for the Miró Quartet
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in A minor, Op. 132 [movement 3, “Heiliger Dankgesang”]
*****
Felix Mendelssohn: Quartet in F minor, Op. 80PROGRAM III (FALL 2025)
The Miró Quartet Holiday Program! A festive evening of original arrangements of 12 of our favorite living composers’ favorite Holiday Tunes…with other holiday favorites arranged for string quartet.PROGRAM IV (SPRING 2026) – TWO TITANS AT TWO HUNDRED
Franz Schubert: Quartet in G major, D. 887 (June 1826)
*****
Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in B-flat major, Op. 130, with the “Grosse Fuge” finale from Op. 133 (March 1826)
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Ludwig van Beethoven: Quartet in C-sharp minor, Op. 131 (1826)COLLABORATIVE PROGRAMS
PROGRAM I – AMERICAN QUINTETS
with Masumi Per Rostad, viola
Nokuthula Ngwenyama: Viola Quintet, “Primal Message”
Michael Begay: New commission
Andrea Casarrubios: “Anthem”, new commission
*****
Antonín Dvořák: Viola Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 97 “American”PROGRAM II - MUSICAL MYSTICS
A program of music for Saxophone and String Quartet
with Steven Banks and the Miró QuartetHildegarde of Bingen: O Virtus Sapientiae
Caroline Shaw: Other Song, And So
Ludwig van Beethoven: Heiliger Dankgesang from String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132
Steven Banks: What’s Old is New (new commission)
*****
Osvaldo Golijov: The Dreams and Prayers of Issac the Blind“My current obsession as an artist is in exploring the concepts of timelessness and ultimate truths like interconnectedness. The act of creating this piece will be a meditation on the concepts explored by the other works on this program; wisdom, the passage of time, faith, communion, transience, and others that I am sure to find along the way. The set of songs at the beginning of the program allows the saxophone to explore its vocal abilities. Golijov’s Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind draws influence from Klezmer music. The Yiddish word klezmer derives from two Hebrew roots: klei (“vessel” or “instrument”) and zemer (“song”). In my piece, the saxophone and its string counterparts will sing. There may be references to the spiritual songs of my youth, and perhaps from the singing styles of the other composers on the program, among other possibilities.”
-Steven Banks, composer“What’s old is new is ever ever told…”
-Other Song, Caroline ShawPROGRAM III (SPRING 2026)
Collaborative Program with soprano Karen Slack, featuring a new commission by Tamar-kali based on texts from the women of the Harlem Renaissance, along with works for quartet and voice by Margaret Bonds, William Grant Still, and Florence Price.
Projects
