December 18, 2024

The Horatio Quartet, Candide Quartet, and Poiesis Quartet are the three promising young string quartets participating in the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute from January 8 to 12, with a final concert open to the public on January 12.

The three quartets along with special guests will take part in a series of daily master classes and lessons during the Robert Mann String Quartet Institute at Manhattan School of Music.

Instructors taking part will be MSM faculty, including David Geber, Nicholas Mann, members of the American String Quartet, Samuel Rhodes, Mark Steinberg, Eugene Drucker, and Ilmar Gavilán.

On the concluding day of the Institute program, there will be a public performance at Manhattan School of Music that showcases each of the quartets.

Get to know each of the three quartets!

Horatio Quartet

The Horatio Quartet was founded in 2023 at the McGill’s Schulich School of Music. Under the guidance of André Roy, the quartet is establishing itself as a rising force, quickly gaining recognition for its dynamic and impassioned performances. In the summer of 2024, they were invited to participate in Montreal International String Quartet Academy.

They have had the privilege of performing for and working with members of renowned quartets such as Ébène, Dover, Emerson, Ysaÿe, Talich, Calidore, and Jerusalem. The quartet won the 2024-2025 McGill Chamber Music Competition and was selected as a finalist in the 2024 Lyon International Chamber Music Competition.

Bringing together a wealth of experience, the members of Horatio Quartet have performed as soloists, chamber musicians, and orchestral leaders in various programs across Canada and internationally. The quartet’s name is inspired by the character Horatio from Shakespeare’s Hamlet—as Horatio lives to tell Hamlet’s tale, the quartet is devoted to carrying forward the legacy of composers who lived before us.

Candide Quartet

Formed in 2023, the Candide Quartet is comprised of Juilliard undergraduate violinists Chili Ekman and Henry Rogers, violist Pearl de la Motte, and cellist Vanny Hu.

Undergoing their second full year as a quartet, the group is committed to exploring the chamber music repertoire, gaining performing experience, and learning from the artistry of past generations. The quartet strives to bring a fresh perspective to their interpretations, combining tradition with innovation.

During the summer of 2024, the quartet attended residencies at Music in the Vineyards and Madeline Island Chamber Music. After returning to school they had the honor to work with Caroline Shaw and perform the Juilliard premiere of her work Plan and Elevation at Juilliard’s first annual Fall Festival. This past November the quartet extended their commitment with Madeline Island, holding a week-long residency at the MacPhail Center for Music in Minneapolis. During the summer and at their residency in the fall, they presented masterclasses, lectures, and performances to communities across the country.

The Candide Quartet has been coached and mentored by many esteemed musicians including David Finckel, Daniel Phillips, Paul Neubauer, Robert Levin, Joseph Lin, Brian Zeger and David Kim. They have also worked with many of today’s leading quartets, including the Miro Quartet, American Quartet, Harlem Quartet and the Pacifica Quartet, among others.

Having a shared love for Candide and Voltaire’s philosophy of optimism, the group embodies the sentiments of appreciation for the camaraderie and dedication that they believe are inherent both in Voltaire’s novel and string quartet playing.

Poiesis Quartet

Violin: Sarah Ma
Violin: Max Ball
Cello: Drew Dansby
Violist: Jasper de Boo

The name Poiesis is derived from the ancient Greek word ποιεῖν, which means “to make”; particularly, to create something that has never been made before.

As a string quartet made up of inter- and multi-disciplinary young artists, the Poiesis Quartet seeks to program music of all styles and genres and expand the traditional quartet setting with an emphasis on platforming works by emerging and underrepresented composers. Poiesis strives to create unique moments of synchronicity, sensitivity, and verve in each performance.

The Poiesis Quartet is the 2023 Grand Prize winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Having formed just eight months earlier during Oberlin Conservatory’s Advanced String Quartet Seminar, Poiesis also received Fischoff’s Senior Strings Gold Medal and the Lift Every Voice prizes, as well as Gold Medal and BIPOC Prize at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition.

In May 2024, Poiesis joined the Concert Artists Guild roster for North American management as the winners of the Louis & Susan Meisel Competition. Currently, Poiesis is the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) studying under the Ariel Quartet.

For the 2024-25 season, they also serve as the ensemble-in-residence of concertnova, a Cincinnati-based collective which presents multi-sensorial and interdisciplinary concert experiences. Other highlights of the 2024-25 season include appearances on chamber music series in Asheville, NC and San Antonio, TX, the world premiere at CCM of two new quartets by Brian Raphael Nabors and Kitty Brazelton, and the October 2024 release of the ensemble’s debut album, as we are, in collaboration with Nancy Maultsby on the Bright Shiny Things label.