YING QUARTET

Grammy Award Winner!

" . . .honeyed blend and instinctive unanimity . . . "--Philadelphia Inquirer

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Timothy Ying, violin
Janet Ying, violin
Phillip Ying, viola
David Ying, cello

The Ying Quartet’s reputation for “instinctive unanimity” (Philadelphia Inquirer) and “astonishing, refreshing exaltation and exhilaration” (Los Angeles Times) is matched by its unparalleled success in making creative connections between chamber music and other art forms in ways that have great public appeal. Its long list of imaginative projects includes “No Boundaries,” an innovative visiting residency at Symphony Space in New York City; an exploration with the Turtle Island String Quartet of jazz, improvisation, and the classical string tradition; a program with folk musician Mike Seeger showing the influence of traditional folk music on contemporary American classical composition; and Hyperscore, a revolutionary online graphic compositional application that allows amateurs as well as musicians to compose using a personal computer.

 The Ying siblings began their career as an ensemble in 1992 in the farm town of Jesup, Iowa, (population 2000) as one of the first ensembles involved in the Chamber Music America (then NEA) Rural Residency Program. The Quartet participated fully in the community, performing on countless occasions for audiences of six to 600 in a residency so successful that it was widely chronicled in the national and international media, including features in The New York Times and STRAD magazine and on CBS Sunday Morning.

 The Ying Quartet won recognition for its exceptional musical qualities when it was honored with the 1993 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In the years since, the Yings have established an international reputation for excellence in performance with appearances in virtually every major American city.  The Quartet’s 2005-2006 season included five concerts in New York City, four at Harvard University, and concerts in Washington DC (at the Kennedy Center), Portland, Oregon, Saint Louis, Amsterdam, and Austin.  Its numerous festival appearances include Tanglewood, Aspen, Skaneateles, and San Miguel; international touring has taken the Quartet to Europe, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Japan, and Taiwan. The Yings' enthusiasm for performing in diverse settings has led to concerts in Carnegie Hall, the White House, hospitals, and juvenile prisons. Frequent musical collaborations have included such artists as Menahem Pressler, Christopher Taylor, Paul Katz, Gilbert Kalish, and the St. Lawrence and Turtle Island String Quartets. The EMI Classics recording of works by Osvaldo Golijov on which the Ying Quartet appears with the St. Lawrence Quartet was nominated for a 2003 Grammy Award.  4 + Four, a Ying/Turtle Island recording, was released in the spring of 2005 on the Telarc label, and received a 2006 Grammy Award in the Best Classical Crossover Category.

In 1999, the Quartet introduced LifeMusic, a multiyear commissioning project supported by the Institute for American Music, designed to produce a distinctively American string quartet repertoire. Each season, a pair of new works by established and emerging composers is featured in the Yings' diverse repertoire. Thus far, the project has introduced new quartets by a dozen composers ranging from Michael Torke to Paquito D’Rivera.   This season, they will add works by Tod Machover and Patrick Zimmerli.  The first in a projected series of LifeMusic recordings was released internationally on the Quartz label in 2004. 

With “Musical Dim Sum,” which the Ying Quartet recently performed at a Chinese restaurant in Los Angeles and performed at the Kennedy Center last season, the Yings continue to extend their innovative programming concepts while celebrating their own cultural heritage. These programs include a selection of short works by Chinese American composers in the framework of a traditional concert, giving audiences the treat of a diverse sampling of this music. The Quartet plans to commission new works by composers of Chinese background living around the globe to join existing pieces by Chou Wen-Chung, Zhou Long, Tan Dun, Bright Sheng, and Chen Yi.

As Quartet in Residence at the Eastman School of Music of the University of Rochester, the Ying Quartet plans and directs a rigorous, sequential chamber music curriculum that integrates intensive musical instruction with training in creative presentation and communication skills, and includes practical performance opportunities throughout the greater Rochester community. The Quartet has also taught at Northwestern University and at the Interlochen and Brevard Music Festivals, and since 2001, the members of the Ying Quartet have been the Blodgett Artists in Residence at Harvard University. 
 
8/06 – Please discard material with an earlier date