Chamber music is a form of classical music that is composed for a small group of instruments—traditionally a group that could fit in a palace chamber or a large room. Most broadly, it includes any art music that is performed by a small number of performers, with one performer to a part. However, by convention, it usually does not include solo instrument performances.
The Allegri Quartet is a string quartet that was founded in 1953 by Eli Goren and William Pleeth.
John Harris Harbison is an American composer, known for his symphonies, operas, and large choral works.
Gideon Klein was a Czechoslovakian pianist, classical music composer, educator and organizer of cultural life at Theresienstadt concentration camp. Klein was murdered in the Holocaust.
The String Quartet No. 12 in F major, Op. 96, nicknamed the American Quartet, is the 12th string quartet composed by Antonín Dvořák. It was written in 1893, during Dvořák's time in the United States. The quartet is one of the most popular in the chamber music repertoire.
Vladimír Godár is a Slovak classical and film score composer. He is also known for his collaboration with the Czech violinist, singer, and composer Iva Bittová. As an academic, he is a writer, editor, and translator of books on historical music research. He has been active in reviving the music and reputation of 19th-century Slovak composer Ján Levoslav Bella.
The Zephyr Quartet is a string quartet based in Adelaide, South Australia. Founded in 1999, they have been recognised with awards and have collaborated with international musicians.
Bruce Adolphe is a composer, music scholar, the author of several books on music, and pianist. He is currently Resident Lecturer and Director of Family Concerts of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and founder and creative director of The Learning Maestros, formerly called PollyRhythm Productions. He also founded the nonprofit 501(c)(3) educational organization Artful Thinkers. Adolphe performs a weekly "Piano Puzzler" segment on the nationally broadcast Performance Today classical music radio program hosted by Fred Child. "Piano Puzzler" was on National Public Radio starting in 2002, and is now on American Public Media. The program is also available as a podcast and from iTunes. Mr. Adolphe is also artistic director of Off the Hook Arts Festival, an interdisciplinary festival combining music, science, and visual arts, based in Fort Collins, Colorado.
The String Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20, MWV R 20, was written by the 16-year-old Felix Mendelssohn during the fall of 1825 and completed on October 15. Written for four violins, two violas, and two cellos, this work created a new chamber music genre. Conrad Wilson summarizes much of its reception ever since: "Its youthful verve, brilliance and perfection make it one of the miracles of nineteenth-century music." This was one of the first works of Mendelssohn to be very well received.
The Esterhazy Quartet is an American string quartet founded in 1968 as the ensemble-in-residence of the University of Missouri and is composed of faculty members at the University of Missouri School of Music in Columbia. The Esterhazy Quartet's current members are:
Yitzhak Yedid is an Israeli-Australian contemporary classical music composer and improvising pianist, the recipient of numerous awards.
The Composers String Quartet was a string quartet best known for performances of new works by contemporary composers, including quartets by Elliott Carter and Ruth Crawford Seeger. Carter's Fourth Quartet was dedicated to the Composers Quartet, who premiered the work in 1986. The group has performed quartets by more than 60 American composers, and has toured abroad extensively.
Leoš Janáček wrote two string quartets. String Quartet No. 1, "Kreutzer Sonata", was written in a very short space of time, between 13 and 28 October 1923, at a time of great creative concentration. The work was revised by the composer in the autograph from 30 October to 7 November 1923.
Huw Thomas Watkins is a British composer and pianist. Born in South Wales, he studied piano and composition at Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, where he received piano lessons from Peter Lawson. He then went on to read music at King's College, Cambridge, where he studied composition with Robin Holloway and Alexander Goehr, and completed an MMus in composition at the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Julian Anderson. Huw Watkins was awarded the Constant and Kit Lambert Junior Fellowship at the Royal College of Music, where he used to teach composition. He is currently Honorary Research Fellow at the Royal College of Music.
Tigran Yeghiayi Mansurian is a leading Armenian composer of classical music and film scores, People's Artist of the Armenian SSR (1990), and Honored Art Worker of the Armenian SSR (1984). He is the author of orchestral, chamber, choir and vocal works, which have been played across the world. He was nominated for Grammy awards in 2004 and 2017.
The Hawthorne String Quartet is an American string quartet, all four of whose members are players from the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Although its repertoire ranges from the 18th century to contemporary works, the ensemble specializes in works by composers who were interned at the Terezín concentration camp during World War II and other "Entartete Musik" composers. Their recordings of music by three of these composers, Pavel Haas, Erwin Schulhoff and Hans Krása, were released on the Decca Records Entartete Musik series.
The New Zealand String Quartet is New Zealand's only full-time string quartet. The current formation of musicians consists of Helene Pohl, Monique Lapins, Gillian Ansell (viola) and Rolf Gjelsten (cello). Former members include Wilma Smith, Josephine Costantino and Douglas Beilman.
Camille Saint-Saëns' Serenade in E-flat major, Op. 15 is a chamber composition for a quartet consisting of piano, organ, violin and viola, composed in 1865. It is one of the earliest works by the composer to make use of an organ in a chamber ensemble, preceded only by the Six Duos for harmonium and piano, Op. 8. In addition to the original scoring, the work has been transcribed for orchestra, piano solo, piano four-hands, and for piano quartet, with a cello taking the part of the organ.
Gabriella Smith is an American composer from Berkeley, California.
The Penderecki String Quartet is a string quartet, founded in 1986, now based in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.
