Upcoming Events
Public Records
JACK Quartet + Taylor Deupree + Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann
In this greyfade label showcase, JACK Quartet, Taylor Deupree and Joseph Branciforte & Theo Bleckmann share the bill with music from their new albums.
Austin Wulliman, Dave's Hocket
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Fumeux fume par fumée, after Solage
Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus
Christopher Otto, Selection from 3x4x5x7
Bergen Festival
Bergen Festival: JACK Quartet + Yarn/Wire
JACK Quartet and Yarn/Wire present an evening of groundbreaking music, including the world premiere of music by Festival composer Øyvind Torvund. The program includes In the Clouds from 2023 and the world premiere of Torvund's String Quartets No. 1 and 2, both works composed for and performed by these two quartets.
JACK Quartet also performs works by two American 20th century icons, the avant-garde Morton Feldman and the pioneer Ruth Crawford Seeger, who is particularly known for her modernist string quartet. Yarn/Wire open the concert with Le monde des ronds et des carrés, written for them by Japanese composer Misato Mochizuki in 2015.
Misato Mochizuki, Le Monde des ronds et des carrés (The World of Circles and Squares)
Morton Feldman, Structures
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Øyvind Torvund, String Quartet no. 1 & 2 (World Premiere)
Øyvind Torvund, In the Clouds
Read more about Festival composer Øyvind Torvund here.
Dublin International Chamber Music Festival
JACK Quartet + Carol McGonnell
DICMF is proud to open the 2024 iteration of Ireland’s longest-running chamber music festival with an ambitious new work for clarinet and string quartet by Ann Cleare. Commissioned by DICMF, with funds from The Arts Council, the work takes its inspiration from the iconic surroundings of Dublin’s Richmond Barracks, a building of historical importance with over 200 years of military, political and social history located in Inchicore.
A recipient of a prestigious 2019 Ernst von Siemens Composer Prize, Ann Cleare is one of Ireland’s most celebrated and innovative compositional voices. The world première of her work will be performed by clarinettist Carol McGonnell and JACK Quartet.
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Kaija Saariaho, Duft for Solo Clarinet
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons (Irish première)
Ann Cleare, Clarinet Quintet (world première)
New Music on the Point
Summer Residency
JACK Quartet returns to New Music on the Point in Vermont as faculty. Lead by Juraj Kojš, Interim-Artistic Director, NMOP 2024 will be a special edition of the festival. Every participant will explore every aspect of music-making this year, including performing, improvising, composing, and collaborating with other participants and faculty.
New Music On The Point brings together composers, performers, and musical experimenters for two weeks each June. In addition to chamber music concerts by NMOP’s outstanding performers, we engage directly with Vermont’s glorious natural environment through outdoor and site-specific performances. Point CounterPoint (NMOP’s home) is situated on Lake Dunmore beneath the Green Mountains of Vermont and under a nighttime sky filled with stars. There are rehearsal studios and practice cabins that dot the woods and rustic bunkbed cabins, most with lake views.
Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
JACK Quartet at Festival d’Aix-en-Provence
For JACK Quartet’s debut engagement at this renowned festival in southern France, they bring a concert of works that have never before been heard at Aix.
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution for String Quartet
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Iannis Xenakis, Tetras
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal
George Lewis, String Quartet 4.5, “Partial Truth”
Spoleto Festival dei Duo Mondi
Barbara Hannigan and JACK Quartet: John Zorn
JACK Quartet joins soprano Barbara Hannigan for a John Zorn program at the 67th Spoleto Festival in Italy. As part of the ongoing celebration of Zorn’s 70th birthday, JACK and Hannigan will be joined on stage by drummer Ches Smith, bassist Jorge Roeder, vibraphonist Sae Hashimoto and pianist Stephen Gosling, all long-time collaborators of Zorn’s .
Liber Loagaeth for soprano and string quartet
Star Catcher for soprano and piano
Ab Eo, Quod for soprano, cello, vibraphone and drums
Casting The Runes for vibraphone and piano, with improvisation by drums and bass
Pandora's Box for soprano and string quartet
Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City
Summer for the City: Living Music Underground
Lincoln Center displays its devotion to the cultivation of the next generation of experimental canon with this summer's category-defying Living Music Underground series. Set in the uniquely cavernous acoustical space of Jaffe Drive beneath Josie Robertson Plaza, Living Music Underground features virtuosic soloists and trailblazing ensembles performing compelling programs of instrumental music at the fringes of classical, jazz, experimental, ambient, electronic and pop. The series’ curator and host, Nadia Sirota, is an acclaimed violist, conductor and Peabody Award-winning producer.
FREE! General admission: first come, first served.
Reserve tickets via Fast Track - available Monday, August 5 at 12pm.
Entrance to The Underground at Jaffe Drive is located on Columbus Ave at 62nd Street, via a sloped path.
Pierre Boulez Saal
Carrot Revolution: Works by Ruth Crawford Seeger, Morton Feldman, Gabriella Smith, and others
Austin Wulliman, Dave's Hocket
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution for String Quartet
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Morton Feldman, Structures for String Quartet
Cenk Ergün, Sonare for String Quartet
Wigmore Hall
Modern Medieval
JACK Quartet gives three performances at Wigmore Hall in one day - 11:30am, 3:00pm, 7:30pm
Concert 1 Program:
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles (UK Premiere)
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal (UK Premiere)
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 1
Concert 2 Program:
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons (UK Premiere)
Johnny MacMillan, Songs From the Seventh Floor (UK Premiere)
Nicola Vicentino, Madonna il poco dolce
Vicente Atria, Roundabout (World Premiere)
Concert 3 Program:
Austin Wulliman, Dave's Hocket (UK Premiere)
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Morton Feldman, Structures
Cenk Ergün, Sonare
Liza Lim, String Creatures (UK Premiere)
Stanford Live
Claire Chase and JACK Quartet
Renowned flutist Claire Chase and JACK Quartet premiere a new, Stanford Live commissioned piece by composer Terry Riley.
Terry Riley, Holy Liftoff (West Coast Premiere)
Co-commissioned by Stanford Live and generously supported by the Stanford Live Commissions and Programming Fund.
Art of Elan
Art of Elan and Art Power present the JACK Quartet
Art of Elan and Art Power’s first-ever collaboration brings JACK Quartet to San Diego for an evening of music titled “Modern Medieval” at The Loft in UC San Diego, where connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of American music today are explored in this one-hour program.
Austin Wulliman, Dave's Hocket
Caroline Shaw, Entre'acte
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Morton Feldman, Structures
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution
*Doors and Bar 7pm, Concert 8pm
Public Records
The Kitchen Presents: Density 2036, Part XI
Claire Chase & JACK Quartet
As part of Claire Chase’s ongoing Density 2036 project, Chase and JACK Quartet perform the World Premiere of Terry Riley’s Holy Liftoff. Performances at 6pm and 8pm.
Terry Riley, Holy Liftoff (World Premiere)
Claire Chase: Density 2036, part xi is organized by Matthew Lyons, Curator, The Kitchen.
Artists Space
Ellen Fullman & JACK Quartet
Artists Space is pleased to present two weeks of legendary sound artist and composer Ellen Fullman's Long String Instrument, with performances on Friday evenings April 26 and May 3 and a continuous installation on view.
JACK and Fullman perform a work-in-progress on April 26.
Installation on view: Wednesday, April 24 - Friday, May 3
Australia Tour: Melbourne Recital Centre
Melbourne Recital Centre
JACK Quartet brings two eclectic programs in one night to the Melbourne Recital Centre’s Elisabeth Murdoch Hall.
7pm: JACK Quartet – String Creatures
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No.1
Liza Lim, String Creatures (Australian Premiere)
9pm: JACK Quartet – Up Late
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons (World Premiere)
Johnny MacMillan, Songs from the Seventh Floor
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Caleb Burhans, Contritus
Austin Wulliman, Dave’s Hocket (World Premiere)
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution
Liza Lim’s String Creatures is co-commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and Melbourne Recital Centre.
Australia Tour: Ukaria Cultural Centre
Ukaria Cultural Centre
JACK Quartet’s Australian tour continues with a recital at the lush grounds of the Ukaria Cultural Center, featuring music by Liza Lim, Elliott Carter, and Nathanial Giles arranged by JACK Quartet’s Christopher Otto.
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No.1
Liza Lim, String Creatures
Liza Lim’s String Creatures is co-commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and Melbourne Recital Centre.
Australia Tour: Sydney Opera House
Utzon Music 2024
For their Sydney Opera House debut, JACK Quartet pairs Johnny MacMillan’s experimental 2022 string quartet Songs from the Seventh Floor – which tips its hat to the music of the Renaissance – with music by Renaissance composers Nicola Vicentino and Nathaniel Giles reimagined by JACK Quartet's own Christopher Otto, on a program alongside a brand new work written for the JACK Quartet by American composer and pianist Amy Williams. The program comes to a close with String Creatures, written for the JACK Quartet by Australian composer Liza Lim, in which she explores the nature of string itself.
Johnny MacMillan, Songs from the Seventh Floor
Nicola Vicentino, Madonna il poco dolce
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal
Liza Lim, String Creatures (Australian Premiere)
Liza Lim’s String Creatures is co-commissioned by the Lucerne Festival, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and Melbourne Recital Centre.
The New School
JACK at Mannes School of Music
As the Mannes Ensemble-in-Residence, JACK Quartet will give a recital at the Ernst C. Stiefel Hall at The New School.
Johnny MacMillan, Songs from the Seventh Floor
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Elliott Carter, String Quartet no. 1
This concert is free and open to the general public. Registration required.
Eastman School of Music
James E. Clark Chamber Music Residency: JACK Quartet
JACK Quartet will give a recital as a part of their Clark Residency at the Eastman School of Music.
Johnny Macmillan, Songs from the Seventh Floor
Elliott Carter, String Quartet no. 1
This concert will also be livestreamed.
Roulette
Rocketing ecstatically between sadness and joyfulness, Natacha Diels’s Beautiful Trouble is an evening-length ‘opera’ (as dramatic spectacle) for JACK Quartet that explores a slim window of human existence. Moments gathered like precious stones coalesce to create both sense and nonsense, forming a logic all the piece’s own. Organizing the stones just so reveals clarity in chaos, if only for a moment.
Touching on elements of:
work ethic (humans as puppets),
dystopia,
the beauty of nightmares,
unmistakable loves,
childlikeness (play),
just music,
protest (no more wars),
loss,
nature as commodity (or not),
the beauty of silliness (playful nonsense),
long walks,
and wholeness.
“The five-part piece, which marries surreal short films to a just-as-absurdist live performance, is an ideal vehicle for JACK’s open-minded virtuosity.” - The New York Times
Beautiful Trouble was developed with support from Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, TIME:SPANS, The Barlow Foundation and the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation. Workshops were hosted by Mannes School of Music at The New School.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
JACK Quartet in Recital
Jeffrey Mumford, deepening paths of resonant light (World Premiere)*
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
John Zorn, Necronomicon
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal
Iannis Xenakis, Tetras
*Commissioned by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, George Steel Curator of Music
Constellation
JACK Quartet at Constellation
Austin Wulliman, The Late Edition (2024)
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
John Zorn, Necronomicon
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal (2024)
Iannis Xenakis, Tetras
Concert Preview: JACK Quartet returns to Chicago with a program that looks forward and backward - Chicago Reader
University of Iowa: School of Music
Guest Chamber Recital: JACK Quartet
The JACK Quartet will be giving a recital as a part of their Spring residency with the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program in collaboration with the Center for New Music.
Featuring new music by graduate student composers:
Sean Harken
Gregory Evans
Kevin Swenson
Alex Lenaers
Qing Xu
Lucy Shirley
Jeff Martin
This concert is free and open to the public.
Connecticut College: Guest Artist Series
JACK Quartet at Connecticut College
JACK brings an eclectic program to Connecticut College’s Guest Artist Series.
Christopher Otto, Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus (14th c.)
Caleb Burhans, Contritus
Nicola Vicentino, Madonna il poco dolce and Musica Prisca Caput (16th c.)
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal (2024)
Christopher Otto, Fumeux par fumee, after Solage (14th c.)
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Composer Portrait Series: Amy Williams
The music of Amy Williams embodies a vivid soundworld with ever-changing textures that beguile the ear. The astonishing composer, who is equally as accomplished as a pianist, joins JACK Quartet to perform a selection of her works.
Program: All by Amy Williams
Tangled Madrigal for string quartet (2024) World Premiere, Miller Theatre Commission
Bells and Whistles (2022) for piano trio
Richter Textures (2011)
Cineshape 2 (2007) for piano and string quartet
Roulette
Album Release: Austin Wulliman: The News From Utopia
The News From Utopia is JACK violinist Austin Wulliman's debut album as composer. The record is a solo project built from many multi-tracked layers of Wulliman, which he composed, recorded and mixed.
The live experience will incorporate electronics built of samples from the album, as well as live performances from JACK Quartet and video by JACK Studio artist Iván Decoud. Additionally, the concert includes the US Premiere of Down Pat for electric guitar and electronics, written for the unique talents of guitarist and composer Alec Goldfarb.
The News is built from a web of musical conspiracy theories that coalesce into imagery and a nonlinear network of narrative. A field of pixels comes into focus, a series of images scroll past your phone screen, a dark veil falls over the noonday sun, a nightscape of the desert melts into the sea roiling with whitecaps and you wake up with your heart racing, eyes wide. Wulliman's latest work, Down Pat, tunes the guitar to the electrical ground, using MIDI interface to control an extended ratio-based tuning system. 50 hz, 60 hz, 440 hz and an increasing concatenation of 11s and 5s and 3s build a network of polyrhythm, harmony, and scalar logics that our plugged-in guitar hero embodies: the king is his castle. The performance also features a video premiere by Argentinian multimedia artist Iván Decoud for the track BLINK.
Program: all by Austin Wulliman
SYSTEM NOTES (2023) – World Premiere for string quartet and electronics
BLINK (2022) – World Premiere for string quartet, electric guitar and electronics
Down Pat (2023) – US Premiere for electric guitar and electronics
-Alec Goldfarb, guitar
The Late Edition (2023) - World Premiere for string quartet
Lost One (2024) — World Premiere for string quartet
The Docks (2022) – World Premiere for string quartet and electronics
The News From Utopia (ii) (2024) – World Premiere for string quartet and electronics
Peabody Institute
JACK Quartet: Levi Family Distinguished Visiting Artist
JACK Quartet performs a recital of student composer works at the Peabody Institute. The program features new works by the following composers:
Spencer Winell
Rodrigo Pascale
Yan Fang
Noah Goulet
Aaron Zimmer
Bianca Quigley
Claire Hu
Jiye No
This event is free, Tickets are not required.
Penn Live Arts
Beautiful Trouble - World Premiere
Natacha Diels, Beautiful Trouble (2024)
JACK Quartet makes its Penn Live Arts debut in the world premiere of Natacha Diels’ Beautiful Trouble. Based on a five-part video series for choreographed string quartet, this concert-length production merges experimental music, video and theatre to create a sensory experience that considers our ability and desire to consume media. Diels created the work to examine a moment in time through the power of abstract narrative and music, both heard and seen.
Creative Team: JACK Quartet, Performers; Natacha Diels, Composer, Director, Video Designer; Julia Bumke, Lead Producer; Matthew Craig, Technical Director, Sound Designer; Kent Sprague, Lighting Designer; Maile Okamura, Costume Designer
Beautiful Trouble was developed with support from Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, TIME:SPANS, The Barlow Foundation, and the Sachs Program for Arts Innovation.
“The JACK Quartet’s fearless forays into the world of extended string technique has firmly ensconced the New York City-based group on the cutting edge of the new music scene. Beautiful Trouble, a collaboration with composer and Penn professor Natacha Diels, pushes their boundaries even further by venturing into the realm of the visual. Conceived as a six-part video mini-series, the premiere of this multimedia composition interrogating “the oversaturation of our current era” and “social impact of ubiquitous cameras,” will be must-see TV for those interested in the nexus of art, music, and politics.” - WRTI.org
92NY
Tyshawn Sorey, For Grachan Moncur III (US premiere)
As part of 92NY’s 150th Season, JACK Quartet and Tyshawn Sorey (percussion) perform the US Premiere of Sorey’s For Grachan Moncur III. Following a world premiere at the Lucerne Festival in summer 2022, the work is in homage to Moncur – the late composer and trombonist who blazed a trail through modern jazz in the 1960s, shares Sorey’s Newark, NJ roots, and had a major influence on Sorey’s musical development.
Online streaming also available for 72 hours following the performance.
JACK Studio Recital
JACK Studio Celebration
JACK celebrates four new JACK Studio projects in a free recital on December 15, 2023. This concert is held in partnership with Mannes School of Music at the The New School in New York City, where JACK is the quartet-in-residence.
The recital will showcase premieres by JACK Studio composers Zara Ali, Seare Farhat, and Rishin Singh. It also features a screening of Lost & Founds, a film by Iván Decoud commissioned and performed by JACK Quartet through the JACK Studio program.
Each of these artists has worked with JACK for a two-year residency, during which they received opportunities to develop new work, hear their music performed by JACK Quartet, and get mentorship from performers in their field.
Click here for the concert program, bios, and program notes.
Hancher Auditorium
JACK Quartet plays John Zorn
Cat o' Nine Tails
The Alchemist
The Remedy of Fortune
Necronomicon
Presented in collaboration with the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program, Feed Me Weird Things, University of Iowa Center for New Music, and the University of Iowa Old Capital Museum.
Part of Hancher's 51st season
The Phillips Collection
Modern Medieval
Christopher Otto, Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus
Caleb Burhans, Contritus
Nicola Vicentino, Madonna il poco dolce
Nicola Vicentino, Musica Prisca Caput
Gabriella Smith, Carrot Revolution
Christopher Otto, Fumeux par fumee, after Solage
John Zorn, The Remedy of Fortune
*In person and Livestream
Yale Schwarzman Center
JACK Quartet’s collaboration with Catherine Lamb has become a central artistic relationship, pushing forward the creative work of both the composer and quartet. Lamb’s music represents a facet of the very cutting edge of string instrument writing today. JACK has spent its existence expanding their abilities as chamber musicians and taking part in the conversation about enriching the language of possibilities in string quartet music. That challenge in Lamb’s music comes through the lens of harmony and not through extended techniques or unusual rhythmic demands, but rather a yogic attention to the sustained sound of the strings resonating traditionally. On December 1, experience the indefinable magic of Catherine Lamb's divisio spiralis in The Dome.
Princeton Sound Kitchen
JACK performs two concerts over two consecutive nights featuring new works by Princeton University faculty and graduate Student composers.
New works by:
Kennedy Taylor Dixon
Liam Elliot
Bobby Ge
Travis Laplante
Soo Yeon Lyuh
Lucy McKnight
Christian Quiñones
Nathan Schram
Juri Seo
Max Vinetz
Connor Elias Way
Justin Wright
Miller Theatre at Columbia University
Barbara Hannigan + John Zorn
Program: All by John Zorn
Star Catcher (2022)
Split the Lark (2021)
Liber Loagaeth (2021)
Ab Eo, Quod (2021)
Pandora’s Box (2013)
Performers: Barbara Hannigan, voice; Stephen Gosling, piano; JACK Quartet; Stephen Gosling, piano; Jorge Roeder, double bass; Sae Hashimoto, vibraphone; Ches Smith, drums; and Ikue Mori, electronics
Prague Sounds - The Festival
JACK Quartet: Zorn
Cat o' Nine Tails
The Alchemist
The Remedy of Fortune
Necronomicon
November Music
JACK Quartet Plays Zorn
2:00pm: JACK and Barbara Hannigan with Michael Nicolas (cello) and Yura Lee (viola)
Liber Loagaeth
Sigil Magick
Prolegomena
8:00pm: JACK and Barbara Hannigan with Steve Gosling (piano), Jorge Roeder (bass), Ches Smith (drums), Sae Hashimoto (percussion)
Split the Lark
Pandora’s Box
Ab Eo Quod
Star Catcher
SoundsOfMusic Festival
JACK Plays Zorn
JACK performs an all Zorn program with Yura Lee (viola) and Michael Nicolas (cello)
The Remedy of Fortune
Necronomicon
Sigil Magick
Prolegomena