Attacca Quartet

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“Their playing is exuberant, funky and more exactingly nuanced.”
(New York Times)

Grammy award-winning Attacca Quartet, as described by The Nation, “lives in the present aesthetically, without rejecting the virtues of the musical past”, and it is this dexterity to glide between the music of the 18^th through to 21^st century living composer’s repertoire that has placed them as one of the most versatile and outstanding ensembles of the moment – a quartet for modern times.

Touring extensively in the United States, recent and upcoming highlights include Carnegie Hall Neighborhood Concerts, New York Philharmonic’s Nightcap series, Lincoln Center’s White Lights Festival and Miller Theatre, both with Caroline Shaw, Phillips Collection, Chamber Music Austin, Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston, and Trinity Church at Wall Street where they will perform the complete cycle of the Beethoven String Quartets. Attacca Quartet has also served as Juilliard’s Graduate Resident String Quartet, the Quartet in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Ensemble-in-Residence at the School of Music at Texas State University. Outside of the US, recent performances include Gothenburg Konserthuset, MITO Septembre Festival in Italy, and their debut in London at Kings Place and in Oslo at the Vertravo Haydn Festival. As well as their recent tour in Central and South America, they will return to Europe for a tour of ten concerts around Sweden as well as taking part in the Prague String Festival and September Me Festival in the Netherlands.

Attacca Quartet - Beethoven, String Quartet in A minor Op. 132 III. Heiliger Dankgesang © Attacca Quartet

Passionate advocates of contemporary repertoire, their latest recording, Orange, features string quartet works by Pulitzer-prize winning composer Caroline Shaw. Greatly received by the critics, Attacca Quartet won the 2020 Grammy award in the category of “Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance” in recognition for their work on this album. Previous recordings include three critically acclaimed albums with Azica Records, including a disc of Michael Ippolito’s string quartets, and the complete works for string quartet by John Adams.

Gallery

Attacca Quartet: NPR Music Tiny Desk Concert © NPR Music

Star Wars - Attacca Quartet: May the Fource Be with You © Attacca Quartet

Haydn Op. 103 1st Mv © Attacca Quartet

Attacca Quartet with Caroline Shaw- Lincoln Center Offstage © Lincoln Center

“…a surprisingly powerful experience”

(Charlotte Gardner, The Strad, January 2020)

“The quartet matched with its own clean-edged sound, often without vibrato, alive to the vocal line’s every wax and wane and remaining glued to the music’s elastic tempos. Perhaps the greatest imprint on the memory is the atmosphere the musicians spun in the hall: one of profound silence, and even the room-filling fortissimo bursts felt weighted in that context, holding the audience’s attention to an unusual and moving degree.”

(Charlotte Gardner, The Strad, January 2020)

“The pieces on Orange shoot off in thrilling and unpredictable directions…the music of Orange excludes joy and a sense of wilderness”

Pitchfork

“They may be a relatively young ensemble, but already they come very close to epitomizing the string quartet ideal…Mastery like this is scarce enough in quartets that have played together for decades.”

The Washington Post

“exuberant, funky and…more exactingly nuanced.”

The New York Times

“The Attacca Quartet enthralled a standing-room-only crowd.”

The Strad

“the opening work on the recording [shows]…the Attacca Quartet’s superlative technical and artistic execution.”

Gramophone

“They are rollicking, raucous, and highly rhythmic and the perfect demonstration of the quartet’s ability to be precise.”

Strings

“…Seeing the Attacca Quartet’s incredible performance of his music. Three cheers to them for capturing the multiplicity of personalities embedded in Adams’ music.”

Bachtrack

“The highlight was the second movement, which is a gem, and was played with elegance and charm, but also a sense of relaxed enjoyment from a quartet steeped in contemporary “knowingness” playing music of an earlier, perhaps simpler, age.”

Artsdesk