Pacifica Quartet
Simin Ganatra, violinSibbi Bernhardsson, violin
Masumi Per Rostad, viola
Brandon Vamos, cello
Named Musical America's 2009 Ensemble of the Year, the Grammy-winning Pacifica Quartet is rapidly achieving international stature as one of the finest chamber ensembles. Shortly after its 1994 formation in California, the Pacifica Quartet came to the Winnetka campus of the Music Institute of Chicago. During its tenure there it won top prizes in leading competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg prize. The Quartet has since received many honors, including appointment to Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's program for gifted young musicians and Chamber Music America's coveted Cleveland Quartet award. In 2006 it was awarded an Avery Fisher Career Grant, becoming the second string quartet in the thirty-year history of the program to be so honored. Also in 2006 the Quartet was featured on the cover of Gramophone Magazine and heralded as one of "five new quartets you should know about," the only American quartet on the list.
Recognized for its virtuosity, exuberant performing style, and often daring repertory choices, the Pacifica Quartet tours extensively throughout the United States, Europe, and Asia. Ardent advocates of contemporary music, the Quartet commissions and performs many new works. In 2002 and 2003 it won wide acclaim for the first single-concert performances of Elliott Carter's complete cycle of five string quartets in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and abroad. The New York Times called the accomplishment "brilliant" and "astounding," and the Chicago Tribune praised the Quartet's "astonishing talent, energy, and dedication." In 2009 Pacifica's recording of Carter's Quartets Nos. 1 and 5 earned them a Grammy Award in Best Chamber Music Performance.
The Pacifica Quartet was appointed to the faculty of the University of Illinois in 2004 and serves as Faculty Quartet in Residence. Its members live in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois. They are also artist-in-residence at the University of Chicago and the Longy School in Boston.
