Artaria String Quartet

A warm, rich sound is the hallmark of the Artaria String Quartet. Named after the Italian family that published the premier issues of many of the Haydn, Mozart, and Beethoven quartets, Artaria’s refined and thoughtful playing has brought them critical acclaim in Europe and throughout the United States. The Boston Globe has described Artaria as “exquisitely balanced and sonorous” and that “their musical understanding is first-rate”.

Originally founded in Boston, the quartet was mentored by members of the Budapest, La Salle, Kolisch, Juilliard, and Cleveland Quartets. They have had numerous appearances on television and live radio, and have performed at major venues in New York, Chicago, Philadelphia, Washington D.C., Atlanta, Cleveland, and Boston. They have been featured at the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center. Artaria has also served as MPR Artists-in-Residence and was featured on Twin Cities Public Television as part of the MN-Originals television series.

Nationally recognized as dynamic teachers and for their commitment to education, the quartet has appeared at major summer festivals including the Banff Centre in Canada, Festival de L’Epau in France, and the Tanglewood Music Center in Lenox, Massachusetts. Artaria is the recipient of a highly coveted McKnight Fellowship for Performing Musicians and has received Teaching Artist grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, Chamber Music America, Midori’s Partners in Performance, and the Heartland Fund for performance and educational outreach. They possess the rare ability to offer outstanding performances in both concert and educational outreach settings and have performed hundreds of programs to thousands of students throughout the United States.

Honored as recipients of the inaugural Rural Residency Grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the quartet has continued to establish and enhance string programs for communities across the Midwest. Artaria has held residencies at Boston College and Viterbo College and now resides in Saint Paul, Minnesota, where members of the quartet are founders and directors of the Artaria Chamber Music School, a weekly chamber music program for young string players, Stringwood, a two-week summer festival held in Lanesboro, Minnesota each summer, and the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, a national event that showcases America’s finest young high school and college string quartets from around the country.

Firmly rooted in the traditional canon of chamber music masterpieces, since 2020 Artaria includes a BIPOC composition on every performance. The quartet has given well received performances of the complete Beethoven and Shostakovich quartets. In January 2024 Artaria will present the complete Bartók string quartets (a Minnesota first) for the Schubert Club. They are also staunch advocates of contemporary music, having premiered and commissioned a wide array of new works.