Mivos Quartet

Mivos Quartet
Name	Mivos Quartet
Background	classical ensemble
Origin	New York City
Genre	Contemporary classical
Years active	2003–present
Members	Matthew Snyder; Dmitri Atapine; Aaron Boyd; Joshua Rubin
Labels	New Amsterdam Records; Naxos

Mivos Quartet Mivos Quartet is a New York–based string quartet specializing in contemporary classical music and new music premieres, noted for commissioning and championing works by composers associated with Bang on a Can, New York Philharmonic, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and academic institutions such as Columbia University and Princeton University. The ensemble has appeared at festivals and venues including the Miller Theatre, Museum of Modern Art, Tanglewood Music Center, Bang on a Can Marathon, Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and international series like Wien Modern and MaerzMusik. The quartet's advocacy connects them with composers, performers, and institutions across networks that include Steve Reich, Philip Glass, John Cage, Iannis Xenakis, and younger voices from Yale School of Music, Juilliard School, and Mannes School of Music.

History

Formed in 2003 in New York City, the group emerged from a milieu shaped by practitioners from Bang on a Can, New Music Ensemble (Columbia University), and scene-makers at Third Street Music School Settlement and Brooklyn Academy of Music. Early seasons featured premieres at venues such as Roulette (Brooklyn), The Kitchen, and Issue Project Room, and residencies at academic centers including Princeton University and Cornell University. Over the years the quartet developed ties with contemporary-music presenters like Miller Theatre at Columbia University, Bang on a Can Festival, MusicNOW, and international presenters such as Wigmore Hall and Konzerthaus Berlin. Their programming often intersected with initiatives by Sub Rosa (record label), New Amsterdam Records, and commissioning bodies like the Fromm Music Foundation and American Composers Forum.

Members

Current and past members have included violinists trained at institutions like Curtis Institute of Music, Juilliard School, and Mannes School of Music, as well as players active in ensembles including International Contemporary Ensemble, Signal Ensemble, and ICE (International Contemporary Ensemble). Individual musicians have collaborated with artists from Yo-Yo Ma to Max Richter, and with composers such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Geoffrey Gordon, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir. Members’ professional affiliations extend to orchestras and ensembles like New York Philharmonic, Metropolitan Opera, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Daedalus Quartet, and university faculty appointments at Bard College, Rutgers University, and Queens College, City University of New York.

Repertoire and Style

The quartet’s repertoire emphasizes works by living composers spanning post-minimalist, spectral, and experimental traditions, programming pieces by Steve Reich, Philip Glass, Terry Riley, John Adams, Helmut Lachenmann, Iannis Xenakis, Giacinto Scelsi, Georges Aperghis, György Ligeti, and contemporary composers such as David Lang, Julia Wolfe, Michael Gordon, Missy Mazzoli, Caroline Shaw, Tania León, George Lewis, Tristan Murail, Kaija Saariaho, Brian Ferneyhough, George Crumb, Oliveros Pauline (note: see Pauline Oliveros), and Iraida Yusupova. Stylistically the ensemble is recognized for extended techniques, microtonality, rhythmic precision, and cross-genre collaborations that bring together composers associated with Bang on a Can, academic modernism from Princeton University and Columbia University, and alternative scenes including No Wave and Downtown music.

Recordings and Awards

Recordings have been issued on labels such as New Amsterdam Records and Naxos, featuring world-premiere recordings by composers commissioned by the quartet. Releases have been reviewed in outlets connected to The New York Times, The New Yorker, Gramophone (magazine), and BBC Music Magazine. The ensemble has received recognition including support from the Fromm Music Foundation, grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, awards from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and fellowships from institutions like Yaddo and MacDowell Colony. Their albums and projects have been finalists or winners in contemporary-music competitions and have been programmed on broadcasts by WNYC, BBC Radio 3, and NPR.

Collaborations and Commissions

Mivos Quartet has commissioned works from composers such as David Lang, Michael Gordon, Julia Wolfe, Geoffrey Gordon, Missy Mazzoli, Nico Muhly, Anna Thorvaldsdottir, Oliveros Pauline (Pauline Oliveros), Tania León, Matana Roberts, and Helen Grime. Collaborations extend to performers and ensembles including Bang on a Can All-Stars, International Contemporary Ensemble, So Percussion, Alarm Will Sound, Eighth Blackbird, A Far Cry, and artists like Sufjan Stevens, Matmos, Arooj Aftab, Joan Tower, and Carolyn Yarnell. The quartet has also participated in interdisciplinary projects with choreographers and visual artists associated with Martha Graham, Merce Cunningham, Anish Kapoor, Robert Rauschenberg, and film-makers connected to Anthology Film Archives.

Tours and Residencies

Touring has included North American circuits—Carnegie Hall series, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, university tours to Yale School of Music, Eastman School of Music, Indiana University Jacobs School of Music—and international appearances at festivals such as Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, Wien Modern, MaerzMusik, and concert series in London, Paris, Berlin, Tokyo, and Toronto. The quartet has held artist residencies at institutions including Princeton University, Cornell University, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, Yale University, Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and cultural centers like The Kitchen and Roulette (Brooklyn).

Category:String quartets Category:Contemporary classical music ensembles