Pacifica Quartet
Encyclopedia
The Pacifica Quartet is an internationally recognized string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

 based in Urbana-Champaign, Illinois
Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area
The Champaign-Urbana metropolitan area, also known as Champaign-Urbana, is a metropolitan area in east-central Illinois. It is the 191st largest metropolitan area in the U.S. It is composed of three counties, Champaign, Ford, and Piatt...

, where they are faculty members at the University of Illinois. Its members are: Simin Ganatra, first violin; Sibbi Bernhardsson, second violin; Masumi Per Rostad, viola; and Brandon Vamos, cello.

The members met during different chamber music sessions, and formed the quartet in 1994. Ganatra (a native Southern Californian) and Bernhardsson (who is Icelandic) had the same violin teacher in Illinois, who happened to be the parents of Vamos. Rostad joined the group later; he met Bernhardsson at a chamber music festival.

The group has won numerous top prizes in international competitions. Honors include: Coleman Chamber Music Competition (1996); Concert Artists Guild Competition (1997); the Naumburg Chamber Music Competition (1998); Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2002); the Avery Fisher Career Grant (2006); and Musical American's "Ensemble Award" (2009).

The Pacifica frequently tours throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Their wide range of repertoire includes both classical and contemporary music, and they commission and perform up to eight new works a year. In addition, the ensemble regularly teaches at summer festivals such as Interlochen Arts Camp and Madeline Island Music Festival, and is frequently invited for visiting residencies at universities and schools nationwide.

Their recorded repertoire includes the complete string quartets of Easley Blackwood
Easley Blackwood
Easley Blackwood may refer to:*Easley Blackwood, Sr. , invented the Blackwood convention used in bidding in contract bridge*Easley Blackwood, Jr. , his son, professor of music, concert pianist, and composer...

 (Cedille Records, 1998); the complete music for string quartet by Felix Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...

 (Cedille Records, April 2005); "Declarations: Music Between the Wars" (Cedille Records, September 2006), a look into chamber music composed in the 1920s and early 1930s; and the complete string quartets of Elliot Carter, (Naxos, 2008 - the recording was nominated for, and won, a Grammy award).

Currently they serve as Quartet in Residence at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

, Visiting Artists at the Longy School of Music
Longy School of Music
The Longy School of Music of Bard College is a conservatory located near Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1915, it was one of the four independent degree-granting music schools in the Boston region along with the New England Conservatory, Berklee College of Music, and Boston...

, and Faculty Quartet in Residence at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...

. They are represented by Melvin Kaplan
Melvin Kaplan
Melvin Kaplan is a renowned American oboist, concert manager, and formerly a teacher at the Juilliard School for 25 years. He was for many years a featured performer and lecturer at the Metropolitan Museum of Art...

.

External links

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