HARLEM QUARTET
Biography
The HARLEM QUARTET, praised for its "panache" by The New York Times, is an ensemble comprising First-Place Laureates of the Sphinx Competition for young Black and Latino string players. Its mission is to advance diversity in classical music while engaging young and new audiences through the discovery and presentation of varied repertoire, highlighting works by minority composers.
The quartet opened its 2009-10 season returning as featured soloists on the national Sphinx Chamber Orchestra Tour, making thirteen stops coast-to-coast including Carnegie Hall, Eastman School of Music, Oberlin College, and Cerritos Center for the Performing Arts. In December it played two performances at the White House for guests of President Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama, and made an appearance Christmas morning on NBC's Today Show. In 2009 the quartet also performed by invitation with Itzhak Perlman at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and made its London debut performing at the residence of the US ambassador to the UK. Throughout the season the quartet will collaborate with seasoned artists such as Carter Brey, Yehuda Hanani and Paul Freeman and the Chicago Sinfonietta, performing Mozart's Sinfonia Concertante, Brahms's Double Concerto, and Michael Abels's Delights & Dances for solo string quartet and orchestra.
The Harlem Quartet made its acclaimed Carnegie Hall debut in the fall of 2006 at the Sphinx Organization's 10th anniversary gala concert. They have returned to Carnegie on numerous occasions, including a performance in late January 2007 as participants in Arts Presenters' prestigious and highly competitive Young Performers Career Advancement (YPCA) program and an October 2008 appearance with Paul Katz at the annual Sphinx gala. In 2006 it made its debut at Harlem's legendary Apollo Theatre with a well-received performance of Wynton Marsalis's At the Octoroon Balls. In collaboration with cellist Carter Brey, it performed in December 2008 at the Library of Congress in a concert employing the Library's matched collection of Stradivari instruments and including Schubert's Cello Quintet.
Dedicated to education and community engagement as well as to superb classical performance, the Harlem Quartet serves as principal faculty at the Sphinx Performance Academy at Oberlin College and Roosevelt College in Chicago, Illinois, and as visiting faculty at the Sphinx Preparatory Music Institute at Wayne State University in Detroit.
Each member of the Harlem Quartet is a seasoned solo artist, having appeared with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Pops, and the Atlanta, Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, National, New World, and Pittsburgh symphony orchestras, among others. As a quartet, they have performed in many communities across the country including Detroit, New York, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Boston.
The Harlem Quartet has been featured on WNBC, CNN, the Today Show, WQXR-FM, and the Art Beat section of the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer website. In 2007 White Pine Music issued the quartet's first CD, Take the "A" Train, a release that was featured in the November issue of Strings magazine that year. Its second CD, featuring works of Walter Piston, will be released in 2010 by Naxos. A third recording by the quartet will collaborate with pianist Awadagin Pratt and will showcase works by Judith Lang Zaimont. Distinguished Cuban-American composer Tania León is writing a work for the quartet, with completion anticipated in 2010. In the summer of 2008, as participants in The Perlman Music Program, the quartet members worked daily with such master musicians as Itzhak Perlman, Donald Weilerstein, Paul Katz, and Roger Tapping. The quartet spent two week at Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival in June 2009, performing and giving master classes, and has been invited to return for the 2010 festival.
Harlem Quartet is co-managed by Sciolino Artist Management (SAM) of New York City, and the Sphinx Organization of Detroit, Michigan.
Harlem Quartet Members:
Ilmar Gavilán, violin
Melissa White, violin
Juan-Miguel Hernandez, viola
Desmond Neysmith, cello
April, 2010