Performance - Education - Arts Advocacy
When we became Emory's Quartet-in-Residence over a decade ago, in the process also becoming Atlanta's first and only professional string quartet, we wanted to make our home someplace where our audiences treasured the great quartet repertoire as we do. To this end, our residency acts as a focus for performance, education and arts advocacy both within the University and throughout the wider Atlanta community. In 2016 we completed a major fundraising project, raising over $1 million to match a generous challenge grant from the Abraham J. and Phyllis Katz Foundation. As a result, our residency will be funded in perpetuity through the Rebecca Katz-Doft Chamber Music Endowment, ensuring that Emory will have a Quartet-in-Residence forever.
As Emory University's Quartet-in-Residence, we perform for audiences of every age and background. We see young children at Family Concerts, Emory students in performances throughout campus, including at annual quartet-curated series such as "Ludwig at Law School" and "Mozart at the Med School", and the larger community at formal recitals in beautiful Emerson Hall. Most of our performance activities at Emory take place under the auspices of the Emory Chamber Music Society of Atlanta. As envisioned by founder and artistic director William Ransom, ECMSA brings the finest Atlanta area musicians together with guest artists to perform the best of the chamber music repertoire for diverse audiences. All ECMSA concerts are free of charge, making great performances truly accessible to all.
To see ECMSA's 21-22 season, click here.
As educators, both at Emory and beyond, we seek to inspire an enduring love of music. Our university students are future lawyers, doctors, scientists and more, yet all make musical study a central focus of their college experience. In the larger Atlanta community, our Emory Youth Chamber Program has provided intensive training in small ensemble playing to more than 200 pre-college student musicians over the last decade. Our students develop camaraderie and a sense of community through chamber music, and practice discipline, patience and imagination in their private instrumental studies. It is our hope that they become the next generation to cherish this art form.
Through our residency at Emory we strive, as arts advocates, to cultivate new generations of passionate and educated music lovers. One of our most interesting initiatives is the integration of quartet performance across the academic spectrum through collaborations with professors across the curriculum. Together we create interdisciplinary events that explore music’s connection to any subject. These specialized presentations provide students with an out-of-the-textbook perspective while deepening their understanding of a subject. We are also able to introduce quartet performance and repertoire to diverse student populations, many of whom then become new concertgoers. We have partnered with faculty in every discipline, including anthropology, biology, literature, history and physics, and have always found wonderful connections to explore.