Ethel (string quartet)

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ETHEL is a New York based string quartet that was co-founded in 1998 by Ralph Farris, viola; Dorothy Lawson, cello; Todd Reynolds, violin; and Mary Rowell, violin. Unlike most string quartets, ETHEL plays with amplification and integrates improvisation into its performances. Its current membership includes Cornelius Dufallo, formerly of the Flux Quartet, who replaced Todd Reynolds in 2005, and Jennifer Choi, former member of the Miró Quartet, who joined the group after the departure of Mary Rowell in 2011.

ETHEL performs original music as well as works by notable contemporary composers such as Julia Wolfe, John Zorn, Don Byron, Marcelo Zarvos, Pamela Z, Phil Kline, John King and many more. The group's 2004-2005 season culminated with a 45-city U.S. and European tour with the rock musicians Joe Jackson and Todd Rundgren, which included an appearance on Late Night with Conan O'Brien.(video) Their 2005-2006 season included the Cantaloupe Music release of its second CD, Light, performances at BAM's Next Wave Festival in New York, first-time performances in Miami (Florida), the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, performance at the new Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center at the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York as well as at the TED (Technology, Entertainment, Design) Conference. [1], and a monthly residency at Joe's Pub[2] ETHEL returned to the TED Conference in 2010 as the house band, performing with Thomas Dolby, David Byrne and Andrew Bird. This year ETHEL is in residence at the Park Avenue Armory.

All of the current members of ETHEL are Juilliard School alumni. Members of the group performed or recorded with Bang on a Can, The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, the New York Chamber Symphony, CONTINUUM, Sheryl Crow, Roger Daltrey, and Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project.

In 2002 the string quartet founded ETHEL's Foundation for the Arts, a nonprofit organization with a mission to support contemporary concert music with collaborative projects, commission of new works, and educational outreach. In keeping with this mission, ETHEL has been the string quartet in residence since 2005 with the Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project (NACAP), an affiliate program of the Grand Canyon Music Festival, which is dedicated to teaching Native American young people to compose concert music. In 2011 NACAP was presented with a National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award by First Lady Michelle Obama.


Contents

[edit] Recordings

[edit] External links

[edit] Video

[edit] Listening


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