Shenson Chamber Music Concert: Aizuri Quartet

Praised by the Washington Post for “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was awarded First Prize at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan, and Third Prize at the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. The Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing.

The Quartet garnered critical acclaim for bringing “a technical bravado and emotional power” to bold new commissions, and for its “flawless” (San Diego Union-Tribune) performances of great masterpieces in which “every note is lovingly crafted and savored” (Washington Post). The Aizuri Quartet is the 2017–2018 String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The Quartet performed extensively throughout the U.S., Japan, Mexico, Chile, Costa Rica, Paris, Dresden, Bremen, Salzburg, and Abu Dhabi, and has commissioned and premiered new works by Pulitzer Prize-winner Caroline Shaw, Lembit Beecher, Paul Wiancko, Yevgeniy Sharlat, Gabriella Smith, Rene Orth, and Alyssa Weinberg.