NEWSFLASH!!! PACIFICA PLAYS BEETHOVEN AT THE MET
On October 2, 2008 the Pacifica Quartet will perform an all-Beethoven concert at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the first of six Beethoven concerts presented in 2008-2009 as part of the Met’s highly esteemed Concert & Lectures series.  The Pacifica will be the only American string quartet performing in the Beethoven cycle.  Its program on October 2 will be Opp. 18 no. 6, 95, and 132.  For more information, visit metmuseum.org/events.

2008-2009 SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
The Pacifica Quartet’s 2008-2009 touring schedule will literally span the globe, with performances in North America, Europe, Asia, and Australia.  The season will include debut performances in Vienna, Lisbon, and the Perth International Arts Festival as well as the Pacifica’s third tour of Japan.  Other highlights include four concerts in London’s Wigmore Hall and the Quartet’s first performances at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Louvre in Paris, and Salzburg’s Mozarteum.  During the ensemble’s busy performing season, it is engaged to perform three Elliott Carter cycles (San Francisco, London, and Lisbon) and two Mendelssohn cycles (New York and Pittsburg).  The Pacifica will also continue its focus on the quartets of Beethoven by performing in Beethoven cycles presented in New York, St. Paul, Portland OR, Seattle, and Los Angeles.  For more information, visit the Concert Schedule page of this website.

CARTER CD ACCLAIMED BY CRITICS
Released in early 2008 to celebrate American master Elliott Carter’s centenary, the Pacifica Quartet’s recording of Carter’s quartets No. 1 and No. 5 on the Naxos label has been enthusiastically received by critics.  The New York Times called it “a stunning disc” that demonstrates the Pacifica’s “confirmed mastery.”  The Guardian acclaimed the Pacifica’s “assured understanding of the musical complexities and expressive possibilities,” and MusicalAmerica.com praised the CD for its “performances of distinction and accomplishment.”  The Pacifica’s eagerly-anticipated Carter CD follows the ensemble’s groundbreaking presentation of the composer’s five quartets in a single evening in 2002 and its many subsequent single-concert performances of the Carter cycle for appreciative audiences in the U.S. and abroad.  A recording of Carter’s quartets Nos. 2, 3, and 4 is planned for release in 2009. 

PACIFICA CELEBRATES ELLIOTT CARTER CENTENNIAL
While continuing their Beethoven cycles in Chicago www.pacificabeethoven.com and New York www.millertheater.com during 2008, the Pacifica Quartet will perform Elliott Carter's quartets in many special celebrations of the composer's 100th birthday during 2008 and 2009.

On January 27, 2008 the Pacifica will take part in a Carter cycle presented by Cité de la Music in Paris, and in New York they will perform the complete Carter cycle on January 30 as part of a centennial celebration presented by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. A Carter cycle is also planned in Houston April 13-15. See the Concert Schedule on this website for details.

In 2009, the Pacifica will perform Carter cycles in London's Wigmore Hall on February 3 and in Lisbon on February 7.

NEWSFLASH!!! -- PACIFICA QUARTET BEETHOVEN CYCLES
Pacifica plays Beethoven from coast to coast! Three performances of Beethoven's complete string quartets are planned in the upcoming concert season, and a fourth will be presented over two years. 
 
The first will be in Napa, California presented August 6 - 22, 2007 by Music in the Vineyards (www.napavalleymusic.org). Two more will take place between September 2007 and March 2008. A Beethoven Festival of concerts and master classes is planned in Chicago (www.pacificabeethoven.com) and Columbia University's Miller Theater will present the Beethoven cycle in New York (www.millertheater.com). A presentation of Beethoven's complete string quartets over two years will begin at Madeline Island Music Camp in June 2007 (www.music-camp.org).  



CRITICS PRAISE PACIFICA QUARTET'S LATEST CD
The Pacifica Quartet's latest CD, Declarations: Music Between the Wars, showcases music composed during the turbulent decades between World Wars I and II. The CD was released in September 2006.
 
The Quartet's performance of Leos Janacek's "Intimate Letters", Paul Hindemith's Op. 22, and American Ruth Crawford Seeger's String Quartet (1931) has been widely praised by music critics. John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune wrote that Declarations is a "first-rate recording" by "splendid advocates of a fascinating period" of music. Geoffrey Norris in the London Daily Telegraph called the CD "exceptional", with "adventerous programming" and "astute, spontaneous playing." ClassicsToday.com described Declarations as "everything an important new recording should be," and PlaybillArts.com wrote that the "talented Pacifica Quartet" has produced a "20th-century gem." More information about Declarations may be found at www.cedillerecords.org. Also check out Pacifica violinist Sibbi Bernhardsson's interesting account of how the Quartet developed this recording project on http://www.chicagoclassicalmusic.org/
pacifica_quartet_declarations
 
PACIFICA QUARTET'S POPULARITY IN EUROPE GROWS
Enthusiastic audiences received the Pacifica Quartet during its concert tour of England and Germany in October and November 2006, and it will return for concert appearances in Austria, Switzerland, France and The Netherlands in May 2007.  Highlights of the second 2006-2007 European tour include a concert debut in Amsterdam's renowned Concertgebouw and an invitation to perform in Austria's important Schubertiade Festival.  Watch the Pacifica's concert schedule webpage for details!
 
PACIFICA'S MASUMI ROSTAD WRITES ONLINE JOURNAL IN GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE
The British classical music magazine Gramophone has asked the Pacifica Quartet's violist, Masumi Per Rostad, to contribute to its weekly online journal. His "tales from a quartet" include "Vacation: a time to catch up on sleep (and miss your colleagues...)" and "Back to work: the Pacifica's recording process revealed." More "tales" will be posted in the future. They can be found at gramophone.co.uk/interviews_detail.asp?id=2582. Rostad is one of four musicians featured in the Gramophone magazine online journal.
 
PACIFICA QUARTET AWARDED 2006 AVERY FISHER CAREER GRANT
At a ceremony in New York's Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts on May 2, the Pacifica Quartet was honored with the award of a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. As part of a major gift to Lincoln Center in 1974, the late Avery Fisher established an Artist Program that provides for career grants to talented young musicians with great potential for major careers. During the past 30 years many successful musicians, including Gil Shaham, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, David Shifrin, and Leila Josefowicz, have been identified early in their careers by the Avery Fisher Artist Program and supported with career grants. The Pacifica Quartet is only the second string quartet to be honored with this award.
 
PACIFICA ON THE COVER OF GRAMOPHONE MAGAZINE
The influential classical music magazine Gramophone featured the Pacifica Quartet prominently in its April 2006 edition. A large photo of the Quartet spread across the April 2006 cover, and the  Pacifica was the only American quartet on a list of "five new quartets you should know about." The lead article described the Pacifica as "one of the finest and most energetic quartets of the younger generation." It was especially lauded for its work to expand the traditional audience for string quartet music.
   
READ ABOUT PACIFICA IN FANFARE AND STRAD MAGAZINES
In case you missed them, articles about the Pacifica Quartet appearing in Fanfare and Strad magazines can be read by clicking on the links below. In the articles the Quartet talks about how they work together, the music they love, their distinctive style, and their future plans. Don't miss them!
Strad Magazine, June 2005
Fanfare July/August 05
 
IT'S A GIRL!!!
A baby girl, Layla Juliette Vamos, was born on September 24, 2005. Pacifica Quartet parents Brandon Vamos and Simin Ganatra took some well-earned rest during much of October before beginning the Quartet's active North American and European touring schedule later in the month.
 
PACIFICA QUARTET'S LONDON DEBUT PRAISED BY CRITICS 
The Pacifica Quartet's debut performance in London's famed Wigmore Hall on November 24, 2004 was warmly received by both audience and critics. "Spellbinding blend of subtlety and style" (The Daily Telegraph). "Performers of real insight and skill" (The Independent). "An auspicious debut for one of the most musically accomplished and enterprising younger ensembles" (Classical Source). "Breadth of understanding and vision" (The Guardian).
 
CHAMBER MUSIC SOCIETY OF LINCOLN CENTER ACTIVITIES
Continuing its activities as a member of The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's CMS Two program for young musicians, the Pacifica Quartet performed concerts in Alice Tully Hall on December 1, 2004 and March 13, 2005. In the December concert, they were joined by acclaimed pianist Gilbert Kalish. They also participated in the Chamber Music Society's community partnership activities in Januart 2005.

PACIFICA QUARTET TOURS JAPAN, PLAYS FOR U.S. AMBASSADOR
The Pacifica Quartet was enthusiastically received on its first tour of Japan in 2004. Performances were originally scheduled during September 2004 in Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Tokyo, and Takaoka, but the tour was unexpectedly cut short by first violinist Simin Ganatra's emergency appendectomy operation in a Tokyo hospital. The Quartet returned in December 2004 to complete its performances. The tour included a special concert performance for the U.S. ambassador to Japan, Howard H. Baker, Jr., his wife, and their guests.

WASHINGTON ELITE HONORS PACIFICA QUARTET
In early May the Pacifica Quartet traveled to Washington, D.C.at the invitation of the U.S. Supreme Court to play for the justices and 200 friends. The concert was preceded by a reception and dinner in the Quartet's honor. Two days after their performance for the U.S. Supreme Court, the Pacifica performed at the Coolidge Auditorium in the Library of Congress. The program included a work by the noted American composer and Grammy award-winner, Libby Larsen, who attended the performance.

LONDON CRITICS ACCLAIM PACIFICA PERFORMANCE AT EDINBURGH INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL
"Stunningly expressive" (The Guardian). "Extraordinary, riveting" (The Daily Telegraph). "Gifted American players" (The Times).

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS FACULTY APPOINTMENT
The Pacifica Quartet began a new residency as Faculty Quartet in Residence at University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois in September, 2003. The appointment includes teaching at the University of Illinois School of Music and a 3-concert performance series at the acclaimed Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. "They are quite a catch," said University of Illinois School of Music director Karl Kramer. "We were looking for an ensemble to regenerate our string program." The Pacifica Quartet will help build a new Chamber Music Institute, to be launched next year. The program is designed to equip young artists with skills in both music and performing arts management. "It will draw groups that have previously performed together and want to take advantage of what the School of Music and Krannert Center have to offer," said Kramer. "It takes both sides of the coin -- musical experience and business sense -- to succeed today. Nobody else is doing this."

PACIFICA QUARTET ON THE
NEW YORK TIMES TOP 10 LIST
The Pacifica Quartet's concert of Elliott Carter's five string quartets made New York Times critic Anthony Tommasini's list of the top 10 memorable classical music events of 2002. To read the review of this concert, go to our reviews page.

CLEVELAND QUARTET AWARD
Pacifica Quartet Receives Cleveland Quartet Award!
The Cleveland Quartet Award is an honor given every two years in recognition of the work of a young American string quartet. The award was conceived as a way of continuing the legacy of the great Cleveland Quartet which disbanded in 1995 after decades of performing together. The prize includes a series of concerts matching the Cleveland Quartet’s final tour. The concerts will begin in 2003-4!

CARTER CYCLE PROJECT
Pacifica Quartet Takes Its Elliot Carter Quartet Cycle From Coast to Coast
In 2002 and 2003 we completed our project of performing the complete cycle of Elliott Carter's 5 string quartets. Robert Mann, former first violinist of the Julliard Quartet, writes, "I know that these five works will be ever present wherever music is important. I am grateful to have experienced them and to have known Elliot Carter, just as in an earlier time Ignaz Schuppanzigh knew Ludwig van Beethoven."

The possibility for us to be able to explore the complete string quartet output of this great American composer in depth has always been an intriguing one. Written over 40 years, these five quartets, when performed in sequence, reveal something of a spiritual autobiography not unlike the quartets of Beethoven, Bartok, or Shostakovich.

Our first Carter quartet cycle concert took place at Columbia University's Miller Theater on November 2, 2002, the second at University of Chicago on February 21, 2003, and the third on March 8, 2003 at UCLA. All five quartets were performed in one day with a dinner break in between to refresh the mind, palette, and the performers! Our next scheduled performance of the Carter quartet cycle will take place at the Edinburgh International Festival on August 26, 2003.