Spektral Quartet

Spektral Quartet is a string quartet based in Chicago comprising Clara Lyon (violin), Maeve Feinberg (violin), Doyle Armbrust (viola) and Russell Rolen (cello). It is the ensemble-in-residence at the University of Chicago's Department of Music, where it has served since 2012.

Contents

• Spektral quartet string quartet no 1 2011 by eliza brown
• Albums
• Albums featuring Spektral Quartet
• Articles and Reviews
• Songs
• References

The New York Times said of a 2016 performance of Beat Furrer's String Quartet No. 3 and Hans Thomalla's Bagatellen for string quartet, "The quartet proved that they have everything: a supreme technical command that seems to come easily [and] a capacity to make complicated music clear..."

The quartet is perhaps most widely known for its 2014 project Mobile Miniatures, in which 47 composers including Nico Muhly, David Lang, and Anna Thorvaldsdottir were commissioned to write ringtone-length pieces that were then recorded by Spektral Quartet and made available for download as ringtone, alarms, and text-message alerts on mobile devices.

The group recorded its debut album, Chambers (on Parlour Tapes+), in 2013 in collaboration with composers Hans Thomalla, Marcos Balter, LJ White, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, and Ben Hjertmann. Also in 2013, the group released From This Point Forward (on Azica Records), with bandoneon/accordion virtuoso Julien Labro and saxophone player Miguel Zenón. The band appeared on Swiss violin soloist Rachel Kolly d'Alba's 2015 record, Fin de siècle (Aparté), performing Ernest Chausson’s Concerto for Violin, Piano, and String Quartet and is featured on albums from composers Augusta Read Thomas and Ryan Ingebritsen.

In 2016, the group released Serious Business (on Sono Luminus), which was nominated for a 2017 Grammy Award. The album that explores humor in classical music through the compositional lenses of Josef Haydn, Sky Macklay, Chris Fisher-Lochhead, and David Reminick. The Strad magazine said of the album, "these are superb performances, vivid and strongly felt, convincingly argued and full of rich, characterful detail."