Abeo Quartet appoints new cellist

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The Abeo Quartet has announced the appointment of its new cellist, Macintyre Taback. The appointment comes as former cellist Brian Gadbow leaves the group to pursue other goals.

Comprising violinists Njioma Grevious and Rebecca Benjamin, and violist James Kang, the quartet said: ’Brian, we wish you the absolute best for what lies ahead both in your life and your musical career.

’The three of us will always cherish the fun memories we’ve made in and outside of music, on the road, through the day-to-day and all that we were able to accomplish together. Not to mention all of the laughter through it all!’

From New York, NY, Taback began studying with Caroline Stinson at the Juilliard Pre-College programme. He has recently attended the Four Seasons Workshop, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the Perlman Music Program, and IMS Prussia Cove’s Open Chamber Music Seminar. He has worked with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Donald Weilerstein, Joel Krosnick, Merry Peckham, and Itzhak Perlman, and has recently performed with Vivian Hornik Weilerstein, Erich Höbarth, and the Emerson, Borromeo, and St. Lawrence Quartets.

Taback completed his bachelor’s degree with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott at the Eastman School of Music, where he received the Performance Certificate and the Glenn and Frances Harris Cello Prize. He completed his master’s at the New England Conservatory under Laurence Lesser, and plays on a cello made by Pietro Guarneri of Venice in 1745.

Formed at the Juilliard School in 2018, the Abeo Quartet was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore Quartet from 2021-2023. Abeo’s recent accomplishments include Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition, making the semi-finals at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022.

The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favourite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and Silver Medal winner of the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Additionally, Abeo was a finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Competition and the silver medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.

Upcoming highlights for the Abeo Quartet include a performance at the Kennedy Center in March 2024, its Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY, plus a performance at Emerald City Music in Seattle alongside the Calidore Quartet.

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