Jasper Quartet performs Vivian Fung’s String Quartet no.1

Comprising violinists J Freivogel and Karen Kim, violist Andrew Gonzalez and cellist Rachel Henderson Freivogel, the Jasper Quartet presents a performance of Vivian Fung’s String Quartet no.1 - I: Animato. The performance was recorded live at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society on 26 May 2021.

The work features on the quartet’s upcoming album Insects and Machines, which includes Vivian Fung’s first four string quartets, composed over a span of 18 years from 2001 to 2019.

JUNO Award-winning composer Fung began writing her String Quartet no.1 in 2001, while she was in residence at the Atlantic Center for the Arts for a reading by the American Quartet. Fung had been listening to and absorbing influences from the folk music of parts of Asia, including China and Indonesia, and incorporated them into the piece. She went on to compose the other three virtuosic movements of the piece over the next two years, with the Avalon Quartet premiering the entire work in 2004.

2023 marks the Jasper Quartet’s 17th anniversary. The quartet is currently professional quartet-in-residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and aims to celebrate the diverse array of compositional voices writing for string quartet on every programme. Highlights of the 2023-24 season include residencies at Trinity University, Swarthmore College, and the Fine Arts Center of Greenville. 

Insects and Machines will be released on 27 October 2023 on Sono Luminus.

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American collector David L. Fulton amassed one of the 20th century’s finest collections of stringed instruments. This year’s calendar pays tribute to some of these priceless treasures, including Yehudi Menuhin’s celebrated ‘Lord Wilton’ Guarneri, the Carlo Bergonzi once played by Fritz Kreisler, and four instruments by Antonio Stradivari.