TIME:SPANS Festival

For JACK’s second performance at TIME:SPANS, the quartet premieres the full cycle of Rand Steiger’s work written for them over the last five years. The concert-length triptych of works for string quartet and electronics express a deeply emotional reaction to the state of United States politics beginning with a reaction to the 2016 Presidential election. The three sections, Undone, Inward, and Rage/Resolve draw on a vast array of musical, technical, and emotional effects.

Program:
Rand Steiger, Introspective Trilogy, 2016-2025 (World Premiere)
1. Undone (2016)
2. Inward (2017)
3. Rage/Resolve (2025)

TIME:SPANS Festival

JACK Quartet returns to the annual TIME:SPANS Festival with the world premiere of Nursalim Yadi Anugerah’s Aphid and a Palm on the Top of Orange Cliff, for string quartet and computer-controlled kadedek. As a JACK Studio Artist-in-Residence, Anugerah began his two-year creative residency with JACK Quartet in Fall 2022. A composer and multi-instrumentalist, Anugerah’s works focus on sonic experimentation through cultural practice, knowledge, and cosmology of indigenous people and their activism on acoustic ecology related to entanglements of social-cultural and environmental issues in Kalimantan (Borneo).

Program:
Nursalim Yadi Anugerah, Aphid and a Palm on the Top of Orange Cliff (World Premiere)

Commissioned by JACK Quartet through JACK Studio

Modern Medieval with the JACK Quartet

In this uniquely eclectic program, the JACK Quartet plays their own realizations of Renaissance and Medieval works as well as a recent work by longtime collaborator Caleb Burhans and Renaissance-flavored pieces the JACK commissioned from Juri Seo and Keir GoGwilt through their acclaimed JACK Studio, which supports a wide range of emerging artists.

Program:
Christopher Otto (after Rodericus): Angelorum Psalat 
Juri Seo: Three Imaginary Chansons 
Christopher Otto (after Saloge): Fumeux par fumée 
Keir GoGwilt: Treatise on Limited Freedoms: Future Mode 1 
Christopher Otto (after Nathaniel Giles): Miserere 
Caleb Burhans: Contritus

New Music with the JACK Quartet

In their highly anticipated Festival debut, the JACK Quartet plays two exciting 21st-century works (including one they recently commissioned and premiered in New York City), and premieres Festival-commissioned string quartets by Tyson Gholston Davis and Ania Vu, the two up-and-coming talents participating in the Festival’s 12th annual Young Composers String Quartet Project.

Program:
Anthony Cheung: Twice Removed 
Ania Vu: New Work for String Quartet (Festival Commission, World Premiere)
Tyson Gholston Davis: New Work for String Quartet (Festival Commission, World Premiere) 
Helmut Lachenmann: String Quartet No. 3, Grido

Anthony Cheung’s Twice Removed was commissioned by JACK Quartet with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, 92nd Street Y, and Wigmore Hall.

2025 Ojai Music Festival

On the final day of the 2025 Ojai Music Festival lead by Music Director Clair Chase, JACK Quartet shares the stage with fellow festival artists in two programs at the Libbey Bowl.

Morning Concert – Rituals
10:00am at the Libbey Bowl

Program:
Tania León: Ritual – Alex Peh, piano
Christopher Otto: Angelorum Psalat (after Rodericus) – JACK Quartet
Christopher Otto: Fumeux fume par fumée (after Solage) – JACK Quartet
Austin Wulliman: Dave's Hocket – JACK Quartet
Susie Ibarra: Sky Islands – Susie Ibarra & Levy Lorenzo (percussion), JACK Quartet, Alex Peh (piano), Claire Chase (flutes)

Closing Concert – Pulsefields
5:30pm at the Libbey Bowl

Program:
Leilehua Lanzilotti: ko’u’inoa – JACK Quartet + Leilehua, Kathryn, Katinka, Seth
Pauline Oliveros: The Witness – duos featuring: Steven Schick & Susie Ibarra, Alex Peh & Cory Smythe, Wu Wei & Claire Chase, Joshua Rubin & M.A. Tiesenga, Ben Marx & Tristam Williams
Terry Riley: Pulsefield – Tutti Festival Artists

2025 Ojai Music Festival

At the 2025 Ojai Music Festival lead by Music Director Clair Chase, JACK Quartet shares the stage with fellow festival artists in two programs at the Libbey Bowl.

Morning Concert - Chambers
10:00am at the Libbey Bowl

Program:
Marcos Balter: Chambers – JACK Quartet
Anna Thorvaldsdottir: UBIQUE – Claire Chase, Cory Smythe, Katinka Kleijn, Seth Parker Woods

Evening Concert - Meditations, Spells, Thinking Forests
8:00pm at the Libbey Bowl

Program:
JS Bach (arr.): Vor deinen Thron tret’ ich hiermit (BWV 668) – Wu Wei & JACK Quartet
Sofia Gubaidulina: Meditation on the Bach Chorale (1993) – JACK Quartet, Kathryn Schulmeister (bass), Alex Peh (harpsichord)
Tania León: Hechizos (1995) – Steven Schick, festival artists
Liza Lim: How Forests Think (2016) – Wu Wei (sheng), Steven Schick, festival artists

2025 Ojai Music Festival

At the 2025 Ojai Music Festival lead by Music Director Clair Chase, JACK Quartet shares two programs offering new music by established and emerging composers.

Ojai Dawns
8:00am at Zalk Theater, Beasant Hill School

Program:
Leilehua Lanzilotti: ahupua’a - JACK Quartet
Eduardo Aguilar: HYPER - JACK Quartet
Tania León: Abanico - Austin Wulliman and Levy Lorenzo
Vicente Atria: Roundabout - JACK Quartet

The Holy Liftoff
8:00pm at the Libbey Bowl

Claire Chase and JACK Quartet join together for The Holy Liftoff, the most recent work by pioneering American composer Terry Riley. Written as a series of musical sketches and brilliantly colored drawings, an exuberant and energized work represents a culmination for Riley, who says “I feel like this piece sums up a lot of things I’ve worked for.”

Program:
Leilehua Lanzilotti: ko’u’inoa – Leilehua Lanzilotti, viola
Sofia Gubaidulina: Mirage: The Dancing Sun – Eight cellos, conducted by Steven Schick
Julius Eastman: The Holy Presence of Joan of Arc – Ten cellos, conducted by Steven Schick
Terry Riley: The Holy Liftoff – Claire Chase (flute) and JACK Quartet

Sitka Premiere of John Luther Adams’s Never and Always Becoming

Experience the Sitka premiere of John Luther Adams’ newest composition, Never and Always Becoming, performed by JACK Quartet.

John Luther Adams, a composer deeply inspired by the landscapes of Alaska, lived in the state from 1978 to 2014 and was a member of the percussion section of the Fairbanks Symphony Orchestra.

With the resonant acoustics of Odess Theater, this program promises to be a transformative experience—pushing the boundaries of the string quartet repertoire and immersing audiences in the meditative, evolving soundscapes of Adams, Cage, and Glass.

Program:
John Luther Adams, Never and Always Becoming (String Quartet No. 9) – Sitka Premiere
John Cage, Music in Four Parts
Philip Glass, String Quartet No. 5

JACK Quartet + John Luther Adams in Alaska

Witness the world premiere of John Luther Adams' newest composition, Never and Always Becoming.

There will be two back to back concerts. JACK Quartet opens the first concert with John Cage's String Quartet in Four Parts and the second with Philip Glass' String Quartet No. 5, before showcasing John Luther Adams' world premiere, Never and Always Becoming at both performances.

5:30pm Program:
John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts
John Luther Adams, Never and Always Becoming

7:30pm Program:
Philip Glass, String Quartet No. 5
John Luther Adams, Never and Always Becoming

Pop Up Concert at Miller Theatre - FREE
Escape Rites Album Release

The intrepid JACK Quartet returns to the Miller stage to highlight one of their own: Austin Wulliman—an in-demand violinist, highly regarded educator, and accomplished composer. This concert celebrates the upcoming release of his second album of original music, Escape Rites. Known for melding sounds both familiar and experimental, Wulliman weaves stories into his music with a deep passion for capturing emotional resonance

Pre-order Escape Rites here.

Austin Wulliman, Escape Rites (2024) New York premiere
Austin Wulliman, The Late Edition (2024)
Austin Wulliman, Lost One (2024)

No RSVP required. Sit onstage and enjoy a free drink during this hour-long Pop-Up Concert, and mingle with the musicians and fellow concertgoers after the show.

John Zorn: Hermetic Cartography at The Drawing Center

Offering profound insight into John Zorn’s creative mind, Hermetic Cartography reveals a new dimension of his artistic practice by showcasing works on paper that span seven decades of his visionary engagement with mark-making, improvisation, and the esoteric.

The exhibition, open February 7–May 11, 2025, includes a diverse array of Zorn’s visual artworks, graphic scores, dense philosophical notations, abstract poetry and artist books, and not only highlights Zorn’s radical approach to marks on paper but also his unique Theatre of Musical Optics and other experimental projects. By exploring these visual elements, the exhibition provides a new perspective on how Zorn's abstract works intersect with and inform his musical compositions.

John Zorn: Hermetic Cartography is accompanied by a series of musical performances curated by Zorn that will be performed in the exhibition. JACK Quartet will be joined by violist Yura Lee and cellist Michael Nicolas for an all-Zorn program on Saturday, May 3 at 7:30pm, free and open to the public.

Program:
Sigil Magick
Prolegomena

Round-about at Americas Society

JACK brings a bevy of creative voices together in NYC at the Americas Society in this recital featuring close friends and many pieces written for JACK. Vicente Atria's Round-about bubbles off the page with microtonal counterpoint and rhythmic drive, Marcos Balter's Chambers whispers secrets from rooms yet unseen, and Eduardo Aguilar's HYPER puts the minute gestural world of the quartet under a microscope, blowing it up into a drama full of fireworks. Leilehua Lanzelotti's ahupua‘a gets its very first NYC performance in a new version and the quartet also presents the results of their audio-visual collaboration with Daniel Bruno, the quizzical and surprisingly affective Lost & Founds.

Program:
Marcos Balter, Chambers
Eduardo Aguilar, HYPER
Leilehua Lanzilotti, ahupua‘a
Daniel Bruno, Lost & Founds
Vicente Atria, Round-about

Mannes Chamber Music Festival

As the Mannes School of Music Ensemble-in-Residence, JACK Quartet will give a recital at Steifel Hall as part of the inaugural Mannes Chamber Music Festival.

Program:
Pierre Boulez, Livre Ia, Ib, IIIc
Anton Webern, Six Bagatelles, op 9
Eva-Maria Houben, Nothing More
John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts
Anthony Cheung, Twice Removed

Register once for your CHAMBERPASS and receive access to the entire festival!

JACK Quartet at Wigmore Hall

JACK Quartet returns to London’s Wigmore Hall - giving three performances in one day - 11:30am, 3:00pm, 7:30pm

Concert 1 Program:
Philip Glass, String Quartet No. 5
Heinz Holliger, String Quartet No. 2

Concert 2 Program:
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 5
Eduardo Aguilar, HYPER
Helmut Lachenmann, String Quartet No. 3 'Grido'

Concert 3 Program:
Pierre Boulez, Livre pour quatuor: 1b
Eva-Maria Houben, Nothing More
Pierre Boulez, Livre pour quatuor: 3c
Anton Webern, 6 Bagatellen Op. 9
John Cage, String Quartet in 4 Parts
Pierre Boulez, Livre pour quatuor: 1a
Austin Wulliman, Escape Rites (UK Premiere)
Anthony Cheung, Twice Removed (UK Premiere)
Pierre Boulez, Livre pour quatuor: 2

Anthony Cheung’s Twice Removed was commissioned by JACK Quartet with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, The 92nd Street Y, and Wigmore Hall.

Boulez 100

Pierre Boulez’s Livre pour quatuor is rich with musical complexity and radical thinking, a vast statement from a provactive young composer. At the same time, the score—left unfinished—also has a fragmentary quality. JACK performs individual movements from Boulez’s only string quartet, creating fragmentary conversation between them and their predecesor Anton Webern's Six Bagatelles and the recent, aphoristic Nothing More by Eva­-Maria Houben. Anthony Cheung's richly expressive Twice Removed provides a further take on multi-layered artistic expressions, while Austin Wulliman's Escape Rites draws its inspiration from Boulez' friendship with John Cage, who wrote his String Quartet in Four Parts while corresponding with Boulez, who was writing his Livre.

Program:
Pierre Boulez, Livre pour quatuor (Excerpts)
Eva-Maria Houben, Nothing More for String Quartet
Anton Webern, Six Bagatelles for String Quartet Op. 9
John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts
Austin Wulliman, Escape Rites
Anthony Cheung, Twice Removed

Anthony Cheung’s Twice Removed was commissioned by JACK Quartet with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, 92nd Street Y, and Wigmore Hall.

Cutting Edge Concerts at Symphony Space

Presented by Cutting Edge Concerts, JACK brings a concert that highlights classics of the modern quartet repertoire to Symphony Space on the Upper West Side. Featuring works by Pierre Boulez, Anton Webern, Philip Glass, John Cage, and Heinz Holliger, this program bridges a wide variety of radical statements on the quartet medium, from the microscopic to the novelistic, from the cleanly minimalistic to the wildly expressionistic.

Program:
Pierre Boulez, Livre 1, 2, 3c
Anton Webern, Six Bagatelles, op 9
Philip Glass, String Quartet no. 5
John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts
Heinz Holliger, String Quartet No. 2

Lugano Art and Culture

JACK Quartet returns to Lugano with a program featuring works with layers of inspiration and expressive meaning. The quartet will give the European premiere of Anthony Cheung’s Twice Removed, which draws its form and content from the concept of ekphrasis, that is: one form of art interpreting another ("a painting of a poem"), taking the concept one step further by interpreting already existing works using this concept. The quartet also performs Eva-Maria Houben's Nothing More, which is draws its micro-movement titles from Berg's Lyric Suite, Heinz Holliger's String Quartet No. 2, which is dedicated Elliott Carter, whose String Quartet No. 5 is also featured on the program. Layers of time and inspiration are held together by John Cage's cyclical String Quartet in Four Parts, in the composer's words a simple "line in rhythmic space".

Program:
Eva-Maria Houben, Nothing More
Anthony Cheung, Twice Removed
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 5
John Cage, String Quartet in Four Parts
Heinz Holliger, String Quartet No. 2

Anthony Cheung’s Twice Removed was commissioned by JACK Quartet with the support of the Ernst von Siemens Music Foundation, 92nd Street Y, and Wigmore Hall.

JACK Quartet + Amy Williams

As part of the University of Toronto New Music Festival, JACK is joined by composer and pianist Amy Williams in a program featuring Williams’s work.

Program:
Cineshape 2 (2007)
Study in Syntax No. 1: Beckett (Embers) (2017)
Give Way (2020)
Stop/Yield (2015)

JACK Quartet: Modern Medieval

Modern Medieval explores the connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of music today.

Program:
Taylor Brook, Organum
Nicola Vicentino, Madonna, il poco dolce; Prisca musica caput
Amy Williams, Tangled Madrigal
Taylor Brook, Ars Nova
Christopher Otto, Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931 
Taylor Brook, Phrygea
Philip Glass, String Quartet No. 5

Presented in association with the University of Toronto New Music Festival

Album Release Concert: John Zorn

IGNOTIUM PER IGNOTIUS (the unknown by way of the more unknown)

JACK has had a long and fruitful relationship with Zorn that goes back to 2007, and it continues to this day. Passionate and dedicated supporters of his work, they have been involved in close to 100 performances of his compositions in major venues all over the world. Zorn’s last two quartets were composed with JACK in mind.

This exciting evening features two of Zorn’s greatest masterworks—Memento Mori (with Ikue Mori as a guest soloist) and the challenging Necronomicon, Zorn’s triumphant return to the string quartet medium after a 10 year hiatus.

Memento Mori is one of Zorn’s most personal creations—a unique, hermetic work filled with hidden messages, deep lyricism, microtones, noise, and fleeting references to Alban Berg’s Lyric Suite. Composed in 1992 and dedicated to Ikue Mori, the piece takes you on a surreal journey unlike any other. For this special performance, dedicatee Ikue Mori will improvise her signature live electronics along to JACK Quartet’s dynamic interpretation of this vexing and emotional work.

Necronomicon is in five movements, and draws upon hermeticism, alchemy, magick, mysticism, and more.

This evening is a CD release concert—JACK Quartet proudly announces the long awaited release of their 2 CD set of the complete string quartets of John Zorn—available at this concert from Tzadik recordings!

Program:
MEMENTO MORI  (1992) 
with Ikue Mori electronics

NECRONOMICON (2003)
I Conjurations
II The Magus
III Thought-Forms
IV Incunabula
V Asmodeus

JACK Quartet + Shai Wosner

JACK gives a free performance with pianist Shai Wosner at New York City’s Advent Lutheran Church as part of Music Mondays NYC. The program includes JACK violinist Christopher Otto’s Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles, the artist’s contemporary rhythmic elaboration of a 16th century work by the English Renaissance composer. Wosner performs one solo piano piece, George Benjamin’s Relativity Rag, while JACK features or combines with Wosner on Henry Purcell’s Fantasy upon one note (piano quintet), Ruth Crawford Seeger’s String Quartet 1931, Wolfgang Rihm’s Interscriptum (piano quintet), Amy Williams’ Cineshapes #2, and Thomas Ades’ Piano Quintet.

Program:
Henry Purcell, Fantasy upon one note
Ruth Crawford Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Wolfgang Rihm, Interscriptum
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles
Amy WIlliams, Cineshapes #2
George Benjamin, Relativity Rag
Thomas Ades, Piano Quintet

Art of Elan and Art Power present JACK Quartet

Following a highly successful performance at the Birch Aquarium in May 2024, co-presented by Art of Elan and ArtPower, JACK Quartet returns to San Diego with an exciting program that features the world premiere of a new work by UC San Diego (UCSD) faculty member and composer, Rand Steiger, as well as Three Imaginary Chansons by Juri Seo. This one-night-only special event will take place in the acoustically superb Conrad Prebys Concert Hall on campus at UCSD and will offer a chance to meet the composer and musicians immediately following the performance.

Program:
Rand Steiger, New Work (World Premiere)
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons

JACK Quartet at the Mariposa Series

The neglected, though not forgotten rites of the Medieval musical arts illuminate the musical manuscript anew as JACK explores the connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of American music today. The mysterious Rodericus and satirical Solage are viewed anew through the lens of JACK’s own masterful arranger Christopher Otto. Meanwhile, pieces by JACK’s friends connect us to our musical forebears, using ancient harmonies, imitations, games, and secret messages as the jumping off point for unexpected journeys through magical, amorous, and dangerous tales.

Program:
Taylor Brook, Organum [2017]
Christopher Otto, Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus [2011 / c. 1390]
Nicola Vicentino, Musica prisca caput // Madonna, il poco dolce [c. 1555]
Vicente Atria, Round-about [2024]
Austin Wulliman, Dave’s Hocket [2024]
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles [2023 / 1594]
Taylor Brook, Phrygea [2017]
Johnny MacMillan, Songs from the Seventh Floor [2021]
Christopher Otto, Fumeux fume par fumee, after Solage [2018 / c. 1390]
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons [2024]
Taylor Brook, Ars Nova [2017]

Hancher’s 52nd Season

JACK Quartet returns to the University of Iowa for a recital at Hancher Auditorium featuring the music of John Luther Adams and Elliott Carter, presented in collaboration with the University of Iowa String Quartet Residency Program and Center for New Music. The audience will be seated in chairs on the Hadley stage looking out at the auditorium. The performers will be close-up, making their performance from the lip of the stage. Seating is accessible via ramps on either side of the stage.

Program:
John Luther Adams, Lines Made by Walking
Elliott Carter, String Quartet No. 5 (1995)

Haas in the Dark

JACK Quartet performs Austrian composer Georg Friedrich Haas’s third string quartet, In iij Noct, playing the piece entirely from memory and in complete darkness for both performers and audience. In iij. Noct is a unique and suggestive experience, in which darkness compels the audience to listen in a precise, determined way. 

Program:
Georg Friedrich Haas, String Quartet No. 3, In iij Noct

JACK Quartet at The New School

As the Mannes School of Music Ensemble-in-Residence, JACK Quartet will give a recital at The Auditorium at The New School. JACK Quartet's Modern Medieval program explores the connections of musicality and thought between European composers of the past and the voices of music today.

Program:
Taylor Brook, Organum [2017]
Christopher Otto, Angelorum Psalat, after Rodericus [2011 / c. 1390]
Nicola Vicentino, Musica prisca caput // Madonna, il poco dolce [c. 1555]
Vicente Atria, Round-about [2024]
Austin Wulliman, Dave’s Hocket [2024]
Christopher Otto, Miserere, after Nathaniel Giles [2023 / 1594]
Taylor Brook, Phrygea [2017]
Christopher Otto, Fumeux fume par fumee, after Solage [2018 / c. 1390]
Juri Seo, Three Imaginary Chansons [2024]
Taylor Brook, Ars Nova [2017]

This concert is free and open to the general public.

JACK Quartet at Potash Hill

November 4-9, JACK Quartet will be in residence at Potash Hill in Marlboro, VT, working with JACK Studio commissioned artist Anthony Cheung and 2023 - 2025 Studio Artists-in-Residence Keir GoGwilt, Ailie Ormston, and Jules Reidy.

JACK will offer a performance on November 8, co-presented with NextStage Arts Project, featuring music by Travis Laplante, Eduardo Aguilar, Seare Farhat and other JACK Studio Artists. Light refreshments will be served 45 minutes prior to the concert.

The performance is free and open to the public but reservations are required.

Album Release Concert: Travis Laplante

Composer/saxophonist Travis Laplante celebrates the release of his latest album The Golden Lock featuring Erika Dohi (piano), Charles Overton (harp), Lizzie Burns (bass), Eduardo Leandro (percussion), and Laplante (tenor saxophone). The evening will begin with three premieres of Laplante’s recent work: “String Quartet No. 1” featuring JACK Quartet, “No Distance” (for two vibraphones and four percussionists) featuring Sō Percussion, and “A Room With No Walls” featuring Erika Dohi (piano) and Laplante (saxophone). This evening promises to be a joyful and intimate night of music.