About JACK Studio
JACK rehearses with Amy Brandon and Njabulo Phungula, whose pieces premiered through JACK Studio in 2023. (Photos: Cherylynn Tsushima).
JACK Studio was created by JACK Quartet in 2019 to support commissions, recordings, and workshops with emerging music artists who are interested in exploring and expanding the repertory for string quartet.
By bringing together diverse groups of excellent and adventurous people in a focused and enjoyable setting to not only create new artistic projects, but to contribute to the evolution of the JACK Studio project itself, we have created an artistic ecosystem to link people that otherwise may not have had these opportunities, while simultaneously expanding the variety of musical artists with whom JACK has the opportunity to collaborate.
JACK has long observed the transformative impact that schools and festivals can have for composers, strengthening their portfolios and advancing them to new artistic, educational, and professional opportunities. However, the social, cultural, and economic realities of institutional access disproportionately and unfairly exclude many people.
We conceived JACK Studio to help address inequity in our field by creating a free application process that provides open access to music artists at various stages in their careers as composers, then offering selected artists paid opportunities to develop new work, hear their music performed by JACK, consult with mentors in the field, and receive recorded documentation.
Two-Year Residencies
This two-year residency invites composers to work with JACK Quartet over a longer period of time, fostering deeper experimentation and collaboration between the recipients and JACK. While some resident artists may choose to include a premiere of work for string quartet within their residency, a final performance is not a requirement.
Reading Sessions
Recipients have existing works for string quartet read by JACK. The quartet will offer feedback and make professional audio and video documentation, to be used by the composers for academic and professional applications as well as non-commercial promotion.
Since 2019, JACK Studio has supported more than 40 emerging composers. Artists from Argentina, Belarus, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, Mexico, Myanmar, South Africa, Syria, and across the USA have collaborated with JACK on workshops, residencies, recordings, and premieres. JACK has performed projects by Studio artists everywhere from Central Park, MoMA PS1, TIME:SPANS, and Kaufman Music Center in New York City to the Lucerne Festival in Switzerland, bringing these artists to a global audience.
JACK films a video with JACK Studio artist Daniel Bruno in Central Park, November 2022.
Applications to Residencies and Readings are reviewed by the four members of JACK Quartet in consultation with several artistic advisors each summer. As a core component of JACK Studio is expanding and diversifying JACK’s network of collaborators, review criteria includes access to educational opportunities, a demonstrated need for career opportunities and mentorship, alongside artistic vision and creativity that expands the boundaries of institutional classical music. Studio artists have been paired with musical mentors including Marcos Balter, Clara Iannotta, George Lewis, Catherine Lamb, Georg Friedrich Haas, Donnacha Dennehy, Claire Chase, and Nadia Sirota.
Applications for the next cohort of artists will be available in Spring/Summer 2025 with the selected artists being announced in October 2025.
As we commence our 20th Anniversary Season, we celebrate that the community of composers and artists that surround us is our reason for being. With that as our driving inspiration, JACK Studio will grow to include the full range of our commissions including prominent composers, who will also serve as mentors to our earlier-career collaborators.
In Fall 2024, the quartet, its resident artists, and commissioned composers will gather for our inaugural weeklong residency at Potash Hill in Southern Vermont, home of Marlboro Music and an inspirational space for generating world-class music. While on campus, JACK will join forces with Marlboro Music’s presenting arm, preparing at least one concert to be shared with the local community. This new model will become an annual part of JACK’s season with the second residency at Potash Hill scheduled to take place in November 2025. JACK Studio at Potash Hill will foster an open environment for conversation, feedback, and community. In 24/25, the resident artists include commissioned artist Anthony Cheung, and 2023-25 Artists-in-Residence Keir GoGwilt, Ailie Ormston, and Jules Reidy, plus the four members of JACK Quartet. Cheung will also provide mentorship and project guidance to the younger Artists-in-Residence.
Our 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant provided the seed funds for JACK Studio, and JACK has continued to fund JACK Studio through the support of institutional and individual donors.
We invite you to join this dedicated group of donors and make a tax-deductible donation today to support the continued growth of JACK Studio.
JACK Quartet gratefully acknowledges the following funders and institutions for their support of JACK Studio: The 92nd Street Y, Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Amphion Foundation, Alice M. Ditson Fund, Fan Fox & Samuels Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, Marsha Gray, Gladys Krieble Delmas Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, New Music USA’s Organization Fund 2024-25, New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, New York State Council on the Arts, and Potash Hill, and Rita Schaefer in honor of Michael Schaefer.