Charles Petzold

Ruth Bader Ginsburg was frequently asked: When will there be enough women on the Supreme Court? Her answer was simple. “Nine,” she would say “There have been nine men there for a long, long time, right? So why not nine women?”

Perhaps the same reasoning can be applied to string quartet ensembles. For much of the 250-year history of the string quartet, male-only ensembles were the rule. Even today, many of the older string quartets are still all-male despite having gone through periodic personnel changes.

But just as orchestras began changing in gender composition over the past decades as blind auditions were introduced, smaller ensembles have also been evolving. It is now quite common to see string quartets with a mix of men and women, and also some composed solely of women. This latter group are those that I think of as satisfying the “RBG criterion” for string quartets.

I came across some of these RBG string quartets while assembling my Complete Beethoven website, and more recently in my never-ending exploration of chamber music on YouTube. Others were suggested by an article (and comments) on SlippeDisc entitled "The First Major String Quartet with More Women than Men".

This brief survey is undoubtedly incomplete. I have restricted it to ensembles that play primarily the string quartet repertoire, that is, music written for the string quartet. Most of these ensembles have websites and YouTube channels. I have avoided ensembles that primarily play arrangements, or pop tunes, or which advertise themselves as enlivening your wedding with “top hits from artists like Muse, Coldplay, The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and everything in between.”

In alphabetical order, here is what I’ve found:

Aizuri Quartet

The New York City-based Aizuri Quartet was formed in 2012 and has had a couple personnel changes since then. According to their website, “the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from ‘aizuri-e,’ a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing that is noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail.”

Although videos exist of the Aizuri playing Dvořák and Sibelius (and available in the Videos section of their YouTube channel), they specialize in more recent music. Their first solo album Blueprinting features string quartet compositions from five American componsers. The album name comes from the composition Blueprint by American composer Caroline Shaw, who composed it for the Aizuri. Here’s a live performance from 2016 at the Curtis Institute of Music;

American composer Gabriella Smith wrote her Carrot Revolution for the Aizuri Quartet, and the performance is magnificent:

American / Mexican composer Conlon Nancarrow is best known for his player piano compositions, but here is his String Quartet No. 3 from 1987:

Tatar-Russian composer Sofia Gubaidulina composed her String Quartet No. 4 for the Kronos Quartet in 1993. It uses multitracking and specfies “ad libitum colored lights” :

I am delighted to be seeing the Aizuri Quartet at the 92nd Street Y in November.

Bergamot Quartet

The Bergamot Quartet was founded in Baltimore in 2016 but are now based in New York City. Their website indicates that their quartet “is fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating the music of living composers.”

The Videos section of their YouTube channel has a variety of selections, including the String Quartet No. 1 (Métamorphoses nocturnes), composed in 1953‒54 by non-living Hungarian-Austrian composer György Ligeti.

Here’s another work by Caroline Shaw, her Valencia for string quartet, composed in 2012:

I’m hesitant about including the Bergamot’s performance of George Crumb’s 1970 composition Black Angels because it’s really a theatre piece that must be experienced live, but this video gives some suggestion of what it’s like:

The Bergamot’s first violinist Ledah Finck is also a composer. Here is one of two performances of her String Quartet No. 1 available on YouTube:

Cassatt String Quartet

The Manhattan-based Cassatt String Quartet was formed in 1985, taking their name from the American impressionist painter Mary Cassatt.

They have appeared on numerous recordings but only a few videos exist on YouTube. Here’s a performance of American composer Samuel Adler’s String Quartet No. 10:

Gerald Cohen is an American composer and cantor who incorporates his Jewish heritage into his music. Here’s his 2012 string quartet Playing for Our Lives that commemorates the cultural life of Terezin — a town in the Czech Republic that was used by the Nazis during World War II as a ghetto and concentration camp. The performance is divided into two videos:

Cecilia String Quartet

Named after the patron saint of music, the Toronto-based Cecilia String Quartet was founded in 2004 but does not seem to be currently active. Between 2012 and 2015 they recorded four albums featuring music of Mendelssohn, Dvorák, Janácek, as well as Berg’s Lyric Suite and Mozart piano concertos Nos. 12 and 13 performed a quattro, that is, with only string quartet accompanying the piano of Karin Kei Nagano.

The Videos page of Celcilia’s YouTube Channel features several movements of compositions from their repertoire, but the only full performance that I’ve found is of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 8. (Warning: an ad may interrupt the performance.)

Esmé Quartet

The women who comprise the Esmé Quartet are all from South Korea, “who were in their youth acquainted with each other as friends,” but the ensemble was formed in 2016 at the Hochschule für Musik in Cologne, and they remain based in Germany. The name of the quartet comes from an Old French verb esmer, and means “esteemed” or “beloved.”

The Videos section of their YouTube Channel has several performance and practice videos, but others can be found in YouTube searches. Here’s their performance of the Debussy String Quartet:

Here’s Mendelssohn’s String Quartet No. 6, Opus 80:

And here’s Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Opus 132 (otherwise known as “the one with the Heiliger Dangesang movement"):

Faust Quartet

The Faust Quartet was founded at the Liszt School of Music Weimar in 1996, but I’m not sure if it’s still active.

Here they are playing the Debussy String Quartet:

GoYa Quartet

The Amsterdam based GoYa Quartet was formed in 2014. The current lineup consists of musicians from Belgium, Cuba, Japan, and France, all of whom are members of the Royal Concertgebrow Orchestra.

The older videos on the quartet’s YouTube Channel feature their original violist, who was from Italy. Here is that ensemble playing the Schubert one-movement Quartettsatz:

On 29 and 30 September, 2017, the GoYa Quartet performed all three Brahms and all three Schumann string quartets. Here are the Brahms quartets, which have been in rotation in my home for several weeks:

Ivani Quartet

Most of what I know about the Ivani String Quartet comes from a 2017 article on the website of the New England Conservatory, which indicates that the quartet won a music competition prize in Columbia Missouri, and that all the members of the quartet are undergraduates, ranging in age from 18 to 19.

They have a few videos on their YouTube channel but that list does not include this performance of the Ives String Quartet No. 2, with his signature quotations of American folk tunes and other music:

Here’s the Brahms String Quartet No. 2:

Most of their other videos are single movements of longer compositions, such as this first movement of Schubert’s “Death and the Maiden” quartet:

I wish there was more of Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4 beyond just the fifth movement:

Lafayette String Quartet

Founded in Detroit in 1986 but now based at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, the Lafayette String Quartet claims on their website to be “the only all-female ensemble in the world to comprise the four original members — a distinct rarity, regardless of gender and regardless of profession.”

Based on their YouTube videos, it seems that the Lafayette sometimes collaborates with male pianists (for the Schumann Piano Quintet Op.44) or string players (for the Schubert String Quintet), which is perfectly fine, of course, but not quite in keeping with the spirit of this survey.

Here’s a concert that was live-streamed on April 25, 2021. It begins with Mozart’s String Quartet No. 15 in D minor (starting at 4:45 in the video) followed by some comments at 34:10, and then concluding with Haydn’s “Sunrise” Quartet in B-flat major (Opus 76, No. 4) beginning at 40:40:

Another recent socially distanced video performance is of the Mozart String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, nicknamed the “Dissonance” for the vague harmony in its slow opening. This video begins with an introduction and interview. The music begins at 10:05:

Lark Quartet

The renowned New York-based Lark Quartet was founded in 1985, went through a number of personnel changes over the years, and apparently disbanded in 2019. Their website is gone but their Wikipedia entry) has much background information.

The Lark’s YouTube Channel still exists but videos of live performances seem rare. One notable exception is a composition by American composer Nico Muyly entitled Big Time, which adds to the string quartet a percussionist (who just happens to be male in this performance).

Olive Mead Quartet

The Olive Mead Quartet was possibly the first even all-female string quartet. It was formed by violinist Olive Mead and existed from 1903 to 1917. A review of one of their concerts appeared in the November 24, 1910, issue of the New York Times:

Thaleia Quartet

The Thaleia Quartet website indicates that the quartet was formed of students at the Tokyo University of the Arts in 2014.

They do not seem to have a YouTube channel, but several videos can be found in YouTube searches. Here’s the quartet playig Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 3

And here’s is Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4:

Vertavo String Quartet

The Vertavo String Quatet was founded in Norway in 1984 and they are featured on over ten recordings.

The videos on Vertavo’s YouTube channel seems to be restricted to excerpts from their albums, but I did find this live performance of extracts from Bartok’s String Quartet No. 6:

Any Others?

If you know of a string quartet that should be included here, or if you want to correct anything, let me know at cp@charlespetzold.com.