Eclipse String Quartet

The concept of the string quartet may be centuries-old, but composers and performers continue to reinvent the artform with new works that spark curiosity and delight. Known for their ravenous connoisseurship and keen interpretations of works by contemporary composers, the Eclipse String Quartet presents the premiere of a freshly-written piece by Turkish-American collaborator Ali Can Puskulcu, an early masterpiece with Parisian flair by Polish composer Grażyna Bacewicz, Osvaldo Golijov’s haunting and surreal Tenebrae, and a stirring work by faculty member Ania Vu, Unveiling.

Winners of four 2023–24 San Francisco Classical Voice Audience Choice Awards, the Eclipse Quartet is a Los Angeles-based ensemble dedicated to the music of twentieth-century and present-day composers. The scope of their repertoire spans works from John Cage and Morton Subotnick to collaborations with the singers Beck and Caetano Veloso. Eclipse has the versatility to cross genres from works that include electronics and computer processing to the jazz compositions of GRAMMY® Award winning pianist Billy Childs. The Quartet has performed frequently on both coasts and has participated in festivals such as the Look and Listen Festival in NYC, the Festival for New American Music in Sacramento, the Scarlatti Festival in Naples (Italy), the Martha’s Vineyard Chamber Music Festival, the Angel City Jazz Festival, and the Hear and Now Festival in Los Angeles. Eclipse has recorded the string quartets of Zeena Parkins for the Tzadik label and Morton Feldman’s epic Piano and String Quartet with pianist Vicki Ray on Bridge Records. In 2013 Eclipse released a disc of three works for percussion and string quartet with percussionist William Winant on New World Records as recipients of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music Recording Grant. In 2014 the MicroFest label released Ruminations, featuring Eclipse’s recording of Ben Johnston’s Revised Standards. In 2019 Cold Blue released Separations Songs, a concert length piece by Matt Sargent for double quartet. The quartet have been Artists in Residence at Mills College in Oakland, California and at the historic artists’ retreat Villa Aurora in Los Angeles and University of California, Davis.

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