Philharmonic Society of Orange County

Formosa Quartet

Winners of both the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the Formosa Quartet is “one of the very best quartets of their generation” (David Soyer, cellist, Guarneri Quartet). The ensemble is deeply committed to championing Taiwanese music and promoting the arts in Taiwan, as well as exploring diverse and adventurous mediums for string quartet.

The Formosa Quartet has played a leading role in actively commissioning new works, contributing significantly to the modern string quartet repertory. Formosa’s 2019 milestone album From Hungary to Taiwan includes premiere recordings of three Formosa commissions: Lei Liang’s Song Recollections, Dana Wilson’s Hungarian Folk Songs, and Wei-Chieh Lin’s Five Taiwanese Folk Songs. Other works composed for the Quartet include pieces by Dana Wilson, Wei-Chieh Lin, Shih-Hui Chen, and Clancy Newman.

Formed in 2002 when the four Taiwanese-descended founders came together for a concert tour of Taiwan, the Formosa Quartet’s cultural identity has since expanded to include broader American and pan-Asian roots. Their name “Formosa” is still a tribute to the culture of Taiwan, but is also largely taken in its most basic sense: Portuguese for “beautiful.”