The Escher String Quartet, renowned for its profound musical insight and tonal beauty, is captivating audiences across the United States. From the esteemed halls of New York's Lincoln Center to the vibrant stages of Tulsa and Santa Fe, the ensemble offers a mesmerizing array of performances. Joined by talented musicians like violist Jordan Bak and cellists David and Brook Speltz, the quartet delivers renditions of classical masterpieces by Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, and Barber. Their tour promises an unforgettable experience with each note and harmony perfectly crafted.

Escher String Quartet: A Harmonious Journey Across America

The Escher String Quartet is renowned for its deep musical insights and rare tonal beauty, drawing audiences into their world of chamber music. This esteemed ensemble has been captivating audiences throughout the United States with performances that showcase their extraordinary talent and the complexities of chamber music. From Grass Valley to Santa Fe, their series of concerts in 2025 includes collaborations with talented artists and a diverse repertoire that spans classical favorites and contemporary masterpieces. Let's delve into the details of their upcoming performances and the unique experiences they promise.

The Escher String Quartet: A Series of Captivating Performances Across the U.S.

Prepare to be immersed in the enchanting world of chamber music as the Escher Quartet takes center stage in a series of captivating events. From their elegant performances inspired by the graphic artist M.C. Escher, the ensemble will deliver a mesmerizing experience alongside renowned artists like violist Jordan Bak. Spanning from Tulsa to the renowned Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival, this series features a variety of collaborative works by composers such as Dvořák, Brahms, and Ligeti. Join us in celebrating the intricate melodies and artistic brilliance of these talented musicians.

Exploring the Intricate Sounds of Escher Quartet and Friends

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Escher String Quartet

Munson-Williams-Proctor Arts Institute

Escher Quartet with violist Jordan Bak

Mobile Chamber Music

Inspired by their namesake graphic artist, the Escher Quartet creates elegant performances from the complex interplay of individual parts. Every concert is a powerfully moving listening experience shaped by their deep musical insight.

Escher Quartet

Tulsa Performing Arts Center

The famed ESQ is known for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet is a regular guest at Wigmore Hall. In its hometown of New York, the ensemble serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center. Joining the quartet are David Speltz (cello) and Connie Kupka (viola), principals in the ICS Orchestra and the parents of Brendan (violin) and Brook Speltz (cello), to perform the brilliant Tchaikovsky “Sextet in D minor, Op. 70, ‘Souvenir de Florence,’” which is “frightfully difficult” according to its composer.

Seventh-day Adventist Church

Widely considered the most influential quartet cycle after Beethoven’s, Bartók’s collection of six string quartets is a landmark artistic achievement. The rare opportunity offered here—to experience the full quartet cycle performed over the course of one evening—gives listeners a unique insight into Bartók’s creative development as he revolutionized the string quartet genre and moved from composing in the Late-Romantic style to pioneering modernism. The Escher String Quartet, praised by The New York Times for their “penetrating intelligence” and “gorgeous tonal sheen,” plays the six quartets in order, with two intermissions.

Escher String Quartet Plays Bartók

New Mexico Museum of Art

The dramatic dynamism of the duo form is spotlighted in the first half of this program, which features two vastly different works: Mozart’s perfectly crafted Duo in G Major, performed by violinist William Hagen and violist Milena Pajaro-van de Stadt, and Kodály’s thrilling and demanding Duo for Violin and Cello, played by Leila Josefowicz and Paul Watkins. Mozart is featured again in the second half, as his exquisite Clarinet Quintet showcases the soaring artistry of clarinetist David Shifrin and the Escher String Quartet. 

Mozart Clarinet Quintet

Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. A former BBC New Generation Artist and recipient of the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet makes its home in New York, where it serves as season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center

Beall Concert Hall

Join us for a pre-concert presentation with tidbits and insights on the concert from Dr. Holly Roberts.

CM@B Pre-concert Lectures: Escher String Quartet

Frohnmayer Marabel B Music Building

Like artist M.C. Escher, for whom it is named, the Escher String Quartet creates its own ‘impossible constructions’, simultaneously showcasing each instrument’s part while melding them into one, offering audiences unusual views and new perspectives. As The Guardian noted, the ensemble displays “fabulous unanimity, tonal warmth and care over detail.”

Escher String Quartet with Jordan Bak, viola

California Institute of Technology

Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty. Violinists Adam Barnett-Hart and Brendan Speltz have been residents in the Philip Dukes & Friends series for the past two seasons. For this season of SMF, the full quartet returns for their first featured appearance since 2021, welcoming Dukes to the stage.

Escher String Quartet feat. Philip Dukes

Trinity United Methodist Church

Former BBC New Generation Artists, season artists of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and recipients of the Avery Fischer Career Grant, the Escher String Quartet is among the leading chamber ensembles in the United States.

Duke University

The popular Escher String Quartet, praised by The New York Times for their “passionate performances” and “gorgeous tonal sheen,” plays Dutilleux’s only string quartet—the exhilarating Ainsi la Nuit, whose inspiration includes another work on this program: Bartók’s String Quartet No. 4. In between those pieces, the Escher plays Haydn’s wonderfully evocative Bird Quartet.

A Gramophone and BBC Music Magazine Award winner, Mahan’s performances are hailed as “something to treasure” (The Times). Esfahani has set himself apart as the first harpsichordist in a generation whose work spans virtually all areas of classical music. He joins with the Escher Quartet for a program featuring works of J.S. Bach along with a new work by Mark Applebaum.

Mahan Esfahani & Escher Quartet

Shalin Liu Performance Center

Known for their profound musical insight, the Escher Quartet brings a program of Mozart, Bartók and Dvorák. Regular season artists at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center and Wigmore Hall, this quartet is renowned around the world for its “…eloquent, full-blooded playing” (BBC Music Magazine).

Few ensembles have achieved the stature of the Emerson String Quartet, one of the most celebrated of all time. “For precision and unanimity it is second to none…so perfectly in tune that it [is] almost uncanny,” attests London’s Financial Times. Along with the insightful musicians of the Escher String Quartet, this estimable force takes command of an infrequently performed repertoire, with Mendelssohn’s genre-defining Octet for Strings as its centerpiece. The occasion offers all the more reason to applaud: after 47 superb seasons, the distinguished Emerson takes its final bow in summer 2023.

Emerson String Quartet + Escher String Quartet

Lafayette College

Like a shooting star, Franz Schubert blazed across music's sky for a brief 31 years, leaving behind over 1,000 works that transformed the Classical into the Romantic age.
Four programs spanning Schubert's creative career and variety of compositions offer a rich journey into one of music's most ethereal worlds. A fifth concert explores how the legacy of Schubert and composers in the two centuries following his death have re-worked and been inspired by his compositions.

Winter Festival: Grand Statements

Lincoln Center

The Dover Quartet joins forces with the Escher String Quartet for a unique concert experience.

The Dover Quartet and Escher String Quartet

Soka Performing Arts Center

Two of the hottest chamber music groups in America today, the Kennedy Center’s quartet-in-residence, the Dover Quartet, and the Escher Quartet share the stage for a rare all-octet program. The Escher is “one of the major string quartets playing today” (Bachtrack), and the Dover is “the young American string quartet of the moment” (The New Yorker). Both are winners of the coveted Avery Fisher Career Grant and have turned heads in the chamber music field, and now join forces to show off their distinct styles and explore the depths of music composed for octets. The program includes three works for string octet, each composed by a teenaged musical prodigy.

Dover Quartet with Escher String Quartet

Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center

Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival

Ligeti & Enescu

The Escher String Quartet has proved itself one of the most revered quartets of our time. Following their triumphant presentation of the complete Bartók string quartets in CMS’s 2023–24 season, this program demonstrates the ensemble’s quintessential strengths: as world-class interpreters of the classics in sublime late works by Mozart and Dvořák, and as champions of new music in a much-anticipated viola quintet by American composer Chris Rogerson.

The Escher String Quartet

Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts

Does climate affect the way music is composed? Come find out for yourself in this unusual program juxtaposing works composed near earth’s 45th and 60th parallels, where temperatures and daylight hours differ dramatically. The Escher Quartet offers its signature performances of Verdi and Sibelius, while the indomitable duo of Alexander Sitkovetsky and Wu Qian provide bracing cold and soothing warmth.

Escher String Quartet

Aug 6, 2025

Escher String Quartet

Aug 10, 2025

Ligeti & Enescu

Feb 10, 2026

The Escher String Quartet

May 3, 2026

Verdi and Sibelius Quartets

Feb 23, 2025

Escher String Quartet

Feb 16, 2025

Escher Quartet with violist Jordan Bak

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Escher String Quartet