Carpe Diem String Quartet

Carpe Diem String Quartet is an exciting ensemble that has captured the imagination of audiences, the respect of critics, and is one of the most versatile quartets of their generation. Carpe Diem has earned critical acclaim with innovative programming, electrifying performances, and a passion for audience engagement. The group’s eclectic musical interests have led them down the paths of gypsy, tango, folk, pop, rock, and jazz-inspired music, while remaining equally at home with the traditional string quartet repertoire.

In 2010 and 2011 Carpe Diem was the only quartet in America chosen to receive prestigious ArtsAlive Awards from the PNC Foundation.

Defying easy classification, the quartet continues to break boundaries and push the limits of the classical string quartet. Carpe Diem writes, arranges and performs music of all styles, and works with artists of many different genres, bringing new audiences into the concert hall and revitalizing the chamber music experience. Carpe Diem’s diverse collaborations include American songwriter/guitarist Willy Porter -- the CD of their live concert debut continues to receive accolades – as well as Latin Grammy winner/bandoneon player Raul Juarena, klezmer clarinetist David Krakauer, cellist Yo Yo Ma, banjo virtuoso Graeme Boone, and Dixieland trumpeter Tom Battenberg. Carpe Diem has been featured in Strings magazine with articles highlighting their unique and innovative vision for chamber music. The quartet has a busy recording schedule, and continues its project of recording the nine string quartets of Sergey Taneyev for the Naxos label. The first CD of this series was selected for the 51st Grammy Awards Entry List (2009) in four categories: Best Classical Album, Best Chamber Music Performance, Best New Artist, and Best Engineered Album-Classical. The quartet is the resident ensemble for Columbus Dance Theater, and their joint project The String Machine was aired by WOSU-PBS television through 2007-2008, and nominated for an Emmy award.

The quartet, violinists Charles Wetherbee and John Ewing, violist Korine Fujiwara and cellist Kristin Ostling, is dedicated to community engagement, and regularly performs programs specifically designed to relate to audiences of all ages and establish chamber music's relevance to their lives. Carpe Diem has developed several engagement programs by which they accomplish this:
CarpeDiemMusiCare concerts are offered without charge to those unable to attend regular concerts. This includes: free performances at senior citizen communities, assisted living and skilled nursing facilities, hospice centers, hospitals, Alzheimer care units, and regular visits to the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center -- a unique and unprecedented expansion.
Music Goes 2 School gives schools the opportunity to have Carpe Diem come right to their classroom – up close and personal. The quartet interacts with kindergarten through grade 12 students, offering a musical experience for the entire classroom, and works with string programs in side-by-side, sectional, masterclass, and individual instruction settings.
Music from the Start has Carpe Diem teamed up with the Columbus Head Start Centers, offering a quality musical experience to pre-school age children in Columbus, Ohio, at no charge to the facility or to their parents. This program is made possible by the generosity of the PNC Foundation.
carpe.diem.kids is a series of free family concerts performed in the Columbus community of Harrison West. Students and their parents join CDSQ for an hour of intimate, interactive music making. With the younger listener in mind, we engage the audience with playful musical selections, discussion, and question-and-answer time.

Carpe Diem champions the music of living composers, and has commissioned, premiered, and performed works from a broad and stylistically diverse range of various composers including Frank Bennett, Danny Elfman, Ken Fuchs, Korine Fujiwara, Osvaldo Golijov, Andre Hajdu, Donald Harris, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Leshnoff, Nicholas Maw, William Thomas McKinley, Clancy Newman, Carter Pann, Kevin Putts, Eric Sawyer, Gunther Schuller, Richard Smoot, Bradley Sowash, and Bruce Wolosoff, among others.

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