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T he FORMOSA QUARTET is “one of

the very best quartets of their

generation” (David Soyer, cellist

of the Guarneri Quartet). Winners of the First

Prize and the Amadeus Prize at the London

International String Quartet Competition in

2006, the Formosa’s debut recording on

the EMI label was hailed as “spellbinding”

(Strad Magazine) and “remarkably fine”

(Gramophone). Formed in 2002 when the

four founding members came together for

a concert tour of Taiwan, the quartet has given critically acclaimed performances at the Ravinia Festival, the Library of Congress,

the Da Camera Society of Los Angeles, Rice University, the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, and Wigmore Hall in London.

The Formosa Quartet is deeply committed to championing Taiwanese music and promoting the arts in the land of its heritage,

and their active commissioning has contributed significantly to the 21st century’s string quartet literature. In 2016, they premiered

Lei Liang’s Song Recollections. Based on music indigenous to aboriginal tribes of Taiwan, the piece is the result of two-year commis-

sioning project which looks ahead to a new disc of music inspired by Hungarian and Taiwanese folk traditions. Other commissions

include Shih-Hui Chen’s Returning Souls: Four Pieces on Three Formosan Amis Legends and Fantasia on the Theme of Plum Blossom,

Dana Wilson’s Hungarian Folk Songs, and Wei-Chieh Lin’s Pasibutbut.

The members of the Formosa Quartet – Jasmine Lin, Wayne Lee, Che-Yen Chen, and Deborah Pae – have degrees from the Juilliard

School, Curtis Institute of Music, and New England Conservatory, and have been top prizewinners in prestigious competitions such as

the Paganini, Primrose, Fischoff, Naumburg, and Tertis competitions. Each summer, they serve as faculty quartet-in-residence at the

National Youth Orchestra of Canada, as well as at their very own Formosa Chamber Music Festival in Hualien, Taiwan. The Formosa

Quartet forms an octet with violins Joseph Curtin (2001) and Andrea Guarneri (1662), an Enrico Catenari viola (1680), and a Vincenzo

Postiglione cello (1885) on generous loan from the Arts and Letters Foundation.

short bio

press“The players projected a securely integrated ensemble with a vivid

sonority that had just enough edge to command attention. First

violinist Jasmine Lin was the primary source of this vibrant sound, and

when she took hold of a soaring phrase, the pulse of the whole room

raced. Violinist Wayne Lee of the bright sound and nimble phrasing

eloquently matched Lin, and violist Che-Yen Chen’s muscular ap-

proach easily demolished the stereotype of the self-effacing violist…

Pae’s resonant cello solos in both the Liang and Wilson works

displayed a sophisticated technique that easily adapted to the

seasoned Formosa Quartet.”–Ken Herman, San Diego Story

“Bold and intense, like shots of pure espresso…the performances

go beyond the beautiful and into the territory of unexpectedly

thrilling.”–MUSO Magazine

“They deliver almost technically flawless performances, taking

particular care to ensure that textures are as crystal-clear as possible

throughout each work. This approach is particularly effective in the

Mozart K. 387, which is given a marvellously elegant performance full

of youthful freshness and exuberance in the outer movements with a

naturally warm lyricism in the Andante Cantabile. It also illuminates

the rhythmic complexities of the Scherzo of Debussy’s Quartet

presented here with spellbinding virtuosity.”–BBC Music Magazine

“They also convey with seasoned skill the drama, poetry and

lyricism of Schubert’s Quartettsatz and inject Wolf’s Italian Ser-

enade not only with breathtaking vitality and athleticism but also

with a true joie de vivre.”–Strad Magazine

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FORMOSA QUARTET string quartet

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ALLEGED DANCES

John Adams’s Book of Alleged Dances — an exhilarating collection of

rhythmic vignettes ranging from bluegrass to Renaissance, blaring to

intimate, “very” to “barely” — is offered here in an exciting pairing

with one of the ultimate achievements of Western civilization. Among

his very last, Beethoven’s Opus 132 was written in the midst of failing

health and recovery from a month-long illness. Indeed, the piece at

times almost seems to look over at life from the other side. The

Heiliger Dankgesang, a “Holy song of thanks” in the Lydian church

mode, touches a deep chord of humanity and communion with the

divinity. Through a gamut of pain, optimism, struggle, and renewal,

the music— as in much late Beethoven— dances to an otherworldly

timeless beat.

Works to be performed on the “Alleged Dances” program include:

Beethoven, String Quartet in A minor, Op. 132

John Adams, John’s Book of Alleged Dances

KIND OF BLUEHints of blues and spirituals sound in Dvořák’s America-birthed quartet

of 1893, while latent jazz seeds brew in Debussy’s watershed string

quartet of the same year, composed when his harmonic inven-

tions were about to join the genetics of jazz. The pentatonic scale,

prevalent in both composers, adds a splash of Asian to the fusion

— incidentally completing the program’s reflection of Formosa

Quartet’s dual identity. The two slow movements vocalize the

bittersweet heartache of “blue,” with French-inspired Gershwin

interspersing a lighter blue in between. Topping it all off is Formo-

sa’s own arrangement of four sizzling tunes by French jazz violinist

Stéphane Grappelli.

Works to be performed on the “Kind of Blue” program include:

Dvořák, String Quartet in F major, ”American”

Gershwin (arr. Formosa Quartet), Summertime

Debussy, String Quartet

Stéphane Grappelli (arr. Jasmine Lin), 4 Grappelli Jazz Tunes

(BRITTEN)BRITTENHauntingly lyrical and intensely dramatic, Benjamin Britten’s

Second String Quartet was written for the 250th anniversary of

Henry Purcell’s death in 1945 and came on the heels of his opera

Peter Grimes, which made Britten famous the world over. The

first three-quarters of the program is the Second Quartet in

macrocosm, beginning with Lei Liang’s nostalgic Song Recollec-

tions, a piece written for the Formosa Quartet in 2016. The

optimistic rising seventh intervals in Beethoven’s D Major Quartet

echo the obsessive rising tenths in the Britten, and both pieces

contain tarantellas, a whirling dance sparked (legend has it) by a

tarantula bite. The epic final movement of the Britten was

modeled after Purcell’s solemn Chacony, a fitting tribute to one

of Britain’s most revered composers by a brilliant prodigy three

centuries later.

Works to be performed on the “(Britten)Britten” program include:

Lei Liang, Song Recollections (FQ commission)

Beethoven, String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3

Purcell-Britten, Chacony

Britten, String Quartet No. 2 in C Major

program offerings

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program offerings (cont.)On the Liang work:

“Liang saluted the Formosa Quartet’s determination to promote the music of its homeland by delving into Taiwanese folk songs from aboriginal tribes who lived there long before others arrived. And it is a masterwork. It has everything: originality in conception as its striking shape emerges from a tantalizingly amorphous beginning; rollicking good humor transformed into sweeping triumph; melancholy and child-like playfulness; and above all Nature — frogs and crickets and the sound of rain on a forest canopy.

But make no mistake, this work is far more than tone painting. Liang has taken the raw material of human song and natural substance and made something sublime, often breathtaking.” – Marcus Overton for The San Diego Union-Tribune, March 30, 2016

PIANO QUINTETSAlthough ensconced in the Romantic tradition, the Gernsheim Piano

Quintet No. 2 offers a unique sound world, perhaps containing more

spontaneity of gesture and harmony than many of its contemporary

works. Its language, born of a line of German composers, evokes a

vastness, a landscape of tall open spaces, that at times seems to

transcend its country of origin. The Brahms Piano Quintet hardly

needs introduction; yet in its old familiar presence one cannot help

but be amazed by the truth of its un-aging effect on us. Ask any

string quartet player or pianist, and they will likely tell you that the

piece is among their top five most-performed. But one never tires

of it, so sincere is its sensibility, and every single time one reaches

the end of the Andante un poco adagio, one is forcibly struck by

its beauty. The human heart is what ultimately connects us to one

another, and in Brahms beats one of the most extraordinary hearts

in music.

This program celebrates the release of Reiko Uchida and the

Formosa Quartet’s recording of Gernsheim and Brahms Quintets

on Delos Records.

Works to be performed on the “Piano Quintets” program include:

Wolf, Italian Serenade

Brahms, Piano Quintet

Friedrich Gernsheim, Piano Quintet No. 2

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MASTER CLASSES AND CHAMBER MUSIC COACHINGS

The Formosa Quartet brings years of experience and immeasurable

enthusiasm to the instruction of the next generation of chamber musi-

cians. They are thrilled to work with students in a variety of contexts.

The group has teaching residencies at the Formosa Chamber Music

Festival and the National Youth Orchestra of Canada, and they also

have experience coaching and giving master classes at schools such

as the University of Southern California, Cal State Fullerton, Roosevelt

University, the Juilliard School, Cornell University, and Rice University.

AUDIENCE BUILDING

Formosa Quartet is eager to bring music to underserved commu-

nities, and to perform in unusual or surprising new contexts. This

could include performances at schools, retirement homes, and

hospitals; they are also available for short, ad hoc performances

in coffee shops, salons, cafés, cafeterias, and public spaces,

perhaps as a way to spark interest in an upcoming concert

within the community.

UNIVERSITY RESIDENCIES

University residencies with the Formosa Quartet offer a total-immer-

sion experience: beyond a full-length concert, individual lessons, and

chamber music coachings and master classes, Formosa Quartet can

conduct student composition readings and outreach programs in

the community, and can integrate themselves into the existing music

department curriculum for the length of their stay. They can trace

hundreds of years of music history through the medium of the string

quartet, illustrate concepts of music theory through performance ex-

amples, or even discuss the business of music or arts administration.

Formosa is happy to work closely with artistic directors and faculty

members to custom-design a residency specific to the needs of the

students and larger community.

additional offerings

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FORMOSA QUARTET string quartet