The LYRIS QUARTET, described as "radiant... exquisite... and powerfully engaged" by Mark Swed of the LA Times, is one of the most sought after ensembles on the west coast. Equally at home with standard quartet repertoire and the music of today, Lyris has premiered countless works and has been involved in numerous commissions by some of the most exciting composers of our time. Members of the quartet have won top prizes at the Tchaikovsky International Competition and Aspen Music Festival and have collaborated with renowned artists Natalia Gutman, David Geringas, Martha Argerich, Alban Gerhardt, Boris Pergamenschikov, Midori, Guillame Sutre, Myung-Whun Chung, Glenn Dicterow and Richard Stoltzman.
Lyris has worked closely with composers Krystof Penderecki, Andrew Norman, Oliver Knussen, Steven Mackey, John Adams, Peter Knell, Kurt Rohde, Paquito D'Rivera, and Wadada Leo Smith. The quartet appears regularly alongside composer/pianist Billy Childs as part of his jazz ensemble in venues such as Disney Hall and the Ford Amphitheater. They have also appeared with jazz bass legend Stanley Clarke at the Broad Stage. Lyris had the distinction of working with Steve Reich on a retrospective concert of his music at LACMA’s Bing Hall and they recorded an album of the music of Gerard Schurmann for Toccata Classics, one of the composer’s final studio recordings. The quartet was awarded a Chamber Music America Classical Commissioning grant with composer Chris Castro for a new work with voice. Also well versed in the world of film music, Lyris gave the world premiere performances of a concerto for string quartet by Bruce Broughton and was featured on the most recent album of Danny Elfman.
The quartet has appeared throughout North America, Europe, and Asia in a diverse range of ensembles including Grammy nominated groups Absolute Ensemble, Southwest Chamber Music, and Orchestra Ensemble Kanazawa as well as solo and chamber appearances in various festivals such as Bravo! Vail, Ravinia, Brahms Festival in Madrid, Music Academy of the West, Banff Centre for the Arts, Czech SommerFest, and Oregon Festival of American Music, among others. Lyris has been featured several times on the LA Philharmonic’s Green Umbrella series, including a commission of a new work by Michelle Lou premiered at Noon to Midnight. Lyris gave the west coast premiere of David Lang's "The Difficulty of Crossing a Field'' with Long Beach Opera to critical acclaim. Notable projects include innovative multimedia concerts with artists Andrew Burke and Ana Prvacki as well as opening for Kraftwerk at the Hollywood Bowl and for Ben Harper at the Folies Bérgere in Paris. This year marks their eleventh season as the resident ensemble for the nationally acclaimed series Jacaranda: Music at the Edge.
The Lyris Quartet is the founding resident ensemble of the Hear Now Music Festival, which focuses on the music of living Los Angeles composers. As part of this series, they have collaborated with and premiered works by Stephen Hartke, Don Davis, Arturo Cardélus, Nina Shekhar and Veronika Krausas, among others. The Lyris Quartet has recorded for Toccata Classics, ARS and Naxos.
