The Calidore String Quartet has been recognized for achieving an extraordinary cohesion of individual artistry and collective expression. The Washington Post noted that “four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one.” The Los Angeles Times called their playing “astonishing…the kind of sublimity other quartets spend a lifetime searching for,” and The New York Times praised them for their “deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct.” With repertoire spanning the complete quartet cycles of Beethoven and Mendelssohn to works by contemporary voices such as György Kurtág, Jörg Widmann, and Caroline Shaw, the Calidore reflect a breadth and curiosity that have distinguished the ensemble as one of the most versatile and accomplished on the chamber music scene.
The Calidore has performed at many of the world’s great concert halls and festivals, including Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Konzerthaus, Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, Brussels BOZAR, and festivals such as the BBC Proms, Verbier, Ravinia, Caramoor, Music@Menlo, and annually at The Bellingham Festival of Music. Collaborators have included Anne-Sophie Mutter, Joshua Bell, Anthony McGill, Marc-André Hamelin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, David Finckel and Wu Han, the Emerson String Quartet and the Ébène Quartet among others.
Dedicated advocates for contemporary music, the Calidore has premiered works by Caroline Shaw, John Williams, Anna Clyne, Sebastian Currier, Han Lash, and Huw Watkins. Last season, they gave the world premiere of a new quartet Arietta by Mark-Anthony Turnage at the Segerstrom Center for the Arts and reunited with Gabriela Montero at the Barbican Centre for a performance of her piano quintet Canaima.
During the 26/27 season, the Calidore give the world premiere of a new piece by Anna Clyne in Stockholm, followed by an American premiere in Baltimore. The piece is co-commissioned by Konserthuset Stockholm, Shriver Hall Concert Series, and The Phillips Collection and will be featured on an upcoming album of Anna Clyne’s complete chamber works to be released on Signum. The quartet tours widely across North America, with
engagements at New York’s Lincoln Center and in Montreal and Portland, a tour of California, and a Beethoven residency in Denver. In Europe, they return to Amsterdam, London’s Wigmore Hall, and Padova.
In 2025, the Calidore unveiled a landmark box set of the complete Beethoven string quartets, recorded for Signum following their live cycle at Lincoln Center in New York. The first volume—featuring the late quartets—was released in 2023 to widespread acclaim and earned the Quartet the 2024 BBC Music Magazine Chamber Award. The second volume, released in 2024, was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone Magazine. Earlier recordings for Signum include Babel, featuring works by Schumann, Shaw, and Shostakovich, and Resilience, with music by Prokofiev, Janáček, Golijov, and Mendelssohn. The Calidore’s latest release, American Tapestry, features music by Barber, Marsalis, Korngold, and John Williams.
Formed in 2010 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Calidore rose to prominence with top prizes at the ARD Munich, Hamburg, Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions, along with the Grand Prize of the inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition and the prestigious Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship.
Additional honors include the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and selection as BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists.
Currently the Distinguished String Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Delaware, the Calidore has also held residencies at the University of Toronto, University of Michigan, and Stony Brook University. The Quartet’s mentors include the Emerson String Quartet, Quatuor Ébène, Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, David Finckel, Günter Pichler, Guillaume Sutre, Paul Coletti, and Ronald Leonard.