Johnny Gandelsman, Violin

Colin Jacobsen, Violin

Nicholas Cords, Viola

Michael Nicolas, Cello

Ariadne Greif, Soprano

Brooklyn Rider has carved a singular space in the world of string quartets over the last fifteen-plus years, with repertoire ranging from late-Beethoven to Persian classical music to American roots music to the endlessly varied voices of living composers. 

They will present four brand new string quartets inspired by "Der Blaue Reiter", a pre-WW1 era collective led by Russian painter Wassily Kandinsky, Schoenberg's tonality-shattering String Quartet No. 2 with the mesmerizing American soprano Ariadne Greif, as well as a new song cycle written by Colin Jacobsen, the violinist of quartet and The Knights ensemble.

“They are four classical musicians performing with the energy of young rock stars jamming on their guitars, a Beethoven-goes-indie foray into making classical music accessible but also celebrating why it was good in the first place.”

 —Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

"I don't believe I've ever experienced the radical emotional range of Op. 132's long, slow movement — with its liberating, dancing interjections — more intensely than when listening to the entirety of Healing Modes.” 

 —The New York Times

With their gripping performance style and unquenchable appetite for musical adventure, Brooklyn Rider has carved a singular space in the world of string quartets over their fifteen-plus year history. Defining the string quartet as a medium with deep historic roots and endless possibility for invention, they find equal inspiration in musical languages ranging from late Beethoven to Persian classical music to American roots music to the endlessly varied voices of living composers. Claiming no allegiance to either end of the historical spectrum, Brooklyn Rider most comfortably operates within the long arc of the tradition, seeking to illuminate works of the past with fresh insight while coaxing the malleable genre into the future through an inclusive programming vision, deep-rooted collaborations with a wide range of global tradition bearers, and the creation of thoughtful and relevant frames for commissioning projects.