Chamichian Endowment Concert: Vega Quartet

The Vega String Quartet, Quartet-in-Residence at Emory University, is cultivating a new generation of chamber music lovers through dynamic performances and innovative community engagement. The New York Times raved that "[the Quartet’s] playing had a kind of clean intoxication to it, pulling the listener along…the musicians took real risks in their music making" and the L.A. Times praised their “triumphant L.A. debut.”  Winners of four of the top six prizes at the Bordeaux String Quartet Competition, including the International Critics Prize, the Vega Quartet tours extensively throughout Europe, Asia and North America. Their live broadcast credits include NPR’s Performance Today, WABE’s City Lights, as well as Radio France, National Radio of China and the National Radio of the Czech Republic. The Vega Quartet has appeared at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Royal Academy of Music in London, Musée d’Orsay in Paris, Vienna’s Musikverein and Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw, among others. The Vega Quartet performs frequently at numerous music festivals, including Amelia Island, Highlands-Cashiers, Juneau Jazz & Classics, Sitka Summer Music, Brevard and Kneisel Hall.

Their unique “Beethoven and Bluegrass” program alongside Mark and Maggie O’Connor has brought them to Denver, CO, Charlotte, NC, Amelia Island, FL and Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in the spring of 2025. Other recent concert appearances include the National Gallery in Washington, DC, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, and Saint Thomas in the US Virgin Islands.

The Vega Quartet can be heard on labels such as Naxos and Artek, notably releasing the first recording of John Alden Carpenter’s String Quartet and Piano Quintet under the American Classics series for Naxos. The Vega Quartet has collaborated with many of the world’s finest musicians, including Yo-Yo Ma, David Shifrin, Andres Cardenes, Zuill Bailey, Robert Spano, Jon Kimura Parker, Richard Stoltzman, Robert McDuffie, Soovin Kim, David Coucheron, James Dunham, the Juilliard Quartet and Eroica Trio.

Celebrating 20 years at Emory, their 2025-2026 season will feature a series of commissions, special projects and concert appearances throughout the Emory University community. The Quartet’s collaboration in a project with PBS called “Songs about Buildings and Moods,” featuring newly commissioned works, will be released in early 2026.

The ensemble’s major performing projects at Emory University have included multiple presentations of the complete Beethoven cycle, as well as pairing Bach’s complete works for solo violin, viola and cello with the six quartets of Bela Bartok.In addition to a full calendar of performances as the core members of the Emory Chamber Music Society, the Vega Quartet collaborates with professors across the curriculum at Emory University, presenting music as a catalyst for interdisciplinary discovery. The quartet’s lecture performances regularly take them to different departments, including Law, Medicine, Environmental Science, Literature, Biochemistry, Philosophy, Neurobiology, and Anthropology, among many others.The Vega Quartet’s vast performance experience and their passionate devotion to musical ideals and to building connections with audiences are a driving force behind the quartet’s three-decade career.