Carpe Diem String Quartet, in residence at Ohio Wesleyan University, is an exciting group that has captured the imagination of audiences, the respect of critics, and is becoming one of the most versatile ensembles of their generation. Carpe Diem has earned critical acclaim with innovative programs, electrifying performances, and a passion for audience engagement.
This season, Carpe Diem continues several ambitious projects: the complete recordings of the nine string quartets of Sergey Taneyev on the Naxos label, and the first part of a complete Shostakovich quartet cycle. The quartet continues its collaboration with Columbus Dance Theater, and their joint project “The String Machine”, will be aired by WOSU-PBS television. Carpe Diem has also begun planning an exciting new program with international Accordion and Bandoneon performer Peter Soave, with a concert called “¡Viva Piazzolla!”
The quartet is committed to changing the concert experience of chamber music. Using innovative programming, which includes traditional presentation of the standard repertoire, thematic concerts, and popular music for younger generations, cameras and video to assist in the visual presentation, as well as speaking from the stage to better engage the audience, Carpe Diem is bringing new audiences into the concert hall and revitalizing the chamber music recital.
The quartet, violinists Charles Wetherbee and John Ewing, violist Korine Fujiwara and cellist Diego Fainguersch , is dedicated to music education and outreach, and regularly performs educational programs specifically designed to relate to students of all ages and establish classical music’s relevance to their lives.
Carpe Diem champions the music of living composers, and has premiered and given first Mid-West performances of works by Osvaldo Goljov, Nicholas Maw, Donald Harris, Gunther Schuller, Ken Fuchs, Clancy Newman, Andre Hajdu , Jonathan Leshnoff, Carter Pann, Bruce Wolosoff, Kevin Putts, Richard Smoot, William Thomas McKinley, Danny Elfman, Frank Bennett, Korine Fujiwara, and Eric Sawyer, among others.
“... the artists rose to the challenges of these various selections with vigor, passion, and a sense conveyed to the audience that they were having a good time.”
—The Delaware Gazette
"It was a great pleasure for me to work with the members of the Carpe Diem Quartet as they rehearsed my Second String Quartet. They were thoroughly professional in their approach to the piece, so much so that I knew as soon as the rehearsal began that I would receive a stellar performance at the concert. Each member of the ensemble is a consummate artist and it showed in their complete understanding of what I wrote."
—Donald Harris, composer
“... the premiere, played by the sensitive, tightly matched Carpe Diem String Quartet.”
—The Baltimore Sun
“It’s obvious... that the group has committed itself to forging a unique identity.”
—Mark Stryker, The Detroit Free Press |