Jasper String Quartet
Celebrating its seventeenth anniversary in 2023, the Jasper String Quartet is recognized as one of the leading American string quartets on the performance stage today. Members of the quartet are Rachel Henderson Freivogel, cello; Andrew Gonzalez, viola; J Freivogel, violin and Karen Kim, violin.
A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the quartet has been hailed as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” (The Strad) and described by Gramophone as “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced.” The New York Times named their album Unbound as one of the 25 Best Classical Recordings of 2017.
This year, the quartet releases their premiere recording of Vivian Fung’s String Quartets 1-4 for the Sono Luminus label, presents premiere performances of new commissions by Ingrid Arauco and Reinaldo Moya, and has residencies with string and composition departments at Michigan State University, Swarthmore College, Haverford College and Shenandoah Conservatory.
The Jasper String Quartet is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians. In addition, the Quartet is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts. The Jasper Quartet is committed to celebrating the diverse array of compositional voices writing for string quartet on every program.
Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the Jasper Quartet launched their professional career in 2006 as Rice University’s Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2008, the Quartet continued its training with the Tokyo String Quartet as Yale University's Graduate Quartet-in-Residence. In 2008, the Jaspers won the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize in the Plowman Chamber Music Competition, the Grand Prize at the Coleman Competition, First Prize at Chamber Music Yellow Springs, and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competitions.
The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada.