The Degas Quartet

The Degas Quartet is one of America’s finest performing ensembles, celebrated by audiences and critics alike for vibrant performances of classical and contemporary repertoire. Founded at the Bowdoin Music Festival in 2000, the Degas Quartet has since performed in many of the world’s finest halls, including Carnegie’s Weill Recital Hall, Atlanta’s Spivey Hall, Aspen’s Harris Hall, and the Library of Congress.

The Degas Quartet is committed to developing innovative residency programs that bring chamber music to the widest possible audience. The Degas Quartet is the current recipient of a residency grant from Chamber Music America for their North Carolina Quartet Project. This project combines university residencies at Appalachian State University, UNC Wilmington, and UNC Pembroke with extensive community education and outreach activity, including performances at schools, community centers, retirement communities, and university classrooms. Prior to this residency project, the Degas Quartet held a three-year residency with the Western Piedmont Symphony in Hickory, North Carolina.

Strong advocates for the performance and composition of new music, the Degas Quartet has premiered numerous new compositions and sponsored commissions from many of America’s leading composers. Recent commissions include “My Penelope” by Andrew Waggoner, a piece based on Waggoner’s homecoming to New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, and “Ludi,” a string octet by Armando Bayolo co-commissioned by the Degas and Euclid Quartets. In addition, the Degas Quartet has recently commissioned new works from composers Laura Kaminsky, Stefan Freund, and Shafer Mahoney.

The Degas Quartet has studied the standard repertoire with some of America's finest ensembles, including the Takács, the Emerson, the Juilliard, the Colorado, the Vermeer and the Cassatt Quartet. The Degas Quartet has performed with many esteemed artists in concert, including pianist Wu Han at the Aspen Music Festival, pianist Awadagin Pratt at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, cellist Steven Doane, and jazz bassist Christian McBride. In addition, the group has collaborated in concert with the Colorado Quartet, the Fry Street Quartet, and the Jupiter Quartet.