中華表演藝術基金會 Chinese Performing Arts Foundation

Robin Scott, Violin
Janet Ying, Violin
Phillip Ying, Viola
David Ying, Cello

“The Ying Quartet performed with technical mastery, musical insight, vivid imagination, and tireless enthusiasm.” — Joe Sekon, Peninsula Reviews


Janet Ying Violin	Phillip Ying Viola	Robin Scott Violin	David Ying Cello

The Ying Quartet occupies a position of unique prominence in the classical music world, combining brilliantly communicative performances with a fearlessly imaginative view of chamber music in today’s world. Now in its second decade, the Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of the highest musical qualifications. Their performances regularly take place in many of the world’s most important concert halls, from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House; at the same time, the Quartet’s belief that concert music can also be a meaningful part of everyday life has also drawn the foursome to perform in settings as diverse as the workplace, schools, juvenile prisons, and the White House. In fact, the Ying Quartet’s constant quest to explore the creative possibilities of the string quartet has led it to an unusually diverse array of musical projects and interests.

The Ying’s ongoing LifeMusic commissioning project, created in response to their commitment to expanding the rich string quartet repertoire, has already achieved an impressive history. Supported by the Institute for American Music, the Yings commission both established and emerging composers to create music that reflects contemporary American life. Their most recent recording of commissions, titled “The United States,” features works by Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Chen Yi, and Augusta Read Thomas. Other recent works include Lowell Liebermann’s String Quartet No. 3, To the Victims of War”; Sebastian Currier’s Next Atlantis; Richard Danielpour’s Quartet No. 6, Addio; and John Novacek’s Three Rags for String Quartet. The 2011-12 season featured Billy Childs’ Awakening,” 2012-13 brought the debut of Kenji Bunch’s Quartet No. 2, “Concussion Theory,” and 2013-14 premiered a work by the celebrated Lera Auerbach.

In addition to appearing in conventional concert situations, the Ying Quartet is also known for its wide-ranging and unusual performance projects. For several years the Quartet presented a series called “No Boundaries” at Symphony Space in New York City that sought to re-imagine the concert experience. Collaborations with actors, dancers, electronics, a host of non-classical musicians, a magician and even a Chinese noodle chef gave new and thoughtful context to a wide variety of both traditional and contemporary string quartet music. They have also worked with composer Tod Machover and the MIT Media lab in the use of Hyperscore, an innovative musical composition software. Other musical partners range from pianists Menahem Pressler and Gilbert Kalish and cellist Paul Katz to the jazz pianist Billy Childs and his Sextet and the Turtle Island Quartet.

The Ying Quartet’s recordings reflect many of the group’s wide-ranging musical interests and have generated consistent, enthusiastic acclaim. The group’s most recent CD, “American Anthem” (Sono Luminus), heralding the music of Randall Thompson, Samuel Barber, and Howard Hanson, was released in 2013 to rave reviews; their 2007 Telarc release of the three Tchaikovsky Quartets and the Souvenir de Florence (with James Dunham and Paul Katz) was nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Chamber Music Performance category. In addition, their much-heralded collaboration with the Turtle Island Quartet, “Four + 4,” explored the common ground between the classic string quartet tradition and jazz and other American vernacular styles, and won a Grammy Award in 2005. “Dim Sum” (Telarc), released in 2008, features music by Chinese-American composers that merges the Western string quartet with the aural world of traditional Chinese music. Released by Quartz, “The Ying Quartet play LifeMusic” was named Editor’s Choice by Gramophone magazine. In 2010 the Quartet signed a multi-year recording deal with a revival of the Dorian label; the first of the recordings, focusing on the compositions of Anton Arensky, was released in the fall of 2011.

The Ying Quartet first came to professional prominence in the early 1990s during their years as resident quartet of Jesup, Iowa, a farm town of 2000 people. Playing before audiences of six to six hundred in homes, schools, churches, and banks, the Quartet had its first opportunities to enable music and creative endeavor to become an integral part of community life. The Quartet considers its time in Jesup the foundation of its present musical life and goals. The residency, supported by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, was widely chronicled in the national media. Toward the end of the residency, the Quartet and several of the townspeople were invited to Capitol Hill to testify before Congress on behalf of the NEA.

During the summers, the Ying Quartet’s activity is primarily centered at music festivals. They are the ensemble-in-residence at the Bowdoin International Music Festival; other festival appearances have been at Tanglewood, Ravinia, Caramoor, San Miguel de Allende, Kneisel Hall, Norfolk, Skaneateles, Amelia Island, and Interlochen.

As quartet-in-residence at the prestigious Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, the Ying Quartet teaches in the string department and leads a rigorous, sequentially designed chamber music program. One cornerstone of chamber music activity at Eastman is the noted “Music for All” program, in which all students have the opportunity to perform in community settings beyond the concert hall. From 2001-2008, the members of the Ying Quartet were the Blodgett Artists-in-Residence at Harvard University.

(2015)

Violin - Robin Scott

At home as a soloist, chamber musician, and concertmaster, violinist Robin Scott enjoys a broad musical career. He has competed internationally, winning 1st prizes in the California International Young Artists Competition and the WAMSO Young Artist Competition, and 2nd Prizes in the Yehudi Menuhin International Violin Competition, the Irving M Klein International String Competition, and the Stulberg International String Competition. He has soloed with the Minnesota Orchestra, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, the Orchestre National de Lille (France), the Fort Wayne Philharmonic, the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra and many others. He has given numerous recitals and performances throughout the United States and abroad, in such venues as Weill Hall and the Schubert Club in St. Paul.

As a chamber musician, he has performed at the Kennedy Center, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian Institution, Jordan Hall, the Isabella Stewart Gardener Museum, the Perelman Theatre at the Kimmel Center, Weill Hall, the Morgan Library, and Town Hall in New York City. He has attended or appeared at various festivals, including Marlboro Music, Ravinia’s Steans Institute for Young Artists, the Yellow Barn Festival, the Kneisel Hall Festival, the Saratoga Chamber Music Festival, the Chesapeake Chamber Music Festival, MusicIC in Iowa City, and others. He has participated in various tours under the auspices of Marlboro and Ravinia.

Scott serves as concertmaster of the New York Classical Players. He has played with the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra as guest principal 2nd violin, and with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic as guest concertmaster. From 2011-2013 he was concertmaster of and Artist in Residence with the Montgomery Symphony Orchestra.

Scott was recently a student of Donald Weilerstein and Kim Kashkashian at the New England Conservatory in Boston. He received his Bachelor's Degree with Miriam Fried at NEC, where he was the recipient of the Presidential Award. In 2006, he completed an Artist Diploma at Indiana University, also under the tutelage of Miriam Fried. Previously he was a student of Mimi Zweig at IU's preparatory program.

Violin - Janet Ying

Janet Ying is a founding member of the Ying Quartet, whose fascinating career path began in 1992 in Jesup, a small town in northeast Iowa. Among the first groups to be awarded a National Endowment for the Arts grant to live and perform in a rural area, Ms. Ying explored connections between concert music and everyday life, performing throughout the community in places like schools, workplaces, social clubs, churches and banks. In the process of doing so, she forged a vision for making music an integral part of community. At the same time, Ms. Ying was recognized for musical excellence with the Naumburg Chamber Music Award in 1993, and since then has performed extensively across the United States and abroad. Since the Jesup residency, she has continued her quest for creative music-making, creating a series called "No Boundaries" at Symphony Space in New York, combining string quartet music with poetry, dance, popular music, magic, and even a Chinese noodle-making demonstration, as well as collaborating with diverse musicians such as Menahem Pressler, Jon Manasse, jazz pianist Billy Childs, the Turtle Island Quartet, Mike Seeger, and Matt Flinner. Along with the Quartet, she actively commissions new works in an ongoing project called LifeMusic, asking American composers to communicate an aspect of contemporary American life, and has premiered intriguing works from Kevin Puts, Chen Yi, Sebastian Currier, Michael Torke, Bernard Rands, Paul Moravec, Paquito D’Rivera, and Augusta Read Thomas, among others. Ms. Ying can be heard on these recordings: Three Tchaikovsky Quartets and the Souvenir de Florence, its series of three LifeMusic albums featuring American commissions, 4 + Four, a Grammy award winning collaboration with the Turtle Island String Quartet, and Dim Sum, a collection of shorter works melding Eastern and Western sounds. Principal violin studies have been with Yuko Nasu, Sonja Foster, Almita and Roland Vamos, Donald Weilerstein, and William Preucil. Currently, Ms. Ying is an Associate Professor of Chamber Music at the Eastman School of Music, and in addition pursues taiji, Crossfit and an interest in gastronomy.

Viola - Phillip Ying

Phillip Ying, as violist of the Ying Quartet, has performed across the United States, Europe and Asia. He is a recipient of the Naumburg Award for Chamber Music, has won a Grammy for a collaborative recording with the Turtle Island String Quartet, and has been nominated three additional times, most recently for a collaborative album with pianist, Billy Childs. He maintains a vital interest in new music with recent and planned premieres of works by Chen Yi, Augusta Read Thomas, Kevin Puts, Ned Rorem, Jennifer Higdon, Sebastian Currier, Paquito D’Rivera, Lowell Liebermann, Paul Moravec, and Kenji Bunch and is currently engaged in a multi-year commissioning project with the Institute for American Music. Mr. Ying also pursues creative projects across musical styles with other artists such as Garth Fagan and Tod Machover. During the summers, he has performed at the Colorado College, Bowdoin, Aspen, Marlboro, Tanglewood, Caramoor, Norfolk, Music in the Vineyards and Skaneateles Music Festivals. He has recorded on the Sono Luminus, Telarc, Albany, Elektra, and EMI labels. Mr. Ying is an Associate Professor Chamber Music and Viola at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY. From 2001-‐2008, he was named with the Ying Quartet Blodgett Ensemble in Residence at Harvard University. Additionally, he served a six year term as President of Chamber Music America, a national service organization for chamber music ensembles, presenters and artist managers, and has been published by Chamber Music magazine. He is a frequent speaker, panelist, and outside evaluator on subjects such as arts-in-education, advocacy through performance, and chamber music residencies. Mr. Ying received his education at Harvard University, the New England Conservatory, and the Eastman School of Music, and has studied principally with Martha Katz, Walter Trampler, and Roland Vamos.

Cello - David Ying

Cellist David Ying is well known to concert audiences as the cellist of the Grammy Award winning Ying Quartet. With the Quartet he has performed worldwide in celebrated music venues from Carnegie Hall to the Sydney Opera House. The quartet is also known for its enterprising view of concert performance, which has led to visits to the White House as well as correctional facilities, and to business schools as well as hospitals. In its collaborations, the quartet has performed with chamber music greats Menachem Pressler, Gilbert Kalish, and Paul Katz, as well as explored new musical territory with folk musician Mike Seeger, the Turtle Island Quartet, and even actors, dancers, chefs and magicians. With the Quartet, David has created a wide range of recordings that have received consistent acclaim, as well as a Grammy Award and four Grammy nominations. Their recorded work ranges from traditional-‐ Tchaikovsky’s three string quartets and his Souvenir de Florence-‐ to contemporary-‐ three albums of their LifeMusic commissions. It also includes unique collaborations with the Turtle Island Quartet, pianist Billy Childs, and Phish frontman Trey Anastasio. In October 2011, the quartet released the two string quartets and piano quintet of Anton Arensky (Sono Luminus). David first pursued chamber music avidly as a teenaged student at the Eastman School of Music with his piano trio, which was awarded first prize at the Coleman Chamber Music Competition. Later he would also win the Naumburg Chamber Music Award, this time with the Ying Quartet. David is also highly regarded as an individual artist, having been awarded prizes in the Naumburg Cello Competition and in the Washington International Competition. As a solo cellist, he often performs with his wife, pianist Elinor Freer. Together they are also artistic directors of the Skaneateles Festival. Their imaginative view of music has helped to earn the festival a devoted following and national recognition, including a special ASCAP award for adventurous programming. A graduate of both the Eastman School of Music and the Juilliard School, David owes a debt of gratitude to his many fine teachers, who include Leonard Rose, Channing Robbins, Paul Katz, Steven Doane, Robert Sylvester, and Nell Novak. David presently serves on the cello and chamber music faculty at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, where he and Elinor reside with their two children.

2013.03.09