Chiara Quartet

The Chiara String Quartet (Rebecca Fischer and Hyeyung Yoon, violins; Jonah Sirota, viola; Gregory Beaver, cello) was known throughout its eighteen-year tenure as a group that engaged with music at its core. From 2000-2018 the quartet dedicated itself to making the musical experience meaningful for all involved, from playing in venues like major concert halls to clubs, creating interactive programs for all ages, and performing and recording from memory, or “by heart.” Described by an audience member as “a 3-D experience for the listener,” playing by heart was deeply rewarding for the Chiaras; memorizing the score helped the quartet to closely relate to the composer’s compositional process as well as become more vulnerable onstage. The Chiara’s “highly virtuosic, edge-of-the-seat playing” (The Boston Globe) garnered them awards on three continents, as well as long term residencies at Harvard University, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the University of Nebraska, and Greenwood Music Camp. They collaborated with artists such as Simone Dinnerstein, Roger Tapping, the Juilliard and Saint Lawrence Quartets, and the electronic group Matmos, as well as commissioning and premiering many new works. Their recordings of string quartets by Béla Bartók, Gabriela Lena Frank, Johannes Brahms, Robert Sirota and Jefferson Friedman, among others, capture the Chiara’s uniquely vibrant sound and purpose.