JACK Quartet celebrates 20th anniversary

New music ensemble the JACK Quartet is set to mark its 20th anniversary this week with a celebratory concert at New York’s 92NY culture centre on 10 November. Made up of violinists Christopher Otto and Austin Wulliman, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Jay Campbell, the Quartet is dedicated to the performance, commissioning, and appreciation of new music.

The anniversary concert will feature works commissioned by the ensemble through the quartet’s new recording and artist development initiative JACK Studio, and Twice Removed, a new work commissioned by the Quartet from American composer Anthony Cheung. The new works highlight the launch of the Studio’s newly formed commissioning fund.

Created in 2019, JACK Studio has so far supported more than 40 emerging composers and artists from across the globe with workshops, residencies, recordings, and premieres designed to provide an outlet for composers to explore, develop, and share. Following the anniversary, the Studio is intended to expand to support mentorship between composers and early-career collaborators and bring Studio-commissioned works to venues including the Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, Music Academy of the West, Pierre Boulez Saal, Winterthur Musikkollegium and Lugano Arts Center as well as the Ojai Music Festival.

This month the quartet, its resident artists, and commissioned composers will gather for its first weeklong Studio Residency at Potash Hill in Southern Vermont. The new residency is intended to be an annual ‘incubator for the community’. Cheung will be in residence rehearsing the newly completed work for JACK, while serving as mentor to current JACK Studio resident artists and helping oversee the JACK Studio Readings session for 2024.