The Society of the Four Arts

Founded in Chicago in 1946, the Fine Arts Quartet is one of the most distinguished ensembles in chamber music today, with an illustrious history of performing success and an extensive recording legacy. The Quartet, whose members are artists-inresidence at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, is one of the elite few to have recorded and toured internationally for over half a century. Three of the Quartet’s current artists, Ralph Evans, Efim Boico, and Wolfgang Laufer, have now been performing together for 25 years. Chauncey Patterson has joined them as interim violist, replacing Yuri Gandelsman who recently retired from the Quartet. Each season, the Fine Arts Quartet tours worldwide, with concerts in such musical centers as New York, London, Paris, Berlin, Rome, Madrid, Moscow, Tokyo, Beijing, Istanbul, Jerusalem, Mexico City, and Toronto. The Fine Arts Quartet’s complete Schumann Quartets CD on Naxos was selected for the 50th Grammy Awards Entry List (2008) in two categories: “Best Classical Album” and “Best Chamber Music Performance.” In addition, the Quartet’s recordings of the complete Mozart String Quintets, released by Lyrinx in SACD format, were selected for the 2003 Grammy Entry List and designated a “Critic’s Choice 2003” by the American Record Guide. The Quartet members have helped form and nurture many of today’s top international young ensembles. They have been guest professors at the national music conservatories of Paris and Lyon, as well as at the summer music schools of Yale University and Indiana University. They also appear regularly as jury members of major competitions such as Evian, Shostakovich, and Bordeaux. Documentaries on the Fine Arts Quartet have appeared on both French and American Public Television. For more information on the Quartet, please visit: http://www.fineartsquartet.org.