Poiesis Quartet
Sunday, March 23
2:30 PM
Ashe Arts Center
Tickets: $18.50 Adult, $7.50 Student
The Poiesis Quartet is the 2023 Grand Prize winner of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Having formed just eight months earlier during Oberlin Conservatory’s Advanced String Quartet Seminar, Poiesis also received Fischoff’s Senior Strings Gold Medal and the Lift Every Voice prizes, as well as Gold Medal and BIPOC Prize at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition. In May 2024, Poiesis joined the Concert Artists Guild roster for North American management as the winners of the Louis & Susan Meisel Competition. Currently, Poiesis is the Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) studying under the Ariel Quartet. For the 2024-25 season, they also serve as the ensemble-in-residence of concertnova, a Cincinnati-based collective which presents multi-sensorial and interdisciplinary concert experiences. Other highlights of the 2024-25 season include appearances on chamber music series in Asheville, NC and San Antonio, TX, the world premiere at CCM of two new quartets by Brian Raphael Nabors and Kitty Brazelton, and the October 2024 release of the ensemble’s debut album, as we are, in collaboration with Nancy Maultsby on the Bright Shiny Things label.
In January 2023, the Quartet completed an international tour in Uruguay with artistic residencies in Punta del Diablo and Punta del Este’s premier concert series, Conciertos del Este. Performances included the world premiere of Alejandro Melo’s composition “Elegy” which was dedicated to the Quartet. As part of their Fischoff Gold Medal and Grand prizes, Poiesis embarked on a tour of both the Midwestern U.S. and Emilia-Romagna, Italy. Highlights included the Italian premier of Kevin Lau’s String Quartet no. 3, a collaboration with clarinetist Claudio Mansutti, a recording of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson’s Calvary Quartet at Guarneri Hall in Chicago, educational outreach at five middle and high schools in Des Moines, IA and South Bend, IN, and a feature on the Dame Myra Hess Concert Series broadcast live on Chicago’s WFMT. Poiesis presented the opening concert of the Rocky River Chamber Music Society’s 65th season, including the Cleveland premiere of a new song cycle by Cleveland Orchestra trombonist Rick Stout with illustrious mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby. For this performance, the quartet was lauded as “agile collaborators” with an “extraordinary, honeyed group sound” (Cleveland Classical). In the 2023-24 season, Poiesis made their debuts on series including the Schneider Concerts in New York City, the Kent Blossom Music Festival, and the Faculty Chamber Series at Baldwin Wallace University.
Poiesis regularly coaches with the Ariel Quartet as well as CCM faculty members Nick Photinos, Kristin Lee, and Ayane Kozasa. As graduates of Oberlin, they have previously been mentored by Sibbi Bernhardsson of the Pacifica Quartet and by members of the Verona Quartet. Additionally, Poiesis is grateful to have worked with Kirsten Docter of the Cavani Quartet, Sandy Yamamoto of the Miró Quartet, Philip Setzer and Paul Watkins of the Emerson Quartet, Matt Albert of Eighth Blackbird, and renowned violinist Jinjoo Cho.
Comprised of violinists Sarah Ma (22) and Max Ball (22), cellist Drew Dansby (23), and violist Jasper de Boor (23), members of the Poiesis Quartet have attended programs such as Kneisel Hall, the Perlman Music Program, Verbier Festival Orchestra, Aspen Music Festival, and Madeline Island Chamber Music’s Fellowship program. The Poiesis are a group of interdisciplinary musicians: In addition to their performance degrees from Oberlin, Drew also received a B.A. in Chemistry, and Sarah holds two minors in Comparative American Studies and Gender, Sexuality, & Feminist Studies. Jasper graduated as a double major in viola and violin performance with a minor in baroque violin, and Max pursued a minor in jazz studies. When not playing chamber music, Poiesis loves to learn new languages on Duolingo, share delicious ice cream cakes, and take long walks on the beach.
The name Poiesis is derived from the ancient Greek word ποιεῖν, which means “to make“; particularly, to create something that has never been made before.
As a string quartet made up of inter- and multi-disciplinary young artists, the Poiesis Quartet seeks to program music of all styles and genres and expand the traditional quartet setting with an emphasis on platforming works by emerging and underrepresented composers. Poiesis strives to create unique moments of synchronicity, sensitivity, and verve in each performance.
