About the Artists
Please join us for a Music for Youth Emerging Artists concert featuring the acclaimed Terra String Quartet. Winner of the 2025 Naumburg Chamber Music Competition, and the 2025 Bordeaux and Wigmore Hall International Quartet Competitions, the Terra String Quartet is a vibrant young international ensemble based in New York City. They are composed of graduates of The Juilliard School, The New England Conservatory, Harvard University, and the Curtis Institute of Music.
TSQ is the 2024-26 fellowship Ensemble-in-Residence at the Yale School of Music, where they coach undergraduate chamber group ensembles, as well the 2024–25 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. TSQ has also won top prizes at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition, the 2023 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition, and the 2022 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Known for their sincere storytelling, commitment to artistic excellence, and versatile approach to repertoire, TSQ strives to foster conversation and genuine human connection through their performances and pedagogy. Their mentors and coaches include the members of the Brentano Quartet, Ara Gregorian, Hye-Jin Kim, and Marcy Rosen.
Collaborating with TSQ on this concert are Music for Youth Emerging Artists, Emma Maini and Harry Tao. Emma, age 16, is a junior at Rye Country Day School and attends the Precollege Division of The Juilliard School, where she studies under Elizabeth Chang and Lucie Gelinas. Harry, age 16, is a junior at Wilton High School and studies under Clara Kim in the Juilliard Pre-College program. Emma and Harry have both won numerous competitions and awards, and are avid chamber musicians.
About the Program
This program features Alexander Borodin’s String Quartet No. 2, written as a loving tribute to his wife, pianist Ekaterina Protopopova, alongside the first movement of Brahms’s String Sextet No. 1 in B Flat Major. This program is a masterclass in the art of lyricism - both composers weave incredibly beautiful melodies throughout, and each makes the striking choice to begin their works with the soulful timbre of the cello before passing the line to the first violin.
The sheer catchiness of such melodies has certainly helped to secure their lasting legacies: Borodin’s quartet became the direct inspiration for songs in the 1953 Broadway musical Kismet, making his themes recognizable to those who may not have even heard the quartet before, while Brahms’s sextet is regarded and revered today to be the first work that popularized the irresistible sound and nature of the string sextet form.