The Balourdet Quartet joined the Eureka Chamber Music Series last year for formal concerts in Eureka and Arcata. Over the course of one week the group also played 11 community outreach concerts in local schools, hospitals and other meeting places where one wouldn’t normally expect to find a string quartet playing Beethoven and Mendelssohn.
Since that packed week of local performances, the Balourdet Quartet has debuted at Carnegie Hall in New York City and London’s Wigmore Hall and was named the first-ever quartet in residence at the Seattle Chamber Music Society after completing post-graduate residencies at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program.
The Balourdet Quartet returns to Humboldt County later this month with more Beethoven and Mendelssohn, plus works by Schubert, Brahms and the celebrated contemporary American composer Paul Novak.
A Mainstage Concert will be presented on March 28 at 7:30 p.m. at Calvary Lutheran Church in Eureka. The repertoire for the evening includes “Quartettsatz, D 703” by Franz Schubert, “impossible inventions (2024) for string quartet” by Paul Novak, “String Quartet in D Major, Op. 18, No. 3” by Ludwig van Beethoven, and “String Quintet No. 2 in B flat major, Op. 87” by Felix Mendelssohn. Mainstage Concert tickets are $40 general and $10 for students. To purchase tickets, visit eurekachambermusic.org and follow the “purchase tickets” link. Remaining tickets will be sold at the door.
On March 29 at 3 p.m. at The Lutheran Church of Arcata, the Balourdet performs “String Quartet No. 3 in B flat major, Op. 67” by Johannes Brahms. This increasingly popular Concert & Conversation format will include the music, plus an insightful conversation between the artists and the audience. Concert and Conversation tickets are $20 general and $5 for students. As always, purchasing tickets in advance is recommended. There are no added fees or service charges when ordering tickets online.
The Balourdet Quartet is acclaimed for its vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision and emotional depth that brings a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions. The group’s closeness and willingness to take creative risks earned it the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant and Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award.
The Balourdet journey began in 2018 in the mountains of New Mexico at the Taos School of Music, where violinists Justin DeFilippis, Angela Bae and cellist Russell Houston first bonded as friends over long evenings of chamber music, luxurious peppermint schnapps and extravagant meals created by chef extraordinaire Antoine Balourdet. It was the friendships, a shared passion for music and food, and gratitude for the role the festival played in the formation of the quartet, that inspired the members to name the ensemble in Balourdet’s honor.
Soon thereafter, in the heat of a waning Texas summer, the trio of musicians joined with violist Benjamin Zannoni at Rice University, and the Balourdet Quartet was formed. Inspired by their love for the repertoire and the excitement of having found each other, the four friends found themselves playing quartets late into the night for fun. After having been together for only one year at Rice University and a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, they took second prize at the Nielsen International String Quartet Competition, and were selected as the only quartet admitted to Boston’s historic New England Conservatory Professional String Quartet Program under the tutelage of Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz.
In 2021, the quartet won the Grand Prize at New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, which included joint management by Concert Artists Guild in the U.S., and Young Classical Artist’s Trust in the UK and Europe. In addition, the Balourdet has been prizewinners in Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, Gold Medal winners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Gold Medal and Audience Prizewinners at the Yellow Springs Competition.
Committed to sharing their musical values with the next generation, the quartet has served regularly as faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, JDR Summer Music Academy, Berkshire Summer Music and Opus Chamber Music. They have also given master classes and coachings at Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Rice University, Emory University, New England Conservatory Preparatory Department, Fischoff Chamber Music Academy, Upper Valley Chamber Music and Wright State University.
For more information about the nonprofit Eureka Chamber Music Series, go to www.eurekachambermusic.org.