The “Sonically Delightful” Jasper String Quartet

The Jasper String Quartet is named for Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada, a place unmatched for its inherent and dramatic beauty—a quality integral to the Jaspers’ belief in the power of string quartet performance. The quartet—J Freivogel and Sae Niwa, violins; Sam Quintal, viola; and Rachel Henderson, cello—has been called “sonically delightful” and praised for having “excellent interplayer communication.” For the Jaspers, who have been performing together since 2003, this communication comes naturally—not only are the four members close friends, but two of them, J and Rachel, are married to each other.

They all live within a block of one another in New Haven, CT, where they are the graduate quartet-in-residence at the Yale School of Music. In addition to performing recitals and coaching undergraduate musicians, the Jaspers also continue to study music under the tutelage of the Tokyo String Quartet.

Good Friends Study, Travel, and Play Together
The quartet began playing together as college students at Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. After graduating, they moved to Texas to attend Rice University as the school’s graduate quartet-in-residence. They also traveled, performing across the United States and in Canada, Norway, England, Italy, and Japan. They have won many music competitions, including the Grand Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2008 Plowman Chamber Music Competition; Grand Prize at the 2008 Coleman Competition; First Prize at the 2008 Chamber Music Yellow Springs; and the Silver Medal at the 2008 and 2009 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.

Music as a Mirror
The Jasper Quartet is dedicated to performing pieces that are emotionally significant to its members, ranging from Haydn and Beethoven through Ligeti, Webern, and Ades.

This season the quartet has begun “Understanding … Through Music!,” a series of performances that explores a particular country, time, or event through its music by connecting repertoire and historical or social happenings through program notes and in-concert discussions. The first program explores the music of the Eastern European nations of Hungary and the Czech Republic, while the second focuses on the Second Viennese School and the innovation of music with Beethoven and Webern.

“Music, as with most art, is a magnificent mirror, often expressing and embodying the emotions of the times,” the quartet explains. “We hope to use this series to learn more for ourselves about our world in specific and meaningful ways and bring this to our audiences.”

The Jaspers at Caramoor
As the 2009-10 Ernst C. Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor, the Jaspers will visit Caramoor for a week to 10 days in Fall 2009 and Spring 2010 to perform concerts and participate in the Student Strings program. (Mark your calendars: the quartet’s first concert is on Sunday, November 22 at 4:00 p.m.)

The Jasper String Quartet is the 11th Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor; previous quartets have been: the Ariel String Quartet, Escher String Quartet, the Avalon String Quartet, Miro String Quartet, Pacifica Quartet, Rossetti String Quartet, the Daedalus Quartet, the Amernet String Quartet, the Jupiter Quartet, and the Parker String Quartet.