Cramer Quartet

With period instruments and an invigorating historically informed approach, the Cramer Quartet brings uncommon warmth, transparency, and texture to Classical and early Romantic repertoire as well as commissioned works that explore and expand the sound world of gut strings. The quartet’s stylish, nuanced interpretations and visionary approach to programming stimulate dialogue around old and new works, inviting audiences to listen with fresh ears. 

This season’s activities include appearances at the Morgan Library, National Sawdust, Portland Bach Experience, and the world premiere of 30 mengstraße, inti figgis-vizueta’s commission for Haydn: Dialogues, the Cramer Quartet’s multi-year cycle combining Haydn’s 68 string quartets with sixteen new commissions by composers of marginalized identities. Recent highlights of past seasons include performances at the Academy of Early Music in Ann Arbor, MI, the Stearns Collection of Instruments at the University of Michigan, Five Boroughs Music Festival, a residency at Festival de Música de Santa Catarina in Jaraguá do Sul, Brazil, and the world premiere of cello quintet Soul Bop by Brian Nabors at the Chamber Music Society of Central Virginia.

The Cramer Quartet has been generously supported by New York State Council of the Arts, the Copland Foundation, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council Creative Engagement Grant, and Chamber Music America’s Ensemble Forward Grant. The ensemble takes its name from Wilhelm Cramer, a brilliant violinist who enjoyed a multifaceted career as London’s first major string quartet leader. Cramer is credited with popularizing a late 18th century violin bow which became the inspiration for the style of historical bows used by the Cramer Quartet.