About

Acclaimed as “unfailingly vital” (The New York Times), “brilliant,” “downtown’s reigning string quartet” (The New Yorker), and “one of the most exciting quartets around” (Strad Magazine), ETHEL invigorates the contemporary music scene with exuberance, intensity, imaginative programming, and exceptional artistry.

At the heart of ETHEL is a quest for a common creative expression that is forged in the celebration of community. As cultural and musical “pollinators,” the quartet brings its collaborative discoveries to audiences through multi-dimensional musical repertoire and community engagement.

ETHEL's 2015-16 season celebrates the diversity of regional American music, anchored by a national tour of the evening-length ETHEL’s Documerica. Described by The New York Times as “new music bonding with old images in rich, provocative and moving ways,” this program directed by Steve Cosson features montages by acclaimed projection artist Deborah Johnson in concert with commissioned work by Mary Ellen Childs, Ulysses Owens Jr., Jared Impichchaachaaha’ Tate and James "Kimo" Williams and new music by the members of ETHEL.

ETHEL will tour several critically-acclaimed signature programs throughout the season, ranging from The River, a collaboration with Taos Pueblo flutist Robert Mirabal, to an introspective program Grace, featuring ETHEL's arrangements of music by Ennio Morricone and Jeff Buckley. Other highlights include the world premiere of Pulitzer Prize winner Julia Wolfe’s “Blue Dress,” commissioned by ETHEL, at National Sawdust; performances of new and existing repertoire as the Resident Ensemble at The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Balcony Bar; and interdisciplinary activities as Ensemble-in-Residence at Denison University. While on tour and at home, ETHEL offers in-depth residency and community outreach to connect a broad spectrum of audiences and students to its music.

Always striving to demonstrate the unifying power of music, ETHEL has initiated innovative collaborations with an extraordinary community of international artists including David Byrne, Bang on a Can, Todd Rundgren, Carlo Mombelli, Ursula Oppens, Loudon Wainwright III, STEW, Ensemble Modern, Jill Sobule, Dean Osborne, Howard Levy, Simone Sou, Andrew Bird, Iva Bittová, Colin Currie, Thomas Dolby, Jeff Peterson, Oleg Fateev, Stephen Gosling, Jake Shimabukuro, Polygraph Lounge and Vijay Iyer.

From 2004 – 2014, ETHEL served as the Ensemble-in-Residence at the Grand Canyon Music Festival's Native American Composers Apprenticeship Project. The group’s ongoing dedication to working with indigenous people and music culminated in the 2010 release of Oshtali: Music for String Quartet (Thunderbird Records), the first commercial recording of American Indian student works.

ETHEL’s debut CD was a Billboard Magazine “Best Recording of 2003.” Its second CD, Light, ranked #3 on Amazon.com’s “Best of 2006” and #5 on WYNC’s “Best of 2006 Listener Poll.” The group’s most recent CD, Heavy, was released in 2012 to great critical acclaim. Recordings of ETHEL’s Documerica and The River will be released fall 2015. ETHEL has appeared as a guest artist on many albums, including The Paha Sapa Give-Back by Jerome Kitzke, (Innova, 2014), Cold Blue Two (Cold Blue Music, 2012), Glow by Kaki King (Velour Recordings, 2012); Blue Moth by Anna Clyne (Tzadik, 2012); A Map of the Floating City by Thomas Dolby (Redeye Label, 2012); The Duke by Joe Jackson (Razor & Tie, 2012); John the Revelator: A Mass for Six Voices by Phil Kline (Cantaloupe Music, 2008) with vocal group Lionheart; and the GRAMMY® Award-winning Dedicated to You: Kurt Elling Sings the Music of Coltrane and Hartman (Concord Records, 2009).

Over the past five years, ETHEL has premiered 100+ new works by 20th- and 21st-century composers including: Phil Kline’s “SPACE” at the gala reopening of Alice Tully Hall; “RADIO” by Osvaldo Golijov at the debut of WNYC Radio’s Jerome L. Greene Space; ETHEL’s TruckStop®: The Beginning and ETHEL’s Documerica at BAM’s Next Wave Festival; ETHEL Fair: The Songwriters at opening night of Lincoln Center’s Out of Doors; “WAIT FOR GREEN” with choreographer Annie-B Parson commissioned by Arts Brookfield; “HonBiBaekSan” by Dohee Lee at Meet the Composer’s 3-City Dash Festival, and “Quartet for Queen Mab” by Missy Mazzoli at Miller Theater. ETHEL’s HomeBaked series has commissioned and premiered works by emerging NYC composers Andy Akiho, Hannis Brown, Anna Clyne, Lainie Fefferman, Dan Friel, Judd Greenstein, Matt Marks, and Ulysses Owens Jr. to date. ETHEL has debuted original scores in combination with new choreography by Aleksandra Vrebalov/Dusan Tynek Dance Company and Son Lux/Gina Gibney Dance; and works by contemporary music luminaries such as Philip Glass, Julia Wolfe, John Zorn, Evan Ziporyn, Steve Reich, John King, Raz Mesinai, John Luther Adams, JacobTV, Hafez Modirzadeh, David Lang, Kenji Bunch, Don Byron and Marcelo Zarvos.

Founded in 1998 and based in New York City, ETHEL is comprised of Ralph Farris (viola), Dorothy Lawson (cello), Kip Jones (violin), and Corin Lee (violin).

Music

Glass
Reich
Contemporary
Covers

Audio