Terra String Quartet named YSM’s fellowship quartet-in-residence
The Terra String Quartet has been named the Yale School of Music’s 2024-2025 fellowship quartet-in-residence, succeeding the Callisto Quartet. At Yale, the Terra String Quartet will enjoy the mentorship of YSM’s faculty quartet-in-residence, the Brentano String Quartet, and will in turn provide coaching to undergraduate chamber ensembles at the Department of Music.
Terra Quartet cellist Audrey Chen said the members of the Brentano Quartet “have been mentors of ours” even as individual musicians. “We admire them for their playing but also for who they are as people” and for the dynamic they bring to their work together. “They have such a close friendship,” Chen said, explaining, “They seem to have such a wonderful rapport” and form communities wherever they go. Violinist Amelia Dietrich said the Brentanos are the group she and her colleagues in the Terra Quartet have viewed as a model since their group was formed.
“When we talked about what we want for a career,” Dietrich said, “teaching has been at the forefront of our minds.” Eventually, she said, “we would love to be in residence at an institution just like the Brentanos are at Yale. It’s a lifestyle we’ve really been drawn to. This is a really good first step.” Dietrich said the opportunity to receive mentorship and mentor younger musicians is “unique to the Yale program.”
“The Brentanos’ curation of programs is something we’ve admired and respected for years,” Dietrich said, looking forward to “creating projects that are interdisciplinary.”
“We are excited to think outside the box,” Chen said, mentioning that YSM Dean José García-León discussed with the Terras his interest in facilitating collaborations for them beyond Yale and New Haven. Chen, whose sister recently graduated from Yale, said the University “has always been a place that’s dear to me.”
Dietrich and violinist Harriet Langley met at The Juilliard School in 2017 and formed a quartet. The group was reconstituted in 2020 as the Terra String Quartet. Chen joined the group in 2022, and violist Chih-Ta Chen joined in 2023.
The Terras won the grand prize and gold medal at the prestigious Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2022 and the Christine and David Anderson Career Development Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition the same year. In 2023, the group placed second at the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and third at the Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. The Terras recently performed four concerts at the Rockport Chamber Music Festival in Massachusetts and in August will teach at Suzuki on the Island, in Manhasset, N.Y., and spend a week in residence at the Avaloch Farm Music Institute in Boscawen, N.H.
The string quartet fellowship program at YSM includes a stipend for each musician and is renewable for a second year.
Learn more about the Terra String Quartet at terrastringquartet.com.
