The St. Lawrence Quartet is a Canadian string quartet

String quartet

A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...

, and one of Canada's premiere chamber ensembles. It was founded in 1989 and has served residencies at the Juilliard School

Juilliard School

The Juilliard School, located at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City, United States, is a performing arts conservatory which was established in 1905...

, Yale University

Yale University

Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...

, the University of Toronto

University of Toronto

The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...

, the Hartt School

Hartt School

The Hartt School is the comprehensive performing arts conservatory of the University of Hartford located in West Hartford, Connecticut, United States that offers innovative degree programs in music, dance, and theatre...

, and Stanford University

Stanford University

The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...

. In 1992 they won first prize in the Fourth Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Young Concert Artists International Auditions. They have also won a Juno Award

Juno Award

The Juno Awards are presented annually to Canadian musical artists and bands to acknowledge their artistic and technical achievements in all aspects of music...

 and a Preis der Deutsches Schallplaten Kritik, for their EMI recording of Schumann Quartets.

The Quartet has recorded four CDs for EMI (including quartets by Tchaikovsky, Schumann, Shostakovich, and Golijov's Yiddishbuk. A new CD of Haydn is in production). Among the composers whose works the quartet will be premiering in 2008-2010 are John Adams (to be premiered January 2009), Ezequiel Viñao (to be premiered December 2009), Osvaldo Golijov (including a new string quartet in preparation), David Bruce (for clarinet and string quartet, commissioned by Carnegie Hall), and Canadian composers Derek Charke, Suzanne Hebert-Tremblay, Brian Current, Elziabeth Raum, and Marcus Goddard, each representing a different province in Canada. Other collaborations by the group with composers have included R. Murray Schafer (first performance of his String Quartet 3, in 1994, and of his "Four-Forty" in 2002), Jonathan Berger (premiere of "Miracles and Mud," 2001 and "The Bridal Canopy," 2008), Christos Hatzis ("Awakenings," May, 2005), and Roberto Sierra ("Songs from the Diaspora," February 2007).

Members

• Geoff Nuttall, violin
• Scott St. John
  Scott St. John
  Scott St. John is a Canadian violinist and violist. He is a member of the St. Lawrence String Quartet and on faculty at Stanford University, where he teaches violin and chamber music.-Biography:...
  
  , violin (joined September 2006, after original member Barry Shiffman retired from the quartet)
• Lesley Robertson, viola
• Christopher Costanza, cello (joined September 2003, after founding member Marina Hoover retired from the quartet)

The St. Lawrence Quartet plays annually at Bay Chamber Concerts

Bay Chamber Concerts

Bay Chamber Concerts is a non-profit organization located in downtown Rockport, Maine. Bay Chamber Concerts plays a principal role in bringing music, particularly classical music, to the Mid Coast area...

in Camden, Maine.