Lydian String Quartet

Since its formation in 1980, the Lydian String Quartet has embraced the full range of the string quartet repertory with curiosity, virtuosity and dedication to the highest artistic ideals of music making. In its formative years, the quartet studied with Juilliard Quartet founding member Robert Koff, who had joined the Brandeis University music faculty at the invitation of Irving Fine in 1958. Forging a personality of their own, the Lydians were awarded top prizes in international string quartet competitions, including Evian, Portsmouth and Banff, culminating in 1984 with the Naumburg Award for Chamber Music. In the years to follow, the quartet continued to build an international reputation both in performance and on their extensive and still growing discography of over thirty recordings for their depth of interpretation, performing with "a precision and involvement marking them as among the world's best quartets" (Chicago Sun-Times).  

Residing at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Massachusetts, the Lydians have been committed teachers as well as performers, offering music majors and non-majors at all levels the opportunity to learn both famous chamber works and lesser known works deserving exposure, whether in individual studios or in chamber music ensemble class. The Lydians also have engaged the greater community, with innovative programs such as a children's concert of works reflecting the journey to America of immigrants of diverse backgrounds, or an interdisciplinary collaboration with global climate activist Luisa Neubauer, "Beethoven meets Climate Justice in E-Flat Major". 

In addition to their significant presence in the local Boston-area music scene, the Lydians have performed extensively across the United States and internationally, presenting concerts in recent years on both the East and West coast, and internationally in Taipei where they performed concerts and mentored students in a string quartet intensive seminar at Taipei National University of the Arts.  In May 2025 the Lydians will be featured at the Festival de Mayo in Guadalajara, Mexico where they will present concerts and collaboration with multidisciplinary artists for the premiere of a new theatrical work.  The Lydians have forged strong relationships with many of the most highly esteemed composers and performers of our time, including recent collaborations with composer/pianist Vijay Iyer, Pulitzer-Prize winning composer John Harbison, klezmer/classical clarinetist David Krakauer, and tabla virtuoso Sandeep Das, to name just a few.  Through their biennial Lydian Quartet Commission Prize, the quartet has expanded the modern string quartet literature with substantial, newly commissioned works and has brought composers of international recognition to Brandeis, including Kurt Rohde, Saad Haddad, Riccardo Zohn-Muldoon and Lembit Beecher.  In addition to commissioning and premiering new works, the Lydians continue to make significant contributions to their growing list of commercially available recordings.  In the past few years the Lydians have been featured on albums of new works by Kurt Rohde, Yu-Hui Chang, Eric Chasalow, Arthur Levering and Henri Lazarof.  This year will feature the release of the Lydian Quartet’s first full album of string quartets by Henri Lazarof, the beginning of an ongoing, multi-year project to record Lazarof’s complete works for string quartet.

The Lydian String Quartet, now in its 44th year, continues to be one of the most highly regarded musical institutions, bringing the great tradition of string quartet playing to audiences, serving as musical ambassadors of Brandeis University to the world, and passing on the rich tradition of chamber music playing to new generations of students.