Concerts are held every 3rd Sunday, April through November and the 1st Sunday of December.
Due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns for the safety of our artists and concert patrons, and in compliance with restrictions on social activities, we anticipate additional concerts will be cancelled, but in the spirit of optimism we will wait to decide as the dates approach. Please return to this site for the most current information on our schedule.
Balourdet Quartet
August 18 @ 3:00 pm - 5:00 pm
Sunday, August 18, 2024 at 3pm
Suggested donation: $15 adults, $10 students and seniors, free for ages 13 and under
No reservations required.
The Balourdet Quartet is a dynamic, award-winning ensemble that takes creative risks on stage, producing both emotionally intense and intimate moments. Its unique closeness and unwavering sense of team trust earned it Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award.
The Balourdet journey began in 2018 in the mountains of New Mexico at the Taos School of Music, where violinists Justin DeFilippis, Angela Bae, and cellist Russell Houston first bonded as friends over long evenings of chamber music, luxurious Peppermint Schnapps and extravagant meals created by chef extraordinaire Antoine Balourdet, a renaissance man with an exceptional love of life and music. It was the friendships, a shared passion for music and food, and gratitude for the role the festival played in the formation of the quartet, that inspired the members to name the ensemble in Chef Balourdet’s honor.
Soon thereafter, in the heat of a waning Texas summer, Justin, Angela, and Russell joined with violist Benjamin Zannoni of Rice University, and the Balourdet Quartet was formed. Inspired by their love for the repertoire and the excitement of having found each other, the four friends found themselves playing quartets late into the night for fun. After having been together for only one year at Rice University, and a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, they took second prize at the Nielsen International String Quartet Competition, and were selected as the only quartet admitted to Boston’s historic New England Conservatory Professional String Quartet Program under the tutelage of Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz.
In 2021, the Quartet won the Grand Prize at New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, which included joint management by Concert Artists Guild in the U.S., and Young Classical Artist’s Trust (YCAT) in the UK and Europe. In addition, the Balourdet has been prizewinners in Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, Gold Medal winners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Gold Medal and Audience Prizewinners at the Yellow Springs Competition.