Grammy award-winning Pacifica Quartet named Jacobs quartet-in-residence

The Pacifica Quartet string ensemble was appointed quartet-in-residence at the IU Jacobs School of Music on March 7. The quartet-in-residence is a highly competitive position responsible for campus and community outreach concerts.

Ensemble members Simin Ganatra, Sibbi Bernhardsson, Masumi Per Rostad and Brandon Vamos will join the school’s full-time faculty in fall 2012.

The quartet previously served as the University of Illinois’ and Metropolitan Museum of Art’s quartet-in-residence.

Founded in 1994, the ensemble was recognized with the 1998 Naumburg Prize and named Musical America’s 2009 Ensemble of the Year.

Then, in 2008, the group won a Grammy Award for its recording of Elliot Carter’s chamber music. Carter is an American composer who has won two Pulitzer Prizes.

Currently, the group is finishing their second European tour of the year with stops in Germany, Switzerland, Italy and Great Britain. Its newest recording, “The Soviet Experience Volume II: String Quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and His Contemporaries,” will be released March 27.

Jacobs School of Music Dean Gwyn Richards said the school is excited to welcome the Pacifica Quartet.

“It has been more than 50 years since Indiana University has had a quartet-in-residence, with all members on the faculty,” she said in a press release. “During the time, the role of chamber music in the education of our students has become a gateway to multiple artistic realms. It is particularly exciting to know that the Pacifica Quartet will join us now, as we continue to develop this area of our school.”

— Nona Tepper