The Bleecker StQ was founded by four musicians who wanted to perform and extend the possibilities of the string quartet repertoire. Well-versed in various musical styles, as well as being open to all the new possibilities of evolving music of the 21st century, the members enjoy performing all genres: Contemporary, World, Pop, Improvisational, Classical, and Electro-Acoustic (iPads, laptops, hardware analogue, and digital Synthesizers). Their debut performance drew four-star critiques and offered them opportunities to perform more works of living composers. The quartet features Machiko Ozawa & Lynn Bechtold on violins; Edmundo Ramirez on viola; & Jisoo Ok on cello.
In concert, they have collaborated with performers and composers including pianists Pablo Ziegler and Octavio Brunetti; bandoneonist Hector del Curto; and composers Carter Burwell, Carlos José Castro Mora, John Clark, Steve Cohen, Dan Cooper, and Randall Woolf, among others. Their repertoire includes works by classical masters including Haydn and Mozart to modern innovators such as Mauricio Kagel and Silvestre Revueltas. To date, they have performed at venues and festivals such as The Americas Society, The National Museum of the American Indian in collaboration with the Smithsonian Museum, The Cell, St. Peter’s Church in the Citicorp building, Columbia University, Gallery MC, Symphony Space, the Robert Mondavi Center in California, and the TriBeCa New Music Festival.
The members of Bleecker StQ have diverse backgrounds, being involved in groups such as Absolute Ensemble, Ensemble InterContemporain, Eternal Tango Orchestra, Miolina, North/South Consonance, and in chamber and solo collaborations with orchestras and groups around the world, including SoundArt.NYC.
