The
Avalon String Quartet, based in Chicago, has extended its reach across the U.S. and beyond, with performances at major venues and festivals in Europe. The group, serving as quartet-in-residence at Northern Illinois University, has a varied résumé of educational accomplishments as well. Of the quartet's four members, only violist Anthony Devroye is American; violinist Blaise Magniere is French, violinist Marie Wang Canadian, and cellist Cheng-Hou Lee Taiwanese. The group came together at the Norfolk (Connecticut) Chamber Music Festival in 1995 and gained the attention of violinist
Isaac Stern after participating in his chamber music workshop at Carnegie Hall two years later. That led to invitations to perform at
Stern's Chamber Music Encounters series in Jerusalem, and at Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York. The
Avalon String Quartet also had training from the
Juilliard Quartet in New York, the
Emerson Quartet at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut, and at Northern Illinois with the
Vermeer Quartet, whom they succeeded as quartet-in-residence. They won the top prize at Munich's ARD Competition in 2000. The group has also performed at the 92nd Street Y, Alice Tully Hall, several other New York venues, Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, the National Gallery of Art and Library of Congress in Washington, Wigmore Hall in London, and Munich's Herculessaal. Major festival appearances include those at the La Jolla Chamber Music Festival, and the Bath International Music Festival and Aldeburgh Festival in Britain. Closer to home, they have performed a regular concert series at the Art Institute of Chicago and have appeared at the summer Ravinia Festival in the city's suburbs. The
Avalon's recording career began in 2002 on the Channel Classics label with
Dawn to Dusk, an album featuring quartets by
Janacek and
Ravel. They have also recorded for Albany, the Chicago label Cedille, and Naxos, for whom they issued an
album of quartets by
Matthew Quayle in 2018.