Finalist: Hausmann Quartet

Since the Hausmann Quartet's formation in the summer of 2004 at LyricaFest in New Jersey, they have been acquiring a reputation as one of the great young quartets performing today. Praised for their charismatic playing and "marvelously rich tone", the quartet made their debut on the Lyrica Boston Chamber Music series and was soon named Lyrica Boston's Young Artists in Residence.

The Hausmann Quartet quickly garnered additional accolades. In 2006, they were named Norfolk Festival's Quartet Fellows in Residence. Highlights of 2007 included a tenure as quartet in residence at the Blossom Music Festival, as well as being selected to showcase at the Chamber Music America Conference in New York. In 2008, the Hausmann Quartet made its debut at both the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and Music@Menlo. More recently, the quartet was invited to return as Shouse Artists to the 2009 Great Lakes Festival, and was awarded a fellowship for Aspen Music Festival's Center for Advanced Quartet Studies. 2010 will see the quartet's Summerfest debut at La Jolla, along with it's San Francisco Performances debut. In addition to festivals and concert series, the quartet has taken part in the Emerson Quartet's acclaimed international workshop at Stony Brook, as well as the Juilliard Quartet Seminar at Lincoln Center. The Hausmann Quartet has been a featured ensemble on Performance Today, Aspen Public Radio, WRCJ Detroit, and KZSU Stanford.

In addition to the standard quartet literature, the Hausmann Quartet also champions lesser known gems from composers of past and present eras. In 2008, they were awarded the John Ireland prize at the Rutenburg International Chamber Music competition. As advocates for the advancement of new music, the Hausmann Quartet worked closely with student composers in the Longy Preparatory School. The quartet has also collaborated with composer John Howell Morrison in preparation for the East-coast premiere of his work Hard Weather Makes Good Wood for string quartet and tape. Upcoming collaborations include work with renowned composer Gabriela Lena Frank and rising star, Liam Wade. For projects beyond string quartets, they have collaborated with chamber musicians such as James Tocco, Ani Kavafian, Toby Appel, Jeremy Denk, Laura Bossert, Terry King, Kim Kashkashian, Paul Katz, Joseph Silverstein, Charles Castleman, Steven Ansell, and Victor Rosenbaum.

With a deep belief in community engagement, the Hausmann Quartet established a residency at the Wilson School in Mountain Lakes, NJ, bringing creative musical programs to grade school children. The quartet has also worked with the International Music Foundation in presenting a children's concert series in the Chicago area. During the 2008-2009 season, the Hausmann Quartet created a monthly series of community outreach concerts at the Kent Free Library. The quartet has also served as teaching artists for educational programs sponsored by the Tuesday Musical Association.

The Hausmann Quartet recently completed a graduate quartet residency at Kent State University as teaching assistants to the Miami String Quartet. Additionally, they have been mentored by members of the Juilliard, Guarneri, Emerson, Tokyo, Cleveland, Vermeer, American, Orion, Takacs, Keller, St. Lawrence, and Borromeo quartets. Currently, the Hausmann Quartet holds the Morrison Fellowship Award in residency with the Alexander String Quartet at the International Center for the Arts, San Francisco State University.