Fresh from winning the Grand Prize at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition, and just three years after forming, the Poiesis Quartet (violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Max Ball, violist Jasper de Boor, and cellist Drew Dansby) begins its season as the 2025-2026 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, giving the first concert of the residency as part of the Rosen House Concert Series on Sunday, November 16, 2025 at 3pm.
Caramoor is a vibrant cultural destination nestled on 81 acres of historic gardens and woodlands in Katonah, NY. Once the home of music and art lovers Walter and Lucie Rosen, Caramoor has evolved into one of the region’s most distinctive destinations for live performances, cultural engagement, and exploration. Its Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence program was founded in 1999, and annually supports an exceptional emerging string quartet. The year-long residency includes three performances at Caramoor and two 10-day periods (November 11-21, 2025 and April 27-May 5, 2026) in which the Quartet works with students in local schools. One thousand students will benefit from engagements in 11 schools across Westchester County. The Quartet-in-Residence program extends access to the arts for high school students by providing one-to-one mentoring with professional musicians, giving students insight into pursuing a career in the arts. Caramoor also commissions a new work by a composer of the Quartet’s choosing – the Poiesis Quartet will premiere the new piece written for the group at Caramoor in summer 2026.
Formed in 2022 at Oberlin, the Poiesis Quartet (pronounced poy-EE-suhss), has swiftly risen to prominence. In addition to being the Grand Prize winners of the 2025 Banff International String Quartet, the ensemble is also the winner of the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition. Renowned for their cohesive artistry and adventurous programming, the group lives up to its name – poiesis, from the Greek “to make” – with performances that forge new paths in chamber music. Dedicated to championing the voices of emerging and historically underrepresented composers, the Poiesis Quartet brings this vibrant mission to life in their Caramoor residency.
The Poiesis Quartet’s program for its November 16 concert, titled Surfacing, is an exploration of the raw, human responses to existential and life-altering events. Incorporating musical influences as varied as electronic dance music, East Asian folk tunes, R&B, jazz, gospel, and traditional spirituals, four composers take us on a journey through phases of healing and growth, ultimately surfacing from confusion and pain with resilience and a renewed sense of hope. The concert includes String Quartet by Brian Raphael Nabors (2024); String Quartet No. 3 (2014) and String Quartet No. 7, “Surfacing” (2024) by Kevin Lau (commissioned by the Poiesis Quartet); Many Many Cadences by Sky Macklay (2015); Calvary, an African-American spiritual arranged for violin quartet by Max Ball; and String Quartet No. 1, Calvary by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1956). Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.
The Poiesis Quartet’s second performance as part of the Rosen House Concert Series takes place on Sunday, May 3, 2026 at 3pm, and includes Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores (2020); Eleanor Alberga’s String Quartet No. 2 (1994); and Béla Bartók’s String Quartet No. 5 (1934). Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.
In addition to the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence program, as part of its ongoing commitment to mentorship for young musicians Caramoor offers the Evnin Rising Stars program, which has nurtured emerging talent since 1992. Each year, the program’s Artistic Director Marcy Rosen identifies some of the most promising musicians at the cusp of professional careers, bringing them to Caramoor for a weeklong chamber music residency with distinguished artist mentors. This year’s mentors are violinist Ani Kavafian and violist Rebecca Albers. The 2025 Evnin Rising Stars are violinists Isabelle Ai Durrenberger, Clara Neubauer, and Cherry Choi Tung Yeung; violists Samuel Rosenthal and Luther Warren; cellists Annie Jacobs-Perkins and Leland Ko; and pianist Evren Ozel. The Evnin Rising Stars will give two Rosen House Concert Series performances on Saturday, November 1, 2025 at 3pm (featuring music by Boccherini, Ginastera, and Brahms) and Sunday, November 2, 2025 at 3pm (featuring music by Mozart, Shostakovich, and Dvořák). Tickets are free for audience members ages 18 and under.
