Recognized as “thoughtful, impressive musicians” (Cleveland Classical), the Verona Quartet – Jonathan Ong, violin, Dorothy Ro, violin, Abigail Rojansky, viola and Warren Hagerty, cello – is a winner of the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Competition, and in just three years, the ensemble has earned a stellar reputation for delivering a “sensational, powerhouse performance” (Classical Voice America) every time they take the stage. Musical America recently selected the group as “New Artists of the Month” for May 2016, further setting the Verona Quartet apart as one of the most compelling young quartets in chamber music.
The Verona Quartet has a busy 2016-17 season with nearly fifty performances spread across fifteen States and Canada. Select highlights include: In New York, the Quartet’s Carnegie Hall debut at Weill Recital Hall (CAG Presents series) and the Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at Long Island University; Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall (NY); California concerts at La Jolla SummerFest, Pepperdine University Center for the Arts, and Chico Performances at CalState/Chico; Purdue Convocations (IN); Market Square Concerts (PA); and in Illinois at Rockford Coronado Concerts and the Dame Myra Hess Series (simulcast live on WFMT radio).
Also in 2016-17, the Verona Quartet enjoys its second year as Graduate Resident String Quartet at The Juilliard School, where they work closely with members of the Juilliard String Quartet and also teach as Lisa Arnhold Fellows. Among numerous performances on behalf of Juilliard, the Quartet completes their residency with a May 2017 concert at Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall.
The Verona Quartet has performed across four continents in venues such as Wigmore Hall (London, UK), Izumi Hall (Osaka, Japan), the National Theatre (Abu Dhabi, UAE), the Melbourne Recital Hall (Melbourne, Australia) and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (Washington, DC). They have also appeared on National Public Radio, The Weekly Special on PBS, and Abu Dhabi Classical FM.
At the 2015 CAG Competition, the Verona Quartet was also awarded the BMI Commissioning Prize, resulting in a brand new work by American composer Michael Gilbertson to be premiered at the ensemble’s Carnegie Hall debut in February 2017. In addition, the group has recently garnered top prizes at numerous prestigious competitions worldwide: abroad at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition (née London International String Quartet Competition), the Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and the 8th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition; and in the US at the Coleman, Fischoff, and Chesapeake Chamber Music Competitions; and the M-Prize International Chamber Arts Competition.
In summer 2016, the Quartet joined the faculty of the Indiana University Summer String Academy as Quartet-in-Residence. Previously, the ensemble has served as visiting artists and teachers at several leading international institutions for music education, including the Beethoven-Haus (Bonn, Germany), Oberlin Conservatory of Music, New York University – Abu Dhabi, and the Summer String Academy at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music. In April 2015, they were quartet-in-residence at the Abu Dhabi Chamber Music Festival which featured a multi-venue concert tour and collaborations with composers at New York University-Abu Dhabi and local Emirati poets at Khalifa University.
The Verona Quartet members are strong proponents of community engagement and education. From 2013-2015, the quartet established a relationship with the city of Danville, Illinois, where they curated a concert series and gave outreach performances and master classes across elementary, middle and high schools in the city, resulting in an increase in public school music class enrollment to almost double the average of the State of Illinois.
The Verona Quartet’s members hail from the USA, Canada and Singapore, and hold degrees from Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Oberlin Conservatory, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music and Eastman School of Music. Originally founded as the Wasmuth Quartet in 2013, they were the inaugural Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at Indiana University, where they were mentored chiefly by the Pacifica Quartet, as well as Alexander Kerr, Atar Arad and Eric Kim. The Quartet has collaborated with celebrated artists such as David Shifrin, Cho-Liang Lin, Burt Hara, Atar Arad, Orion Weiss, Pedja Muzijevic, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, and has worked with members of the Alban Berg, American, Brentano, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, Fine Arts, Guarneri, Tokyo, Vermeer and London Haydn Quartets.