The all-Canadian Afiara String Quartet (Valerie Li and Yuri Cho, violins; David Samuel, viola; and Adrian Fung, cello) is the graduate resident string quartet at The Juilliard School in New York, where they serve as teaching assistants to the celebrated Juilliard String Quartet. In 2008, the Afiara Quartet won the Concert Artists Guild International Competition in New York, following a top prize at the Munich ARD International Music Competition. As the only Canadian ensemble to win top honors in either of these historic competitions, the San Francisco Classical Voice calls the Afiara Quartet “a terrifically unified, versatile, and moving ensemble” with “startling intensity” and a “powerful, keen-edged collective sound”. Complimented for its “energy, style and pizazz” by David Harrington of the Kronos Quartet, the Afiara appeared at Carnegie Hall on the Kronos: Signature Works series and Chamber Music America’s National Conference tribute to the Kronos.  The ensemble has been heard on Bavarian Radio, CBC Radio 2, TROS in the Netherlands, San Francisco’s KALW, and New York’s WQXR. They have been featured in the Road to Banff documentary.

In the 2009-2010 season, the Afiaras will play at the Library of Congress, Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center, Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall, Schneider Concerts at the New School, and the Convocations Series at Purdue University, Scottsdale Center for the Performing Arts, and the Morrison Artists Series.  In Canada, they will perform at the Mooredale Concert Series and at Festival of the Sound, and enjoy return engagements with the Montreal and Ottawa International Chamber Music Festivals. The Afiara Quartet also initiates a new Visiting Quartet-in-Residence position of concerts and teaching with the Glenn Gould School at Toronto’s Royal Conservatory of Music.  Under the auspices of the ICA, the Afiara Quartet releases its debut CD on the Foghorn Classics label in Fall 2009, featuring quartets by Mendelssohn and Schubert, and the Mendelssohn Octet with the Alexander Quartet.

In the 2008-2009 season, the Afiaras performed for the Chamber Music in Occidental, the Chautauqua Institution, Indiana University Summer Music Festival, Old First Church Concerts, Princeton University Summer Chamber Music Series, San Jose Chamber Music Society, and Sierra Chamber Society, and in Canada with Calgary ProMusica Series, Montreal Chamber Music Festival, and the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival. The Quartet also appears on San Francisco Performances at Herbst Theatre (Mendelssohn Octet with the Alexander String Quartet), at the Banff Centre with Anton Kuerti (Dvorak Piano Quintet), with pianist Stephen Prutsman in San Jose and at Nevada City’s Music in the Mountains, as well as with Bonnie Hampton at the Starcross Festival (Schubert Cello Quintet).

To date, the ensemble has given the world premieres of Brett Abigana’s Une Grande Messe and Jason Bush’s Visions in San Francisco (the latter of which was written for the Afiara), and the East Coast premiere of Peteris Vasks’ String Quartet in New York. Together with timpanist Louis Siu, they commissioned and premiered new chamber music repertoire for string quartet and the tenor timpani. The ensemble also gave the world premiere of Huck Hodge’s String Quartet No. 2 in New York with the support of the American Composers Forum and the Jerome Foundation.  In 2010, the Afiara String Quartet embarks on a project with the Common Sense Composers Collective and Cecilia String Quartet which includes the recording and world premieres of eight new quartet works at The Banff Centre.  In July 2010, the Afiara Quartet will also collaborate with singer/songwriter Kyrie Kristmanson and composer Patrick Carrabre for the Ottawa International Chamber Music Festival’s Late Night series to be broadcast by CBC Radio.

The Quartet was the Morrison Fellowship Quartet-in-Residence at San Francisco State University’s International Center for the Arts (ICA) from 2007-2009, where the members were teaching assistants to their mentor ensemble, the Alexander String Quartet. One of two fellowship quartets at the 2008 Aspen Festival’s Center for Advanced Quartet Studies, the Afiara Quartet also serves as Artist-in-Residence at Lake Tahoe Music Festival’s Education and Outreach Program and is an Affiliate of San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music.  In addition to their studies with the Alexander String Quartet, the Afiara players have worked with numerous musicians including the American, Cavani, Emerson, Kronos, St. Lawrence, Takacs and Ying Quartets, Earl Carlyss, James Dunham, Henk Guittart, Bonnie Hampton, Geoff Nuttall, Lesley Robertson, Barry Shiffman and Scott St. John, and at the San Francisco Conservatory, where they were formed, with Paul Hersh, Mark Sokol and Ian Swensen. They also collaborate and perform with the rap group Blunt Delphix.

Formed in 2006, the Afiara String Quartet takes its name from the Spanish fiar, meaning “to trust”, a basic element vital to the depth and joy of its music-making. The ensemble is committed to education and connecting with diverse audiences.  The Quartet has served as faculty at Chamber Music of the Rockies, Indiana University Summer String Academy, and Canada’s Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute and has also benefited from several visits to the Banff Centre’s Fall/Winter Residencies and the Summer Chamber Music Programme. Bringing urban elements into its outreach activities, the ensemble bridges the gap between Haydn and hip-hop.