About Momenta

Momenta Quartet

The Momenta Quartet has been described by Time Out New York as a “striking new-music quartet.” Perhaps what is most striking about the quartet, however, is that it is much more than that. Along with over 40 world premieres by both established and up-and-coming composers, the ensemble’s repertoire includes classical standards, contemporary masterworks and consort music of the Renaissance. Momenta approaches all of this music with equal passion and commitment; a new work by a young composer is given as much attention as a revered mainstay of the classical canon. Some of these emerging composers have received important grants, Rhodes scholarships, invitations to Darmstadt and commercial recording contracts as a direct result of their work with the quartet. In February 2009, Momenta was one of only seven recipients of the prestigious Koussevitzky Music Fund grant to commission a new work by the Malaysian composer Kee Yong Chong, and in 2011 won a second grant for Bolivian composer Agustín Fernández.

This impressive track record accounts for Momenta’s growing reputation among composers and composition faculty. Currently in its sixth year of residency at Temple University, the quartet has also performed and lectured at Cornell, Columbia and Yeshiva Universities; Haverford, Swarthmore and Bryn Mawr Colleges; the Boston and Brooklyn Conservatories; Mannes School of Music; and the Princeton Institute for Advanced Studies, among others. Beyond the academy, Momenta has made its mark through thoughtful and innovative concert programs at Americas Society; Symphony Space; Barge Music; the Brooklyn Society for Ethical Culture and the Austrian Cultural Forum; and at some of New York’s more alternative venues such as the Stone, Issue Project Room, Roulette Intermedium, and Tonic.

The Momenta Quartet has recorded for Centaur Records, Furious Artisans and MRS Classics, has been broadcast on WQXR and has performed internationally in Indonesia, Singapore and the United Kingdom. The Momenta Quartet’s 2010/11 season is made possible in part through the generous support of the Aaron Copland Fund for Music. Momenta’s 2011 New York concerts are made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, celebrating 50 years of building strong, creative communities in New York State’s 62 counties.