Emerson String Quartet

The Emerson String Quartet – also known as the Emerson Quartet – was founded in 1976 by four students at the Juilliard School. The ensemble was made up of Eugene Drucker (violin), Philip Setzer (violin), Lawrence Dutton (viola), and David Finckel (cello), who continued to play together after graduation. They were named after American poet and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson. They were unique in that the Drucker and Setzer would alternate as first and second violinists, which is similar to a rock band’s two guitarists switching rhythm and lead positions. The Emerson String Quartet began to tour and in the 1980s, they were signed by the Deutsche Grammophon label to make a series of recordings for the then-new CD format. They also began a teaching residency at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. The Emerson String Quartet became known for recording chamber music composed by Bartók, Beethoven, Mendelssohn and Shostakovich. They have released more than 50 albums and have won nine Grammy Awards for releases such as Bartók: 6 String Quartets (1989) Beethoven: The String Quartets (1997), Shostakovich: The String Quartets (2000), and Mendelssohn: The Complete String Quartets (2005). Other titles in their catalog include Webern Works for String Quartet (1995), Bach: The Art of Fugue (2003), Beethoven: The Late String Quartets (2003), and Schumann: String Quartets (2020). The Emerson String Quartet was inducted into the Classical Music Hall of Fame in 2010.