Cypress String Quartet
Since its inception in 1996, the Cypress String Quartet -- Cecily Ward & Tom Stone, violins; Ethan Filner, viola; Jennifer Kloetzel, cello -- has performed to great acclaim worldwide. Praised by the Los Angeles Times for its "musical astuteness and virtuoso resources," the Quartet has made regular appearances on National Public Radio's "Performance Today," and has been featured in Chamber Music Magazine as a "Generation X Ensemble to Watch."
The Cypress made a deep and pure connection to the music in playing of unfailing grace. Alert, disciplined, open to both awe and joy they played with respectful, unabashed love for Haydn.Albuquerque Journal, NM
The Cypress String Quartet has recently been heard at the Kennedy blockquote, the Ravinia Festival, Stanford Lively Arts, the Meadowlark Music Festival and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. Collaborations with renowned musicians including Geraldine Walther, Ian Hobson, Miles Hoffman, David Harding, Joan Jeanrenaud, and Awadagin Pratt consistently delight audiences everywhere.
Cheers came from the house on the completion of the Dvorak quintet. Hobson and the Cypress Quartet had put their all into it, and they got it all back from the house.Lincoln Journal Star, NE
As Quartet-in-Residence at San José State University, the Cypress String Quartet constitutes the core string faculty of the University's School of Music and Dance. This innovative residency combines the quartet's strengths in performance and education to effectively serve both the University and the greater Silicon Valley Community. The Quartet also serves as Quartet-in-Residence for the Centrum Summer Chamber Music Workshop, where they teach both young students and adult amateurs.
They discuss every single aspect of the music, from historical context to what is on the printed page...This is how they make the string quartet repertoire totally their own, and why even the most familiar music sounds freshly discovered, exciting and challenging.Ellen Hughes, PA
In the 2003-2004 season the Cypress String Quartet will join with over twenty-five outreach partners throughout the Bay Area to bring its ground-breaking Call & Response Series into the schools, integrating performance, outreach and the commission of new works. The Quartet has presented educational programming in conjunction with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the San Francisco Symphony, and the Ravinia Festival in Chicago, and has served as faculty at the University of Wisconsin-Madison Summer Music Clinic and the Las Vegas Music Festival.
The Cypress delivered the piece with expression, nuance and style, pinpointing every aspect of balance and joint phrasing to perfection in its renderingof an enduring new work.Tucson Citizen, AZ
The Cypress String Quartet works with many of today's leading composers, from some of the worlds most accomplished composers to the next generation's rising stars. Always searching for the great composers living amongst us, the Quartet has premiered or commissioned over 15 new works since 1999. Typically these new works are integrated into the Quartet's standard repertoire, taking their place alongside more familiar masterpieces on high-profile concerts across the country. The Cypress String Quartet is working to create a living record of these worthy composers' music through the regular recording and commercial release of many of these new works.
The result is an evocative and wonderfully cohesive program - recorded at Skywalker Sound in filmmaker George Lucas' state-of-the-art digital recording studio in Northern California - that showcases this quartet's knack for exploring contemporary music while remaining true to its motto "revitalizing tradition."Strings Magazine
The Cypress String Quartet has participated in public seminars with Isaac Stern in San Francisco, the Amadeus Quartet in London and the Juilliard Quartet in New York. The Quartet has been in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, and has held fellowships at the Aspen Music Festival blockquote for Advanced Quartet Studies and at the Summit Institute for Arts and Humanities. The ensemble has worked closely with cellist Bonnie Hampton, and with members of the Cleveland, Orion, Emerson, Mendelssohn, and Muir Quartets.
Cypress members seemed convinced of what they wanted and determined to go out on a limb to get it. If truly representative of the next generation of musicians, we have a lot to look forward to.The Patriot News, Harrisburg PA
The Cypress String Quartet resides in San Francisco, where they honor the rich tradition of chamber music by embodying the idealism, integrity and dedication from which the art form was born.