Attacca Quartet

Based in New York, Attacca Quartet devotes itself primarily to composers from the twentieth and twenty-first centuries while remaining open to earlier repertoire. After the group coalesced at Juilliard in the mid-2000s, critics quickly praised the ensemble’s interpretive depth. Its discography ranges from an original arrangement of Haydn issued as Haydn: Seven Last Words in 2015, through the premiere recording of Michael Ippolito’s Songlines in 2017, to Real Life in 2021, which reimagines contemporary electronic works for string quartet.

Violinists Amy Schroeder and Keiko Tokunaga, violist Luke Fleming, and cellist Andrew Yee established the quartet as Juilliard students in 2003. Their first professional appearance occurred at Carnegie Hall in 2007. Between 2011 and 2013 they held the position of Juilliard Graduate Resident String Quartet, and in 2013 they released their debut album, Fellow Traveler: The Complete String Quartet Works of John Adams, on Azica Records with liner notes contributed by the composer himself. During the 2014–2015 season they served as Quartet in Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. March 2015 brought Haydn: Seven Last Words, featuring cellist Andrew Yee’s fresh arrangement of The Seven Last Words of Christ on the Cross.

After Luke Fleming departed and violist Nathan Schram joined as a permanent member, the ensemble turned to twenty-first-century material for the 2017 album Songlines, which introduced composer Michael Ippolito on record. The following year Steinway & Sons released three Weinberg pieces performed by Attacca Quartet with pianist Jeanne Golan. The group then recorded six string quartets by Pulitzer Prize recipient Caroline Shaw; issued in 2019 as Orange, the album was among the first three projects released jointly by New Amsterdam Records and Nonesuch and received the 2020 Grammy Award for Best Chamber Music Performance.

Attacca Quartet subsequently moved to Sony Classical. Its initial 2021 release, Real Life, presented quartet arrangements of works by Flying Lotus, Louis Cole, and Mid-Air Thief, with Squarepusher and Daedelus appearing as guests and TOKiMONSTA featured on a single track.