The Verona Quartet

The Verona Quartet stands among the leading American chamber groups of its era, distinguished by its worldwide concert schedule alongside ongoing affiliations with premier U.S. conservatories and universities. Its programming spans the classical string-quartet canon of the eighteenth century through recent commissions, frequently extending into partnerships that reach beyond conventional concert-hall boundaries.

Formed in 2013 during the members’ studies at Indiana University’s music school, the ensemble comprises violinists Jonathan Ong and Dorothy Ro, violist Abigail Rojansky, and cellist Jonathan Dormand, musicians whose backgrounds span the United States, Canada, and Singapore. Initially known as the Wasmuth Quartet, the group adopted its present name—chosen for its immediate recognition and as an homage to William Shakespeare—after early coaching from Indiana’s faculty ensemble, the Pacifica Quartet, and subsequent guidance from the Cleveland Quartet and the Juilliard String Quartet.

Success on the competition circuit followed swiftly: first-place honors at the 2015 Concert Artists Guild Competition and the Wigmore Hall International Chamber Music Competition, among other awards, culminated in the 2020 Chamber Music America Cleveland Quartet Award. The quartet’s first recording, Diffusion, appeared on the Azica label in 2021 and presented works by Janáček, Szymanowski, and Ravel.

Performance engagements have included Wigmore Hall in London, Melbourne Recital Hall in Australia, and principal venues throughout the American Northeast. Festival appearances encompass La Jolla Summerfest in California, Bravo! Vail in Colorado, and Caramoor in upstate New York, where the group has held residencies; additional residencies have taken place at the Juilliard School and, most recently, the Oberlin Conservatory in Ohio. Beyond core repertory, the Verona Quartet has commissioned scores from Julia Adolphe, Sebastian Currier, and Michael Gilbertson, whose Pulitzer Prize-nominated Quartet is among these works.

Cross-disciplinary projects include a live-performance installation created with visual artist Ana Prvački, an exchange with traditional poets from the United Arab Emirates, and a collaboration with the folk trio I’m With Her. The second album, SHATTER, was released in 2023 and contained pieces by Adolphe, Gilbertson, and Reena Esmail together with guest vocalist Saili Oak. Also in 2023 the quartet issued a complete recording of György Ligeti’s string quartets on the Dynamic label.