Dear Friends!

At the end of each tour, we find ourselves in the car heading back to the hotel, still basking in the post-concert glow. Somewhere along the ride, one of us inevitably pops the question: “What were your highlights?”

Over time, this has become a quartet tradition. The answer might be a special moment on stage, reconnecting with a friend we haven't seen in years, or (very often!) a memorable meal. After a whirlwind tour of Taiwan and our final spring concert with the Philharmonic Society of Orange County, it is time to share some of our highlights from an action-packed 2025–26 season.

Being a member of the Formosa Quartet has been one of the greatest privileges of my life. I got to spend 12 years living and breathing string quartets with some of the best musicians I know, who also happen to be some of the best human beings that I know. After so many concerts performed, pieces learned, places seen, and meals shared, we have made countless, priceless memories together, and I remember most of them like they happened yesterday. My world is infinitely bigger and richer thanks to my FQ family.

As I transition from quartet member to quartet groupie, I can’t wait to see what will happen in this next phase of FQ’s evolution. Jasmine, Matt, and Debbie have found a very special new colleague in David, and I know that the four of them will continue to represent this art form with the fiercest commitment: always searching, constantly reinventing, never taking anything for granted. I will be in the audience cheering them on.

Here are 12 memories from my 12 years in the Formosa Quartet. —Wayne

If you missed Bruce Hodges of The STRAD’s glowing review of the Formosa Quartet's Philadelphia Chamber Music Society debut with our longtime musical friends Hsin-Yun Huang (viola) and Peter Wiley (cello), check it out here!

YPSILANTI — Eastern Michigan University College of Arts and Science is proud to announce the Formosa Quartet as the 2023-2024 McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair in the Humanities. The Formosa Quartet is an acclaimed American string quartet, first prize and Amadeus Prize winners at the 10th Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. The quartet’s residency at EMU is scheduled for Jan. 14-20 and March 31 - April 6, 2024. It includes a series of conversations, open rehearsals and performances, designed and performed in part by EMU faculty and students.

Each year, EMU’s College of Arts and Sciences hosts a nominated McAndless Distinguished Professor Chair who is a scholar, writer, or artist of national prominence in the arts or humanities. The chair shares a wealth of experience, knowledge and expertise with the EMU community and general public through a series of events and classes. 

The Formosa Quartet received a glowing review from the San Diego Story following their Art of Élan performance at the San Diego Museum of Art! Read the full review from “The Formosa Quartet Plays Both For and With the Art of Elan Audience,” published on March 16, 2023".

HOUSTON, TX | FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE --- Four familiar faces will join the University of Houston scene this fall as the internationally acclaimed Formosa Quartet becomes the Quartet-in-Residence at the Moores School of Music.

The appointment will include regular visits by the Formosa Quartet to the Moores School of Music each year. The appointment supports the School’s string and chamber music programs, with individual ensemble coaching, master classes and public performances, including appearances at the Moores Music in the City Series at Christ Church Cathedral, where the residency will be announced during a concert on February 18th by the Dean of the McGovern College of the Arts, Andrew Davis.

The internationally acclaimed Formosa Quartet (FQ), which celebrates its 20th anniversary this season, has named Ukrainian-American violist Matthew Cohen to its ensemble. Cohen will succeed violist and founding member Cheyen Chen.

When one of your biggest musical heroes since forever, who hadn’t even known you existed, takes the time to chat with you for over an hour; turns out to be the funniest, kindest, most teddy bear -ish human; and solemnly blesses your jazz endeavors…

Recently the 4 of us saw each other in person for the first time since the pandemic. To be more precise, it was at 9:30am Pacific on the morning of Aug 1st. There were hugs, smiles, and a tear all around, followed by “everyone looks the same!” Then we sat down to investigate the rhythmic patterns in Derrick Skye’s American Mirror Part II.

Syrupy valentines to all our friends, including this grumpy birthday boy. Birthyear boy, more accurately.

Whether you’re toasting, hosting, roasting, or boasting…

To all the wonderful students, faculty, staff, and audiences at the Herb Alpert School of Music where we spent our last quartet tour week of 2019 — thank you!

Happy autumn, everyone! We’re looking forward to our upcoming concerts in New York and D.C., where we’ll play the Schubert Cello Quintet with our dear friend Peter Wiley.

And for once, it will actually be autumn in New York when we play “Autumn in New York” by Wei-Chieh Lin — finally, after its many guises as winter in Vancouver, spring in Georgia, you name it..

It is our great pleasure to share that our album From Hungary to Taiwan is on the GRAMMY ballot in THREE categories—Best Producer featuring our dear friend and cellist extraordinaire Clancy Newman, Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance, and Best Contemporary Composition for Dana Wilson’s Hungarian Folk Songs, Lei Liang's Song Recollections, and Wei-Chieh Jay Lin's Taiwanese Folk Songs!

We are very much looking forward to leading the Formosa Quartet Seminar at the 2019 Taipei Music Academy & Festival 台北大師星秀音樂節 this August.

If you get a shot of your cellist suntanning in Maui, you can bet she’ll get you back.

Try this multiple choice quiz to see how well you know the Formosa Quartet!