2025-2026 Highlights
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.
Winter in Vermont!
At any given time, myriad musical musings, plentiful pioneering programs, and audacious arrangements are stewing in the Formosa Quartet kitchen. As we planned the year, we made it a priority to carve out more space for exploration and discovery. Hmmmm...but where can we find the luxury of time to focus only on the music...Marlboro!
After crunching the numbers, we realized that we had spent a cumulative 49 summer weeks at Marlboro, and their new Artist Residency Programoffered us the chance to celebrate a full year spent on its hallowed campus! It was an amazing week experimenting with new music, cooking together, and taking in our first views of a snow-covered Marlboro.
A Chicago Mirror
What does your America look like? Sound like? What does America mean to you?
In March, we had the great honor of bringing our American Mirror Project to Guarneri Hall and inviting the people of Chicago to reflect on these questions with us. A newly commissioned work by Paul Novak wove together text submitted—and spoken—by students and staff from the People's Music School.
We also took audiences on a journey through Chicago's rich blues traditions with our specially curated Time Machine Set, featuring Formosa Quartet arrangements of iconic tunes by Louis Armstrong, Muddy Waters, and Jelly Roll Morton.
A special presentation by our very own Deborah Pae, “11 E. Adams St.,” pulled back the curtain on the complex Indigenous history of the very ground on which the concert took place.
Katinka Kleijn (top left), Paul Novak (top right), Angelique Poteat (bottom left), Shih-Hui Chen (bottom right)
Four World Premieres
This season we had the incredible opportunity to bring four brand new works for string quartet to life!
We got out of the gate running, with our first concert of the year at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music featuring the world premiere of Shih-Hui Chen’sSitting on the Clouds. This piece draws our attention skyward to the Central Flyway, where Houston serves as an important stopover for millions of birds headed south.
In November, we toured the Pacific Northwest with Angelique Poteat’sQuartet of Trees, a love letter to the region’s majestic forests.
Paul Novak’severy song has an unsung third stanza formed the heart of our Chicago Mirror program. The piece reflects on the third verse of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” where references to slavery and brutality are inseparable from the nation’s formation.
In March, we had the chance to workshop Katinka Kleijn’s new work Stridulation, a powerful piece inspired by the cricket’s ancient communicative sound-making, offering insight into the fractures in our country today. After giving a private preview performance, we’re excited to return to Chicago for the official premiere on September 20, 2026 at Constellation.
Postcard from Taiwan!
Above is a photo of us working very hard, pushing through jet lag to finish a well-earned feast of bitter melon, whole fish, mapo tofu, and other Taiwanese delicacies.
Last month, as we played and dined our way across the beautiful island, we were fortunate to share music with wonderfully warm audiences in Kaohsiung, Taoyuan, Yunlin, and Taipei. A particular highlight was collaborating with Momo Khóo, who sponsored the tour and whose mission is to support the continued revitalization of the Taiwanese Hokkien language.
Questions of identity are very much alive in both Taiwan and the United States. It was especially meaningful to present a program that brought together Taiwanese folk music and American vernacular traditions, reflecting how two communities separated by thousands of miles of ocean continue to preserve their languages and celebrate cultural heritage.
Left to right: David, Deborah, Katinka Kleijn, Jasmine, Matthew, and a cello that was used as a resonating body
The 2026-2027 season awaits
We have a fantastic new season ahead starting in Chicago featuring the world premiere of Katinka Kleijn’s Stridulation at Constellation on September 20, 2026. Visit https://www.formosaquartet.com/events for more info and tickets on upcoming events!