PARMA China Concert Tour Series

Skyros Quartet Biography

The Skyros Quartet brings a bright and inventive style to the performance stage. Since relocating to the Seattle area, they can be seen performing, teaching, and leading community events across the Puget Sound region. In addition to their work in the Pacific Northwest, Skyros has concertized across the US, Canada, and China. Founded in 2010 by Sarah Pizzichemi, Justin Kurys, and William Braun, violinist Brandon Vance joined the ensemble in 2019.

The Skyros Quartet has performed extensively, traveling around Asia and North America. They were heard at the Aspen Music Festival and School (Aspen, Colorado) and the Sunflower Music Festival (Topeka, Kansas). In 2014, Skyros was invited to Ontario, Canada, where they were guest artists at QuartetFest 2014 at Sir Wilfrid Laurier University (Waterloo, Ontario) and performed at the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society (Ontario, Canada). In 2013, Skyros toured China as part of an official delegation from the University of Nebraska system, performing in Xi’an and Hangzhou. Skyros also received a Hixson-Lied Student Presentation of Scholarly/Creative Activity Grant to tour the Pacific Northwest and later in 2013, appeared at the Deer Valley Music Festival Emerging Quartets and Composers Program (Park City, Utah).

Skyros is passionate about educating audiences to the wonders of the string quartet and chamber music. As an ensemble, Sarah, Brandon, Justin, and William serve as co-directors of Chamber Music Madness (CMM). CMM is a non-profit organization that presents innovative educational opportunities for student and adult amateur chamber musicians. CMM leads a variety of programs: the Emerald City Chamber Music Organization (ECCHO), in-school chamber music coaching at local middle and high schools; Tuned In! Summer Student Festival, a week-long chamber music festival for students 13-22; Icicle Creek Adult Weekend Retreat, a weekend of chamber music in the Cascade Mountains; and twice-yearly Days of Madness, a weekend sight-reading and chamber music workshop for students and adult amateurs. In addition, Skyros regularly visits universities (the University of British Columbia, Seattle University, the University of Victoria, Central Washington University, Seattle Pacific University, the University of Northern Colorado) public schools, leads community engagement programs and interactive family concerts, inspiring audiences of all ages and musical backgrounds.

Skyros released their debut album, INTROSPECTIVE ODYSSEY, to great international acclaim in August 2015. It can be heard on the Navona label of Parma Recordings. The project was made possible by a Hixson-Lied Student Presentation of Scholarly/Creative Activity Grant. The album features three early twentieth century works by Benjamin Britten, Joaquin Turina, and Jean Sibelius.

Founded in 2010, Skyros earned Masters in Chamber Music Performance from the University of Texas at Austin Sarah and Ernest Butler School of Music, mentored by the Miró Quartet and Sandy Yamamoto. From 2012-2015, they served as the first Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln Glenn Korff School of Music, where they completed Doctorates in Chamber Music Performance under the guidance of the Chiara String Quartet. Skyros was also mentored by Earl Carlyss, James Dunham, Sylvia Rosenberg and members of the Takacs, American, Jupiter, and Pacifica String Quartets at the Aspen Music Festival and School Center for Advanced Quartet Studies. Skyros has also been coached by the Muir and Penderecki String Quartets and composer Joan Tower.

The Skyros Quartet takes its name from the Greek isle of Skyros, one of a quartet of islands in the Aegean Sea.

(Click on the photos above to be directed towards our individual biographies.)

Potential Skyros Quartet Concert Program

Franz Schubert: Quartettsatz

Philip Glass: Suite from “Bent” for String Quartet

Bela Bartok: String Quartet No. 2

Fanny Mendelssohn: String Quartet in E-flat Major

The Skyros Quartet is committed to performing a variety of genres and styles of music from the string quartet literature. In addition to performing standard quartet repertoire, such as the works of Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Dvorak, and Mendelssohn, Skyros also regularly performs new works by living composers, and lesser known gems for string quartet that are rarely heard in concert. Since 2019, Skyros has made the additional commitment to include at least one work by a female composer on every program.  

Skyros Quartet Video Samples

Skyros Quartet has an additional repertoire of non-classical literature (jazz, pop music, film and television scores, etc), often used as short encores or for a fun social media based series called “#casualfriday”. An archive of these videos can be found on the YouTube playlist at the following link in the button below.