Poiesis Quartet, photo by Eden Davis. Press photos available here.
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum Presents
the Poiesis Quartet in its Boston Debut on November 8, 2026
Featuring Beethoven’s Final String Quartet, Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1, the Boston Premiere of Jeff Scott’s Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified, and Sky Macklay’s Many Many Cadences
Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 1:30pm
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum | Calderwood Hall | 25 Evans Way | Boston, MA
Tickets: www.gardnermuseum.org/calendar/poiesis-quartet-20261108
For press tickets, please contact Christina Jensen at christina@jensenartists.com
BOSTON, MA – The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum continues its Fall 2026 Weekend Concert Series, presenting the Poiesis Quartet in its Boston debut on Sunday, November 8, 2026 at 1:30pm. This ten-concert autumn season curated by Abrams Curator of Music George Steel runs from September 13 through November 22, 2026 and features world-class artists in the Museum’s extraordinary Calderwood Hall—a 300-seat “sonic cube” with three levels of balconies designed so that 80% of seats are front row, creating a uniquely intimate and intense acoustic environment.
For its Boston debut, the Poiesis Quartet tackles two landmarks of the repertoire—Ludwig van Beethoven’s final string quartet (a work full of good humor despite having been written in trying circumstances) and Sergei Prokofiev’s String Quartet No. 1. They also bring two recent works. Many Many Cadences, a bright and brilliant work by Sky Macklay, received an ASCAP Morton Gould Young Composer Award, and its premiere recording earned a Grammy nomination; the piece unfolds as a witty, relentless chain of musical cadences. Tapestry of the Beloved Beatified by Grammy-winning composer Jeff Scott, founding horn player of Imani Winds, will receive its Boston premiere. Commissioned by Caramoor for the Poiesis Quartet and premiered there in July 2026, the work honors activists Marsha P. Johnson, Harvey Milk, Xulhaz Mannan, and Jeanne Manford.
Founded only in 2022, the Poiesis Quartet—violinists Sarah Ying Ma and Coco Mi, violist Jasper de Boor, and cellist Drew Dansby—has already become a much-talked-about force in classical music. The quartet won the Grand Prize at the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition and was named among the best classical performances of 2025 by The New York Times. In 2026, the quartet also received the Cleveland Quartet Award, one of the most prestigious honors for a young American string quartet. Formed at Oberlin Conservatory, the quartet takes its name from the ancient Greek concept of poiesis—the act of bringing something new into being. Collectively queer, the Quartet brings its full identity to the stage through expressive performances and programs that place canonical works in conversation with contemporary voices. Critics have praised the musicians’ “palpable chemistry and remarkable warmth” (San Francisco Classical Voice). Poiesis is currently the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet at the Curtis Institute of Music and was the 2025–26 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at Caramoor. Its earlier honors include the Grand Prize at the 2023 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Gold Medal at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition, and first place in Concert Artists Guild’s 2024 Louis and Susan Meisel Competition. The Cleveland Quartet Award will also bring Poiesis to a consortium of eight leading American presenters, including Carnegie Hall, in the coming seasons.
George Steel’s music programming for the Museum continues founder and legendary arts patron Isabella Stewart Gardner’s vision of bringing together musicians and audiences for inspiring gatherings. Dating to 1927, the Gardner’s Weekend Concert Series is the longest-running museum music program in the country. Much like Isabella Stewart Gardner did in her time, Steel champions unknown repertoire and embraces new works, creates connections and builds community among musicians, and supports them by presenting them in new endeavors and collaborations. His programming also frequently draws on the history of the Gardner Museum, featuring instruments from the Museum’s collection and music by composers who were associated with its founder. In honoring Isabella Stewart Gardner’s musical legacy, Music at the Gardner remains strongly committed to broadening the repertoire of music presented to include previously overlooked and marginalized composers as well as performers of all backgrounds.
Fall 2026 At-a-Glance Concert Schedule
September 13: Rachel Barton Pine, violin
September 20: Twelfth Night Ensemble
September 27: Chamber Music Celebration
This annual concert celebrates the life and legacy of Scott Nickrenz, first Abrams Curator of Music at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum.
October 4: Ivalas Quartet
October 18: ACRONYM: Esther in the Age of Rembrandt
October 25: Celebrating Chrysanthemums
This performance is made possible by the Anne Hawley Fund for Programs.
October 29: Georg Friedrich Haas's in vain performed by Alarm Will Sound, conducted by Alan Pierson – Thursday Night Music
November 1: Eleanor Alberga with Green Room Ensemble
November 8: Poiesis Quartet
November 15: Lysander Piano Trio
November 22: Jean Rondeau, harpsichord
This concert is made possible by the generous support of David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder.
All concerts take place on Sundays at 1:30 pm in Calderwood Hall at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum (25 Evans Way, Boston, MA), except for the October 29 Thursday Night Music concert which starts at 7 pm.
Ticketing Information
Tickets ($25-$99) are available at gardnermuseum.org/about/music or by calling the Box Office at 617 278 5156. All concert tickets include Museum admission.
About the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum
The Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum invites you to escape the ordinary in a magical setting where art and community come together to inspire new ways of envisioning our world. Embodying the fearless legacy of its founder, the Museum offers a singular invitation to explore the past through a contemporary lens, creating meaningful encounters with art and joyful connections for all. Modeled after a Venetian palazzo, unforgettable galleries surround a luminous Courtyard and are home to masters such as Rembrandt, Raphael, Titian, Michelangelo, Whistler, and Sargent. The Renzo Piano Wing provides a platform for contemporary artists, musicians, and scholars and serves as an innovative venue where creativity is celebrated in all of its forms.
Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum • 25 Evans Way, Boston, MA 02115 • Hours: Open Weekends from 10 am to 5 pm, Weekdays from 11 am to 5 pm, and Thursdays until 9 pm. Closed Tuesdays. • General admission: Adults $25; Seniors $22; Students $15; Free Thursdays from 5 – 9 pm and for members, children 17 and under, and everyone named Isabella • Information: 617 566 1401 • Box Office: 617 278 5156 • www.gardnermuseum.org
Music at the Gardner is supported by the Nora McNeely Hurley Foundation. The Museum thanks its generous concert donors: The Coogan Concert in memory of Peter Weston Coogan; Fitzpatrick Family Concert; James Lawrence Memorial Concert; Scott Nickrenz Concert; Alford P. Rudnick Memorial Concert; David Scudder in memory of his wife, Marie Louise Scudder; Wendy Shattuck Young Artist Concert; and Willona Sinclair Memorial Concert. The piano is dedicated as the Alex d’Arbeloff Steinway. The harpsichord was generously donated by Dr. Robert Barstow in memory of Marion Huse, and its care is endowed in memory of Dr. Barstow by The Barstow Fund. Music at the Gardner is also supported in part by Barbara and Amos Hostetter, Joseph Mari, Sallie and Jim McGregor, Nicie and Jay Panetta, and The Aaron Copland Fund for Music, Inc.