April 25: Jupiter Quartet Presented by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts – Featuring Music by Clarice Assad, Salina Fisher, Florence Price, and Robert Schumann
Photo of the Jupiter Quartet by Todd Rosenberg available in high resolution at www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/jupiter-string
Jupiter Quartet Presented by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
Performing the Music of Clarice Assad, Salina Fisher,
Florence Price, and Robert Schumann
Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
University of Illinois | Foellinger Great Hall - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
500 S Goodwin Ave. | Urbana, IL
Tickets and Information
Jupiter Quartet’s New Album Undreamed Shores
Out April 17 on Orchid Classics
“an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
Urbana, IL – The Jupiter String Quartet –– whose playing The Washington Post describes as “characterful, illuminating and utterly committed” –– will perform at Krannert Center for the Performing Arts on Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30pm. This is the ensemble’s final performance on this series during the 2025-2026 season. The program originally featured a collaboration with pianist Bernadette Harvey but has been changed due to circumstances beyond her control. Based at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, and giving concerts all over the country, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, consisting of violinists Mélanie Clapiès and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). Founded in 2001, the ensemble is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music, and exudes an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous.
The Jupiter Quartet brings its well-honed artistic chemistry to a musically diverse program that spans from the mid-19th century to the present day.. The performance will include Cançoes da America by Clarice Assad; Heal by Salina Fisher; selections from Five Folksongs in Counterpoint by Florence Price; and Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 by Robert Schumann.
Says the Jupiter Quartet: “It is always a treat to play for our hometown community of Champaign-Urbana at the lovely Krannert Center. Although we are sad that the original program planned, which was to feature the wonderful pianist Bernadette Harvey, had to be postponed due to a visa delay, we are excited to share this dynamic program instead. All four of the composers we will feature have created works filled with color and variety, and we hope the audience will enjoy them as much as we do.”
A powerful communicator renowned for her musical scope and versatility, the GRAMMY-nominated composer, pianist, vocalist, and educator Clarice Assad is acclaimed for her evocative colors, rich textures, and diverse stylistic range. Of Canções da America, she writes: “Canções da America is a collection of song-like movements inspired by chants, dances, and rhythms associated with South American music. A melting pot of cultures consisting of Europeans, immigrants, natives, and people from Africa.” Salina Fisher is an award-winning New Zealand composer who draws from her background as a multi-instrumentalist of mixed Japanese heritage. Of the inspiration behind her 2021 work Heal, Fisher says: “During a year of collective and personal challenges, I became interested in the process of healing and its relation to music making,’ says Fisher. ‘Can composing be part of a healing process? What does it mean to share physical space and sound?’” African-American composer Florence Price’s Five Folksongs in Counterpoint is a brilliant reworking of popular folk tunes and spirituals. The movements the Jupiters will play are based on the songs My Darling Clementine, Drink to Me Only with Thine Eyes, and Shortnin’ Bread.. Finally, Robert Schumann’s vivid Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1, which he composed in his “chamber music year” of 1842, will close out the program. The quartet, which is dedicated to Felix Mendelssohn, along with the two other string quartets of Opus 41, drew particular inspiration from close study of the contrapuntal style of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. Schumann’s life was filled with a personal struggle between light and darkness, and his music expresses this inner turbulence to powerful emotional effect.
On April 17, 2026, the Jupiter String Quartet releases Undreamed Shores, the ensemble’s ninth studio album and first on Orchid Classics. On Undreamed Shores, the Jupiter Quartet turns to old friends with new inspiration. The album features the world premiere recordings of new string quartets written for the Jupiter by composers who are also longtime friends of the ensemble — Michi Wiancko (To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores), Stephen Andrew Taylor (Chaconne/Labyrinth), and Kati Agócs (Imprimatur, String Quartet No. 2) — exploring themes including the climate crisis, the pandemic, memory, and re-imagination. This highly anticipated recording is the Jupiter’s final album with violinist Nelson Lee, who departed from the group’s lineup in September 2025, succeeded by violinist Mélanie Clapiès.
More About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
In addition to Undreamed Shores, the Jupiter’s discography includes a collaborative album with the Jasper Quartet released on Marquis Records in 2021, featuring Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round, which was praised by The Arts Fuse for its “smart program and fine execution.” The quartet has recorded previously for Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as having “technical finesse and rare expressive maturity,” is presented by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts in their final series performance for the 2025-2026 season. The award-winning ensemble will perform a musically diverse program of works that spans from the mid-19th century to the present day, including works by living composers. The performance will include: Cançoes da America by Clarice Assad, Heal by Salina Fisher; selections from Five Folksongs in Counterpoint by Florence Price; and Quartet in A minor, Op. 41 No. 1 by Robert Schumann.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet
Presented by Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
What: Music by Clarice Assad, Salina Fisher, Florence Price, and Robert Schumann
When: Saturday, April 25, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: University of Illinois, Foellinger Great Hall - Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, 500 S Goodwin Ave., Urbana, IL
Tickets and information: https://krannertcenter.com/events/jupiter-string-quartet-bernadette-harvey-piano