Jupiter String Quartet Announces Mélanie Clapiès as New Violinist Succeeding Nelson Lee
Photos by Todd Rosenberg and Tiana Hunter, available in high resolution here.
Jupiter String Quartet Announces Mélanie Clapiès as New Violinist
Clapiès will Join the Jupiter Following Nelson Lee’s Final Performance with the Quartet
on September 26, 2025 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts
melanieclapies.com | www.jupiterquartet.com
Urbana, IL – The Jupiter String Quartet announces that Mélanie Clapiès has been selected as the ensemble’s new violinist, succeeding Nelson Lee and joining violinist Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel, and cellist Daniel McDonough. Founded in 2001, the Jupiter Quartet has had the same personnel since its inception, and is firmly established as an important voice in the world of chamber music, with The New Yorker reporting, “The Jupiter String Quartet, an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” The quartet exudes an energy that is at once friendly, knowledgeable, and adventurous, and has performed across the United States, Canada, Europe, Asia, and the Americas 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.
Outgoing violinist Nelson Lee has performed in the Jupiter String Quartet for 24 years. His final concert with the group will be on September 26, 2025, presented by the Krannert Center for the Performing Artist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where the Jupiter has been in residence since 2012. Lee will be relocating to Montréal, Canada, where he has accepted a position at McGill University. He says, “It is with immense gratitude that I say goodbye to my friends in the Jupiter Quartet. I feel indebted to all of them for being the most generous and inspiring collaborators through this journey that we started together in 2001. I have learned so much from them over the years as we have grown from life as students to having our own wonderful families. I know they will thrive in this next chapter with Mélanie and wish them all the best going forward.”
The Freivogel sisters and McDonough summarize their thoughts:
“We want to thank Nelson from the bottom of our hearts for over twenty inspiring years as our close colleague and friend. The countless memories and the depth of our connection is something that will stay with us permanently, even as we move forward in different directions. We hope he and his family will find great fulfillment and happiness in their new situation, and we will always be here to support them from afar.
We are also overjoyed to announce our new violinist, Mélanie Clapiès. She is a musician with a wide-ranging background in both Europe and the United States, a wonderful teacher, and an absolutely beautiful player, full of insight and creativity. We can’t wait to explore new ground with her as a quartet, and we welcome her and her family to our quartet family and our home community of Champaign-Urbana!”
Clapiès adds, “A longtime dream is becoming reality in joining this quartet, and I couldn't be more grateful for this next chapter with Meg, Liz, and Dan. It's a true privilege to explore the quartet repertoire with such inspired musicians.”
Mélanie Clapiès joins the Jupiter String Quartet, as well as the School of Music faculty at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, this fall. A French-born, multifaceted soloist and a dedicated chamber music player, Clapiès enjoys an international career. She has been invited to festivals in the US, France, the UK, Russia, Malta, Italy, Spain, and Algeria, including Yellow Barn, Colmar, Musique en roue libre, the Deauville’s Festival de Pâques and Août Musical, la Roque d’Anthéron, the Salon Romantique of the Palazzetto Bru Zane, “Suona Francese”, Portogruaro, and the Fondation Monteleon. She studied at the Conservatoires Nationaux Supérieurs de Musique in both Lyon and Paris. After moving to the United States, she received her M.M. and A.D. from the Yale School of Music and completed a Doctoral degree at the Manhattan School of Music. Her wide ranging musical focuses include new and experimental music, as well as electronic music, which she explores through performing, improvising, and composing. As a part of her ongoing interest in researching and uplifting unusual repertoire, she recorded Pierrots Lunaires, an album of duos for violin and cello with cellist Yan Levionnois (Fondamenta/Sony). Named a Zonta Club laureate in 2001, she has also received the Broadus Erle Prize, Yale School of Music Alumni Association Prize, Philip Francis Nelson Prize from Yale University, and the Saul Braverman Award. A dedicated educator, Clapiès comes to the University of Illinois from Butler University, where she has been a member of the violin faculty since 2022. She previously taught at the conservatories in Toulon and Bordeaux as well as at the Ecole Normale de Musique in Paris.
The Jupiter will celebrate Nelson Lee in their final concert together on Friday, September 26, 2025 at 7:30pm, which opens the ensemble’s series at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts. Their program features three vibrant works spanning more than two centuries – W.A. Mozart’s Piano Quartet in G Minor, Caroline Shaw’s Entr’acte, and César Franck’s Piano Quintet performed with pianist Jon Nakamatsu. The Jupiter’s series at the Krannert Center includes two more performances this season on March 12, 2026 and April 25, 2026.
Based in Urbana, IL and giving concerts all over the country, the Jupiter String Quartet is a particularly intimate group, and includes violinist Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel (Meg’s older sister), and cellist Daniel McDonough (Meg’s husband, Liz’s brother-in-law). 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.
Recent and upcoming highlights include residencies at Taos School of Music Summer Festival, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, the Adam Chamber Music Festival in New Zealand, and the University of Idaho, as well as performances presented by the Library of Congress, the University of Florida Performing Arts, Bay Chamber Concerts, Calgary Pro Musica, San Antonio Chamber Music Society, Buffalo Chamber Music Society, and many more. Major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, the Banff Centre, Taos School of Music Summer Festival, Virginia Arts Festival, Music at Menlo, Maverick Concerts, Caramoor International Music Festival, Lanaudiere Festival, West Cork (Ireland) Chamber Music Festival, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, Skaneateles Festival, Madeline Island Music Festival, Yellow Barn Festival, Encore Chamber Music Festival, the inaugural Chamber Music Athens, and the Seoul Spring Festival, among others.
The Jupiter String Quartet’s honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition in 2004. In 2005, they won the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City, which quickly led to a busy touring schedule. They received the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America in 2007, followed by an Avery Fisher Career Grant in 2008. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two and, in 2009, they received a grant from the Fromm Foundation to commission a new quartet from Dan Visconti for a CMSLC performance at Alice Tully Hall. In 2012, the Jupiter Quartet members were appointed as artists-in-residence and faculty at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where they continue to perform regularly in the beautiful Krannert Center for the Performing Arts, maintain private studios, and direct the chamber music program.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartók string quartets at the University of Illinois and the complete cycle of Beethoven string quartets at the Aspen Music Festival and School, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and the Lanaudiere Festival in Quebec. 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. They are also part of a commission for chamber choir and string quartet, with music by Su Lian Tan and words by Robin Wall Kimmerer.
The Jupiters place a strong emphasis on developing relationships with future audiences through educational performances in schools and other community centers. They believe that, because of the intensity of its interplay and communication, chamber music is one of the most effective ways of spreading an enthusiasm for “classical” music to new audiences. The quartet has also held numerous masterclasses for young musicians, including most recently at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Cleveland Institute of Music, Northwestern University, Eastman School of Music, the Aspen Music Festival, Encore Chamber Festival, Madeline Island Music Festival, and Peabody Conservatory.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse reported, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet recorded their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiter.