Violist Emily Brandenburg joins the NY-based Cassatt String Quartet
The New York-based Cassatt String Quartet has announced the appointment of violist Emily Brandenburg, who will replace violist Rosemary Nelis, who joined the group in 2022 and is leaving to focus on other projects. Other members of the quartet include violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, and cellist Gwen Krosnick.
The Cassatt String Quartet, L-R: Gwen Krosnick, Jennifer Leshnower, Emily Brandenburg and Muneko Otani. Photo by Dario Acosta.
The quartet is named for Mary Cassatt, the 19th- and 20th-century painter whose work stood alongside the Impressionists in Paris and who also worked for women’s right to vote.
Brandenburg holds degrees from Yale, New England Conservatory, and McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. She was previously artist-in-residence at the University of Evansville in Indiana, where she was principal viola of Evansville Philharmonic and a member of the Eykamp String Quartet.
"Muneko, Jennifer, and I are overjoyed to welcome Emily Brandenburg to the Cassatt Quartet as our new violist, and to look forward to the years of shared adventures and music-making ahead," said Krosnick. "Emily brings to the CSQ her extraordinary experience as a lifelong chamber musician and an especially devoted quartet player; she balances a brilliant analytical mind with a rich, compelling, unusual voice that is deeply layered and beautiful."
The Cassatt String Quartet will celebrate its 40th anniversary in 2024-2025 with premieres by Joan Tower, Victoria Bond, Mari Kimura and Shirish Korde, all written for the group. The season includes a tour of Italy with guitarist Eliot Fisk, concerts across the United States, teaching residencies at major universities and conservatories, the CSQ's bi-annual Cassatt in the Basin residency in West Texas, and the Seal Bay Festival in Maine.
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