Bergamot Quartet is an NYC-based string quartet dedicated to the evolution of chamber music. They are sought-after interpreters of contemporary music who are expanding the definition of the string quartet genre by leveraging their skills as a classically trained ensemble with their enthusiasm for learning from and adapting to creative artists across a variety of genres. Bergamot maintains a full schedule of collaborations, residencies with educational institutions, appearances on series, recording sessions, and self-produced shows. They regularly commission new music, and prioritize music by women, striving to exhibit the equal gender representation they want to see throughout the music industry.
Bergamot Quartet is fueled by a passion for exploring and advocating for the music of living composers with creative programming, community-oriented audience building, and frequent commissioning. The quartet is in high demand as interpreters and co-creators of new music, having premiered hundreds of works by students of all ages and developed numerous significant new pieces with composers at the forefront of contemporary concert music. They maintain a full season each year of concerts ranging from DIY events to appearances at major venues.
Bergamot’s 2025 season includes a concert at National Sawdust celebrating the release of Samuel Torres’ A Dance for Birds”, composed for Bergamot and Torres’ Latin jazz sextet; residencies with Tulane University and Manhattan School of Music; a return to the Raritan River Music Festival; a collaboration with Cantori New York; a performance on “The Village Trip” series in Greenwich Village, where they will premiere Samuel Adler’s 11th and Louis Karchin’s 4th string quartet. They have recently launched “Project Resonance” with composer/performer Dan Trueman, a multi-tiered project which will foster the creation and performance of new works for Bergamot playing a set of hardanger instruments (traditional Scandinavian 9-stringed folk instruments). As educators, Bergamot will serve on faculty this summer at New Music On The Point, Wildflower Composers Festival, and Arts Letters and Numbers Creative Music Intensive. They also operate the monthly concert series “Bergamot Quartet Extended” as a medium to showcase their many inspiring collaborators and present new work.
Based in New York City, Bergamot Quartet is Ledah Finck and Sarah Thomas, violins; Amy Tan, viola; and Irène Han, cello. Bergamot Quartet was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the Mannes School of Music 2020-2022, where they were mentored by the JACK Quartet