Peter Zazofsky, violin
Steven Ansell, viola
Lucia Lin, violin
Michael Reynolds, cello
(see bios below)

In its 30th season, the Muir String Quartet has long been acknowledged as one of the world's most powerful and insightful ensembles, distinguishing itself among audiences and critics with its "exhilarating involvement" (Boston Globe),"impeccable voicing and intonation" (San Francisco Examiner) and "unbridled musicality" (American Record Guide).  

Winner of the 1981 Naumburg Chamber Music Award and 1980 Evian Competition, the Muir String Quartet was greeted with rave reviews and an extensive feature in the New Yorker. They were soon featured on the internationally acclaimed PBS broadcast, In Performance at the White House for President and Mrs. Reagan.  Formed in 1979 following graduation from the Curtis Institute of Music and studies at Yale University, the Muir’s principal mentors were Felix Galimir and the Budapest and Guarneri Quartets.

In its commitment to advancing contemporary American music, the Muir Quartet has commissioned new works by Joan Tower (Night Fields), Sheila Silver (From Darkness Emerging), Richard Danielpour (Shadow Dances and Psalms of Sorrow -featured on CBS Sunday Morning), Richard Wilson (Third String Quartet), and Charles Fussell (Being Music, based on poetry of Walt Whitman).  The quartet also gave the premiere performance of the Native American collaborative work, Circle of Faith, featured on National Public Radio.  Recently premiered works include those by Richard Danielpour (Feast of Fools for bassoon and string quartet), Lucas Foss (String Quartet #4), Ezra Laderman (String Quartets #9 and #10), Joelle Wallach (String Quartet #3), and Ronald Perera’s first Quartet. In 08-09, in addition to their annual appearances at Rhode Island College, the Muir performs throughout the North America, including numerous concerts with lengendary pianist Menachem Pressler, and a marathon performance of Joan Tower’s works at the Kennedy Center. The Muir’s recording of the Kreisler, Berg Op. 3 and Schulhoff 5 Pieces will be released on the EcoClassics label this season. Their recordings have garnered a Grammy nomination (the Mozart and Brahms Clarinet Quintets with Mitchell Lurie: EcoClassics), a Grammy (Beethoven String Quartets Op. 132 and 133), two Grand Prix du Disques (Franck Quintet with Jean-Phillipe Collard and Chausson’s Concert with Dumay and Collard: EMI), and the Gramophone Award (Franck Quintet: EMI). Their recordings on EcoClassics have long provided benefit to conservation organizations and support the mission of Classics for Kids Foundation. Highlights of the 2009-2010 season include performances of the complete Beethoven Quartets in Boston, Montana, and Utah.

The Muir Quartet has been In Residence at Boston University's College of Fine Arts since 1983, and gives annual summer workshops at the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.  The Muir Quartet has also given master classes at Eastman, Curtis, Oberlin and Rice University.  Since 1989, the quartet has presented the Emerging Quartets and Composers Program in Utah with eminent composer Joan Tower, now part of the Muir’s role as resident chamber ensemble with the Deer Valley Festival, in partnership with the Utah Symphony/Opera.

Exclusive Management:
ARTS MANAGEMENT GROUP, INC., 1133 Broadway, Suite 1025, New York, NY 10010
Phone: 212-337-0838; Fax:212-924-0382
Info@artsmg.com






Cellist Michael Reynolds is founding cellist of the Muir String Quartet.  In that capacity, he tours the musical centers of North America and Europe, in addition to his activities as a professor at Boston University, where he has been in residence since 1983. His students have gone on to careers in major symphony orchestras, universities, and as educators and performers around the U.S. and Europe. A native of Montana, Mr. Reynolds studied at Curtis, where he was a student of David Soyer and Martita Casals, and afterward with Karen Tuttle and George Neikrug. Accolades include first prize at the Evian Competition, the Naumburg Award, two Grand Prix du Disques, the Gramophone Award, a Grammy nomination and a Grammy Award on EcoClassics, and an internationally acclaimed PBS broadcast, "In Performance at The White House" for President and Mrs. Ronald Reagan.  Mr. Reynolds has performed over 2,000 concerts throughout North America, Europe and the Far East, performing with such diverse artists as Leon Fleisher, Gil Shaham, Phyllis Curtin, Benny Goodman and Menachem Pressler.  He received an honorary doctorate from Rhode Island College in 1995.  Mr. Reynolds has appeared in recital and as orchestral soloist throughout the U.S, and his recording of the Bach Suites for Solo Cello on EcoClassics has received much critical acclaim.  EcoClassics has produced 12 classical recordings for the benefit of nature organizations and Classics for Kids Foundation.  He is also co-founder and Artistic Director of Classics for Kids Foundation, which offers matching grants for beautiful instruments and mentoring in support of strings programs around America, and Artistic Director of the Muir Quartet’s Emerging Quartets and Composers program at the Deer Valley Festival, in partnership with the Utah Symphony/Opera. As Artistic Director of Rockport Fall Foliage, he gathers adult musicians annually in Rockport, Maine under the auspices of Bay Chamber Concerts. His latest appointment is as Artistic Director of the Fredericksburg Festival of the Arts in Fredericksburg, Virginia. In his spare time he is an avid flyfisherman and outdoorsman. He plays a cello by Carlo Antonio Testori from 1741, “ex Toscanini”.




Steven Ansell, violist, began his studies at age ten with Karla Kantner in Seattle, Washington. He studied with Don McGinnis, Vilem Sokol, and Veda Reynolds before going to the Curtis Institute, where he studied with Michael Tree, Karen Tuttle and Raphael Hillyer. Upon graduation, he was appointed Professor of Viola at the University of Houston and became Assistant Principal Violist of the Pittsburgh Symphony under Andre Previn in 1977. In 1979 he left the orchestra to become one of the founding members of the Muir String Quartet, in residence at Boston University since 1983. The quartet has toured extensively in Europe, Australia, the US and Canada, and recorded widely, garnering the Grand Prix du Disque and a Grammy. Joan Tower, Lucas Foss, Richard Wilson, Richard Danielpour, Ezra Laderman, 


Charles Fussel and Shiela Silver, are some of the composers that the Muir has championed over the years. In 1996, Mr. Ansell joined the Boston Symphony Orchestra as Principal violist, and has appeared many times as soloist, playing Berlioz’s Harold in Italy with Emmanuel Krivine and James Levine, the Mozart Sinfonia Concertante with Lowe/Previn, Bruch’s double concerto for clarinet and viola, and Don Quixote with Mstislav Rostropovich and Yo-Yo Ma, among may others. He continues to enjoy exploring the quartet literature, recording, teaching and playing with the BSO. The Muir has recently recorded Berg’s Quartet op.3, Schulhof’s Five Pieces, and the Kreisler Quartet, due out soon, and will present the complete Beethoven Cycle next season in Boston and Bozeman, Montana. 




Peter Zazofsky, violinist, has performed throughout the US, Canada, and twenty-one countries in South America and Europe, including the symphonies of Boston, Baltimore, Brussels, Buenos Aires, Montreal, San Francisco, Toronto, Vienna, Berlin Philharmonic, Amsterdam Concertg-ebouw Orchestra and the Philadelphia Orchestra. He was raised in Boston where he studied with Joseph Silverstein. Following studies at the Julliard School with Dorothy Delay and Ivan Galamian, he attended the Curtis Institute, and spent five summers at the Marlboro Music Festival. After graduating from the Curtis Institute in 1976, he toured several seasons with Music from Marlboro, and won the Grand Prize of the 1979 Montreal International Competition and the Second Prize of the 1980 Queen Elizabeth Competition in Brussels. His most recent honor was the 1985 Avery Fisher Career Grant. In addition to concerts worldwide with the Muir Quartet, which  he joined in 1987, his solo performances include engagements in Paris, Brussels, Dusseldorf, Vienna and Israel. Mr. Zazofsky plays on a Carlo Bergonzi violin, 1744.