Biography

The West End String Quartet came together in 2005 because of their shared passion for chamber music. Since then, WESQ has been entertaining audiences across New England with an exciting and varied repertoire of chamber music. 

Strong advocates of contemporary music, WESQ strives to bring new and uncommon repertoire to their concerts, pairing them with traditional works. In 2006, the quartet collaborated with Ruby Fulton for the premiere of The Slow Revolution. Repeat performances of this work were sponsored by an Encore grant from the American Composers Forum. Highlights of recent years include the Ives Vocal Marathon Project at Wesleyan University, and the premieres of James T. Lindsay's Second String Quartet and Dan Román’s Sonora Complexidad.  WESQ has performed music by local composers on Capitol Community College’s Hartford Composers Series. In 2011, WESQ toured the East Coast with the modern opera company Rhymes With Opera, giving performances in unconventional spaces to appreciative audiences in Brooklyn, Baltimore, Hartford, and Boston.

The West End String Quartet

In the summer of 2007, the quartet performed at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival in Colorado as the festival's Young Artists Ensemble-in-Residence. In the summer of 2010, the quartet participated in the Professional Studies program at Soundfest Chamber Music Festival, where they spent two weeks performing and coaching chamber music with the Colorado Quartet. In past seasons, the quartet has performed at St. James's Episcopal Church in West Hartford, the Universalist Church of West Hartford, on the Music @ First Series, River Crossings Concert Series, at the Arts Institute of Western Maine, and at Wesleyan University, Western New England College, Trinity College, and the Hartt School

Dedicated teachers as well, the quartet leads the chamber music program at Wesleyan University, and presents a series of chamber music masterclasses at The Hartt School Community Division. Members of the quartet perform in Hartford, Springfield, New Haven, Vermont, Eastern Connecticut and Waterbury Symphony Orchestras.

Member Bios

Sarah Washburn
Marianne Vogel
John Biatowas
Anne Berry

Upcoming Concerts

Music for Aymeric

Saturday, February 17 at 7:00 PM

United Church of Stonington, 67 Main Street

A special program feature that will interest the greater Stonington audience is a composition by Dr. Neely Bruce in memory of his dear friend and colleague Aymeric Dupré la Tour. Neely Bruce, Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University, is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music.

Excerpts from The Art of Fugue
by J. S. Bach

A Partita for Aymeric Dupré la Tour
by Neely Bruce

Suggested Donation: $20

This concert will be presented on February 18 at 4:00 PM

at First Church Fairfield, 148 Beach Road, Fairfield, Connecticut
Music in the Meetinghouse, the concert series of First Church Congregational, Fairifeld, presents the West End String Quartet Sunday, February 18, at 4:00 PM. This performance is given in memory of Aymeric Dupré la Tour. A reception will follow.

The program features excerpts from Bach's The Art of the Fugue and a new work by Connecticut composer and Wesleyan University professor Neely Bruce, in memory of Aymeric. Dupré la Tour, a native of Lyon, France, was Director of Music at First Church from 2012 to 2016, and then served at St. Theresa Church, Trumbull. He died at the age of 49 in a tragic auto accident in May 2022.

General admission $20; $10 senior citizens; $5 students. Tickets available at the door (cash, check, or credit card) and may be reserved by email: fmartignetti@firstchurchfairfield.org.

The concert is also listed on FCBuzz.org: https://culturalalliancefc.org/event/the-west-end-string-quartet-a-concert-in-memory-of-aymeric-dupre-la-tour/