Upcoming Highlights:

NEW ALBUM: adjust on Cantaloupe Music - Spring 2025
Visiting Artist Residency at University of Richmond - March 2025
Anzû: New Works at Roulette Intermedium in Brooklyn, NY - March 9, 2025
NEW ALBUM: Quatuor pour la fin du temps Cantaloupe Music - Fall 2025

Past Highlights:

Anzû: New Works at Hamilton College, New York - March 2024
Quatuor pour la fin du temps at Klaipéda Concert Hall, Lithuania - September 2023
Anzû: New Works at Alte Schmiede, Vienna - September 2023
Anzû: New Works at Korzo, Den Haag - November 2022
Anzû: New Works at De Link, Tilburg - November 2022
Anzû: New Works at KM28, Berlin - November 2022
Quatuor pour la fin du temps at Hrvatski dom Split, Croatia - November 2022
Quatuor pour la fin du temps on CAP UCLA’s Tune-In Festival - September 2021

Anzû: New Works 

A collection of brilliant composers whose work has its genesis from outside the chamber music realm.
Featuring works by Aftab Darvishi, Anna Webber, Ryan Carter, and Ken Thomson

Along with Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps, Anzû Quartet’s 2024-2025 concert season will also feature Anzû: New Works, a program of recent works composed for the Anzû Quartet by a diverse group of composers. This program features a wide array of compositional approaches and aesthetic sensibilities, including the modern jazz-influenced works of Anna Webber (USA) and Ken Thomson (USA / Berlin), the danceably angular work of Ryan Carter (USA), and the diaspora-bending work of Aftab Darvishi (Amsterdam / Tehran).

About Anzû’s Commissioned Composers:

Mario Diaz de Leon is a composer, performer, and recording artist, whose creative work explores intersections of sound, spirituality, and technology. Diaz de Leon is concurrently active in modern classical music, experimental electronic music, improvisation, and metal, having produced over a dozen albums of his work in collaboration with chamber ensembles, as a solo electronic artist, in the duo Luminous Vault, and with the improvisation trio Bloodmist.  His music has been acclaimed by the New York Times, Pitchfork, and the New Yorker, and he has received commissions from the Los Angeles Philharmonic, International Contemporary Ensemble, Talea Ensemble, and TAK Ensemble.

During his teenage years he explored metal, hardcore, and electronic music, which was followed by study at Oberlin Conservatory and Columbia University, where he received a doctorate in music composition.  Under the stage name Oneirogen, he released several albums of heavy ambient electronics performed internationally, including CTM Festival in Berlin; Donaufestival in Krems, Austria; and The Kitchen in NYC. The first electronic release under his own name, Heart Thread, was released in 2022, and was featured in the New York Times, New Sounds (New York Public Radio), and Groove (Germany). Heart Thread, Diaz de Leon explained, “is a way for me to explore sacred expressions of abundance—a technology for channeling mystical experience.” His 2023 album Spark and Earth melds together the contrasting elements of his work in metal, modern classical, and electronic music.

Having previously taught at Columbia as Core Lecturer, he is currently Assistant Professor of Music and Technology at Stevens Institute of Technology.  His scores are published by Project Schott New York.

www.mariodiazdeleon.com

Aftab Darvishi was born in Tehran, Iran in 1987. She started playing violin at age five, and as she grew older, she got in touch with other instruments like the kamancheh (Iranian string instrument) and classical piano. Darvishi has studied Music Performance at University of Tehran, Composition at Royal Conservatory of The Hague and Composing for film and Carnatic Music (South Indian music) at Conservatory of Amsterdam. 

Darvishi has presented her music in various festivals in Europe and Asia working with various ensembles. She has also attended various artistic residencies, such AiEP Contemporary Dance Company (Milan), Kinitiras studio (Athens), and Akropoditi Dance center (Syros). She is a former member of KhZ ensemble; an experimental electronic ensemble with supervision of Yannis Kyriakides that has performed in various festivals such as the Holland Festival. After her graduation, she has been regularly invited as a guest lecturer at the University of Tehran. 

In 2014, Darvishi was short-listed for the 20th Young Composer meeting in Apeldoorn (Netherlands) and in 2015, she won the Music Education award from Listhus Artist Residency to hold workshops for presenting Persian music to music teachers at Music School of Fjallabyggd, Iceland. In 2016, Darvishi was awarded the prestigious Tenso Young Composers Award for her piece And the world stopped Lacking you... for a cappella choir.

www.aftabdarvishi.com

Anna Webber (b. 1984) is a flutist, saxophonist, and composer whose interests and work live in the aesthetic overlap between avant-garde jazz and new classical music. In May 2021 she released Idiom, a double album featuring both a trio and a large ensemble, and a follow-up to her critically-acclaimed release Clockwise. That album, which the Wall Street Journal called "visionary and captivating," was voted #6 Best Album of 2019 in the NPR Jazz Critics Poll, who described it as “heady music [that] appeals to the rest of the body.” Her 2020 release, Both Are True (Greenleaf Music), co-led with saxophonist/composer Angela Morris, was named a top ten best release of 2020 by The New York Times. She was recently named a 2021 Berlin Prize Fellow and was voted the top “Rising Star” flutist in the 2020 Downbeat Critic’s Poll.

Webber is a 2018 Guggenheim Fellow. She has additionally been awarded grants from the Copland Fund (2021 & 2019), the Shifting Foundation (2015), the New York Foundation for the Arts (2017), the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec, and the Canada Council for the Arts and residencies from Exploring the Metropolis (2019), the MacDowell Colony (2017 & 2020), the Millay Colony for the Arts (2015), and the Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts (2014). 

www.annakristinwebber.com

Ryan Carter composes music for instruments, voices, and computers. Ryan's work often explores new musical possibilities presented by emerging technologies, while remaining critical of the assumptions and unintended side effects embedded in them. Alternately playful, quirky, visceral, and intense, his music has been described by the New York Times as "imaginative ... like, say, a Martian dance party." Ryan has been commissioned by Carnegie Hall, the MATA Festival, the National Flute Association, and many ensembles, with support from the the American Composers Forum, the Jerome Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Ryan has collaborated with the Berkeley Symphony, the Calder Quartet, the Cleveland Chamber Symphony, Hub New Music, the International Contemporary Ensemble, JACK Quartet, the Metropolis Ensemble, Mivos Quartet, the Nieuw Ensemble, NOW Ensemble, Present Music and the Milwaukee Children's Choir, the Princeton Laptop Orchestra, Seth Parker Woods, Transient Canvas, and Yarn/Wire. Awards include the Aaron Copland Award, the LA Phil Prize at Hack Music LA, the Lee Ettelson Award, the Left Coast Composition Contest, the National Association of Composers/USA Composer's Competition, and the Publikumspreis at the Heidelberg Spring Festival. His debut portrait album can be heard on KAIROS Records. In addition to composing acoustic music, Ryan is an avid computer musician and programmer. His iMonkeypants app (available on the App Store) is an album of algorithmically generated, listener-interactive electronica for iOS. Ryan holds degrees from Oberlin Conservatory (BMus), Stony Brook University (MA), and New York University (PhD). Ryan is Associate Professor of Music at Hamilton College.

www.ryancarter.org

Ken Thomson, Berlin-New York based clarinetist, is the clarinetist of the renowned NY-based contemporary music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars, as well as an international performer and composer. He is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. Embracing the combination of complexity in harmony, rhythm, and form while adding a punk-rock aesthetic, Thomson stands alone in his unique corner of today’s multifaceted musical world.

Thomson has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of different sizes, and has released a number of albums with groups that he has created.  His latest effort combining the sounds of jazz and contemporary music, Sextet, garnered Top of 2018 placement from websites Second Inversion and AnEarful and has toured to Europe and across the US.  His previous project, a five-piece group called Slow/Fast with whom he released two albums, toured to the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and more; the group was praised by The New York Times in a full review for its “intricate long-form compositions.” He released heralded full-length CDs of his compositions in 2013 with JACK Quartet (Thaw) and in 2016 with cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson (Restless). A subsequent composed chamber music release is forthcoming in 2021. He has been commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can, the True/False Film Festival, Doug Perkins, Mariel Roberts, and others, and has received awards from New Music USA, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ASCAP and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.  His arrangement of Meredith Monk’s “Downfall” was called one of the “Top 25 Classical Tracks of 2020” by The New York Times.

Ken has recently been the subject of profile features in Downbeat, NewMusicBox and Critical Read. He is a F. Arthur Uebel Artist and D’Addario Woodwinds Artist. 

www.ktonline.net

About  Anzû:

Formed in 2020, the Anzû Quartet is an ensemble dedicated to the music of our time and the recent canon. A collaboration between internationally renowned performers of contemporary music, this new quartet pays homage to Olivier Messiaen’s Quatuor pour la fin du temps by actively commissioning and performing new works for this iconic instrumentation, building a new repertoire to compliment Messiaen’s original masterpiece in the current era. Anzû’s inaugural concert season finds the ensemble in New York, Berlin, and Croatia, along with a digital premiere at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance in collaboration with visual artist Xuan.  In Fall 2021, Anzû made a studio recording of the Quartet for the End of Time, slated for release during the 2022-2023 season.

The individual members of Anzû are veterans of New York City's vital contemporary music community and have frequently collaborated with one another across a wide range of musical endeavors and acclaimed international performances. Olivia De Prato (violin), Ashley Bathgate (cello), Ken Thomson (clarinet) and Karl Larson (piano) have been lauded by critics and musicians worldwide, and have been instrumental in helping form and cement the work of important NY-based chamber groups such as the Bang on a Can All-Stars, Mivos Quartet, Ensemble Signal and Bearthoven. They have premiered works by some of the most important composers of our time at some of the most prestigious venues in the world.

 Our Members:

Internationally recognized as a soloist as well as a chamber musician, Austro-Italian violinist Olivia De Prato has been described as "flamboyant...convincing" (New York Times) and an "enchanting violinist" (Messaggero Veneto, Italy). After moving to New York City to continue her studies, she quickly established herself as a passionate performer of contemporary and improvised music. Her chamber music activities include appearances at the Bang on a Can Marathon in NYC, the Lucerne Festival with Pierre Boulez, the Ensemble Modern Festival, "June in Buffalo" and the Ojai Festival with Steve Reich. Olivia is a member of the new music ensembles Signal directed by Brad Lubman, Victoire founded by composer Missy Mazzoli, and the Mivos Quartet. Olivia has closely collaborated with composers such as Sir Harrison Birtwistle, Pierre Boulez, Chaya Czernowin, Peter Eötvös, Michael Gordon, Helmut Lachenman, David Lang, Meredith Monk, Steve Reich, Todd Reynolds, Ned Rothenberg, Julia Wolfe, and Evan Ziporyn. Olivia studied at the University of Music and Arts in Vienna and received her B.M. from the Eastman School of Music. She graduated with her M.M in Contemporary Performance from the Manhattan School of Music.

www.oliviadeprato.com

Ken Thomson, Berlin-New York based clarinetist, is the clarinetist of the renowned NY-based contemporary music ensemble Bang on a Can All-Stars, as well as an international performer and composer. He is widely regarded for his ability to blend a rich variety of influences and styles into his own musical language while maintaining a voice unmistakably his own. Embracing the combination of complexity in harmony, rhythm, and form while adding a punk-rock aesthetic, Thomson stands alone in his unique corner of today’s multifaceted musical world.

Thomson has a growing catalog of music written for ensembles of different sizes, and has released a number of albums with groups that he has created.  His latest effort combining the sounds of jazz and contemporary music, Sextet, garnered Top of 2018 placement from websites Second Inversion and AnEarful and has toured to Europe and across the US.  His previous project, a five-piece group called Slow/Fast with whom he released two albums, toured to the Saalfelden Jazz Festival and more; the group was praised by The New York Times in a full review for its “intricate long-form compositions.” He released heralded full-length CDs of his compositions in 2013 with JACK Quartet (Thaw) and in 2016 with cellist Ashley Bathgate and pianist Karl Larson (Restless). A subsequent composed chamber music release is forthcoming in 2021.

Ken plays clarinet for the Bang on a Can All-Stars, one of the world’s preeminent new music ensembles. He is the musical director for the Asphalt Orchestra, an 8-piece next-generation avant-garde street band. He plays saxophone and is one of the 4 composers in the punk/chamber/jazz band Gutbucket, with whom he toured internationally to twenty countries and 32 states over twenty years.

As a teaching artist, he is on faculty at the Bang on a Can Summer Music Festival and has given composer master classes to multiple universities across the globe, and as guest faculty at the Vermont College of Fine Arts Masters program and a composer mentor at the Ensemble Offspring Hatched Academy in Sydney, Australia. 

As a composer, he has been commissioned by the American Composers Orchestra, Bang on a Can, the True/False Film Festival, Doug Perkins, Mariel Roberts, and others, and has received awards from New Music USA, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, ASCAP and the Aaron Copland Fund for Music.  His arrangement of Meredith Monk’s “Downfall” was called one of the “Top 25 Classical Tracks of 2020” by The New York Times.

Performing with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, he has appeared as a soloist with the LA Philharmonic, Danish Radio Symphony, BBC and RTE Concert Orchestra, and more.  He has performed and recorded with Ensemble Signal (conducted by Brad Lubman), working directly with composers from Steve Reich to Helmut Lachenmann and performing on CDs for Harmonia Mundi, Mode, Orange Mountain, and Cantaloupe Records. He is a frequent collaborator with many new-composed music groups including Alarm Will Sound, International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Novus NY, Eighth Blackbird, and more. He has also worked as a music director, notably, directing composer Julia Wolfe’s “Traveling Music” at the Bordeaux Conservatory, France, 2009, and has conducted performances of “Music for Airports” with the Bang on a Can All-Stars, choir, and guest musicians from Melbourne to Buenos Aires.

He has recently been the subject of profile features in Downbeat, NewMusicBox and Critical Read. He is a F. Arthur Uebel Artist and D’Addario Woodwinds Artist. 

www.ktonline.net

American cellist Ashley Bathgate has been described as an “eloquent new music interpreter” (New York Times) and “a glorious cellist” (The Washington Post) who combines “bittersweet lyricism along with ferocious chops” (New York Magazine). Her “impish ferocity”, “rich tone” and “imaginative phrasing” (New York Times) have made her one of the most sought after performers of her time. The desire to create a dynamic energy exchange with her audience and build upon the ensuing chemistry is a pillar of Bathgate's philosophy as a performer. Dynamism drives her to venture into previously uncharted areas of ground-breaking sounds and techniques, breaking the mold of a cello's traditionally perceived voice. Collaborators and fans alike describe her vitality as nothing short of remarkable and magical for all who are involved. 

Bathgate was a member of the acclaimed sextet Bang on a Can All-Stars for ten years. She is also a member of the chamber music group HOWL, TwoSense with pianist Lisa Moore, and Bonjour, a low-strung, percussive quintet. In 2015 Bathgate gave the world premiere of What Moves You, a collaborative performance project with jookin’ dance sensation Lil Buck at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, SC, as well as the world premiere of a new Cello Concerto written for her by Kate Moore for the Gaudeamus Festival in Utrecht, NL. Her debut solo album, Stories for Ocean Shells, featuring a set of works for cello composed by Moore, was released in 2016 on Cantaloupe Music. That year Bathgate also commissioned the ‘composer collective’ Sleeping Giant to write ASH, a six-movement suite for solo cello, which was released on New Amsterdam Records in the fall of 2019. Her forthcoming album, 8 Track, featuring new multitrack works by Alex Weiser and Emily Cooley, as well as a new rendition of Steve Reich’s Cello Counterpoint, is due this season on New Focus Recordings. Her latest project is a new evening length work by Michael Gordon, House Music, which premiered at the 2018 Cello Biennale in Amsterdam, NL. 

Bathgate’s radio/television appearances include performances on BBC Radio 3, WKCR, WMHT, WQXR’s Meet the Composer podcast with Nadia Sirota, NPR’s Performance Today, WYNC’s New Sounds Live, SiriusXM, Late Night and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon. Her recorded work can be found on Albany Records, Cantaloupe Music, Innova Recordings, La-La Land Records, Naxos, New Amsterdam Records, Nonesuch, Starkland and Uffda Records. She has also recorded for several podcasts presented by Wondery, Gimlet and Stitcher.

Bathgate studied at Bard College with Luis Garcia-Renart (B.M.) before continuing her education at Yale University with renowned cellist Aldo Parisot (M.M. & A.D). Originally from Saratoga Springs, NY, Bathgate began her cello studies with the late Rudolf Doblin, principal cellist and assistant music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic in the 1950’s. After his passing, she resumed her tutelage with Ann Alton at Skidmore College. A member of the Empire State Youth Orchestra at the time, Bathgate was also the unprecedented two-time winner of the Lois Lyman Concerto Competition, performing the Saint-Saens and Schumann Cello Concertos with the orchestra at Troy Savings Bank Music Hall. While at Bard College, she was invited to perform both the d’Albert and Barber Cello Concertos with the American Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Leon Botstein and then went on to win Yale University’s Concerto Competition in 2008, performing with the Yale Philharmonia in New Haven’s legendary Woolsey Hall. 

www.ashleybathgate.com

 Karl Larson is a Brooklyn-based pianist and specialist in the music of our time. A devoted supporter of contemporary composers and their craft, Larson has built a career grounded in commissioning and long-term collaborations. He frequently performs in a variety of chamber music settings, most notably with his trio, Bearthoven, a piano / bass / percussion ensemble focussed on cultivating a diverse new repertoire for their instrumentation. As a soloist, Larson is known for championing the works of his peers and the recent canon alike, often gravitating towards long-form, reflective works of the 20th and 21st centuries. Through his work with Bearthoven, collaborations with a wide variety of chamber musicians, and his solo projects, Larson has helped to generate a large body of new work, resulting in world premiere performances of pieces by notable composers including David Lang, Sarah Hennies, Scott Wollschleger, and Michael Gordon.

A sought after collaborator, Larson has performed with many leaders in the field, including the Bang on a Can All-Stars, the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), Ensemble Signal, Yarn/Wire, the American Composers Orchestra, Maya Bennardo (violin), Ashley Bathgate (cello), and Ken Thomson (clarinets/saxophones). Larson’s recent performances include notable appearances at Carnegie Hall’s Zankel Hall, EMPAC, the Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, MASS MoCA, and the Teatro General San Martín in Buenos Aires, Argentina. 

Karl received a Doctor of Musical Arts in Contemporary Music and a Master of Music in Piano Performance from Bowling Green State University, where he studied with Dr. Laura Melton. Larson completed his undergraduate degree at Luther College in Decorah Iowa as a pupil of Dr. John Strauss. His recordings can be heard on Cantaloupe Music, New Amsterdam Records, New World Records, New Focus Recordings, and GALTTA Media.

www.karllarsonpiano.com