The FORTE STRING QUARTET 

The Forte String Quartet, now celebrating its 20th Anniversary, enjoys wide acclaim as an ensemble of “accomplished and focused chamber musicians who have a gift for making interesting programmes” as well as a distinctive talent for “penetrating exposition of the score [Beethoven Op. 18, No. 4] distinguished in its dramatic urgency…” as noted in The STRAD, April 2005.  FSQ was founded in 1990 and is currently comprised of award-winning artists originally trained in the classic schools of old Ukraine and Bulgaria.  Each of FSQ’s members emigrated to other parts of the world developing and honing a distinctly international sensibility through extensive study with noted teachers and performance in some of the most significant chamber ensembles and orchestras from Odessa, to Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy, Greece, France, United Kingdom, South Africa, and now the United States.  The Quartet is pleased to be Ensemble-in-Residence of Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, a post it has held since 2002. FSQ is now comfortably at home on concert stages throughout the New York region, the East Coast, and across the United States.   

FSQ’s signature old world quartet sound coupled with its more western sensibility can be readily recognized in its chamber concerts as well as its distinctive educational programmes.  The Quartet’s original educational programmes have been a regular part of FSQ tours and a vital feature of the New York City public school system for many years. The irresistibly popular “Alex in the Stringland,” a fusion of musical theater, chamber music, and educational demonstration includes onstage interaction with members of the audience.

The FSQ’s repertoire interests lie decidedly within core string quartet programming, however most concerts include examples of the FSQ’s wide range of contemporary repertoire, including several works by Roumi Petrova whose “Bulgarian rhythms set Dennis Rooney’s foot to tapping at FSQ’s ambitious program at Weill Recital Hall” as noted in The STRAD. Several of Ms. Petrova’s quartets were premiered by the FSQ.

The breadth of the Quartet’s other activities includes recordings and broadcasts for WNYC - New York, Voice of America, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, WNYE-New York, Bulgarian National Radio and Television, chamber concerts throughout the United States and regular concert appearances in New York City venues such as Barge Music, Weill Hall/Carnegie Hall, Brooklyn Center for Performing Arts, Donnell Library, annual concerts at Brooklyn Conservatory of Music, and a variety of international venues throughout greater Europe and the Mediterranean.

Members of The Forte String Quartet: Mikhail Kuchuk (violin), Alexander Abayev (violin), Krasi Ivanov (viola) and Kalin Ivanov (cello)

FSQ MEMBERS SHORT INDIVIDUAL BIOS:

REVIEWS

“…accomplished and focused chamber musicians who have a gift for making interesting programmmes as was the case in Weill Hall… penetrating exposition of the score, distinguished in its dramatic urgency… they conveyed the music’s evanescent and sly character superbly.”

-   THE STRAD, Magazine

“The perfect synchronization among the four musicians, their excellent technique, subordinated to extreme sensitiveness, raised them to the level of great artists.”

-   LE PROGRES, France

“The Forte String quartet showed a passion and virtuosity few string quartets could parallel.”