Cassatt String Quartet Announces New Member

Violist Emily Brandenburg will join the group in the Fall of 2024

To join the New York City-based Cassatt String Quartet (CSQ) this Fall, violist Emily Brandenburg will succeed Rosemary Nelis, who joined the group in 2022, and is stepping down from the position to focus on other projects.

The CSQ also comprises violinists Muneko Otani and Jennifer Leshnower, and cellist Gwen Krosnick.

Brandenburg holds degrees from Yale, New England Conservatory, and McDuffie Center for Strings at Mercer University. Previously, she was artist-in-residence at the University of Evansville, where she was principal viola of Evansville Philharmonic and a member of the Eykamp String Quartet. 

She has performed with ensembles including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Albany and Portland Symphonies, plus chamber music groups such as the Metropolis Ensemble and the Frisson Chamber Ensemble. In Fall 2024, Brandenburg will also join the faculty of Riverdale Country School, teaching both viola and violin.

Brandenburg will join the CSQ in premieres by composers Joan Tower, Victoria Bond, Mari Kimura, and Shirish Korde; a tour of Italy with guitarist Eliot Fisk; concerts across the U.S.; teaching residencies at major universities and conservatories; plus CSQ’s bi-annual Cassatt in the Basin residency in West Texas, and the Seal Bay Festival in Maine.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in the coming season, the CSQ has performed around the world since 1985. The group’s discography includes over 40 recordings for the Koch, Naxos, New World, Point, CRI, Tzadik, and Albany labels. 

“Muneko, Jennifer, and I are overjoyed to welcome Emily Brandenburg to the Cassatt Quartet as our new violist, and to look forward to the years of shared adventures and music-making ahead!” Krosnick said in the press release. “Emily brings to the CSQ her extraordinary experience as a lifelong chamber musician and an especially devoted quartet player; she balances a brilliant analytical mind with a rich, compelling, unusual voice that is deeply layered and beautiful.”

“I am thrilled to be joining the Cassatt String Quartet as their new violist,” Brandenburg added. “I have admired the quartet for their artistry, and for their long standing commitment to new music, working hand-in-hand with a diverse array of composers. I look forward to beginning this chapter with them as they enter their 40th season and to all the years of memories and music making to come.”