Formosa Quartet Welcomes New Violinist 

Violinist David Bernat will succeed Wayne Lee, who has played with the string quartet for 12 years

Violinist David Bernat has been appointed to the Formosa Quartet as its newest member, succeeding Wayne Lee, who joined in 2012 and is retiring from the group to devote more time to his family and create deeper roots in the Seattle area.

Bernat will join the group’s violinist Jasmine Lin, violist Matthew Cohen, and cellist Deborah Pae. 

A performer and educator, Bernat is currently artistic director of the Grace Note Farm Music Festival. As a soloist and chamber musician, he recently performed at Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Tanglewood, Marlboro Music Festival, Red Barn Chamber Music, plus made appearances on BBC Radio 3 and at WQXR’s Greene Space. Among his collaborators include composers Thomas Adès, John Adams, John Harbison, Augusta Read Thomas, Fred Lerdahl, and George Walker. 

Bernat is a graduate of the New England Conservatory, a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School, and a member of Carnegie Hall’s Ensemble Connect throughout the 2023 to 2025 seasons. Additionally, he is a top chess player and is among the top one percent of players in the U.S., following his National Master title in 2021. 

Founded in 2002, the Formosa Quartet has earned great acclaim since winning the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. 

Bernat will join the group as it serves as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Houston’s Moores School of Music. The group plays on the 1662 Andrea Guarneri and 1753 G.B. Guadagnini violins, a 2014 Peter Westerlund viola, and an 1885 Vincenzo Postiglione cello.

“I am thrilled to be joining Debbie, Jasmine, and Matt in this upcoming chapter of the Formosa Quartet! From my first experience playing with the quartet, I felt a unique warmth of spirit that allowed for a thrilling spontaneity and a true sense of exploration in the music making,” said Bernat in a press release viewed by The Violin Channel. “It is particularly inspiring that these qualities extend into their constantly evolving vision for programming and their activities as educators. I am eager to begin creating with them, and am excited for the adventures ahead.” 

“Being a member of the Formosa Quartet has been one of the greatest privileges of my life,” Lee reflected. “I got to spend 12 years living and breathing string quartets with some of the best musicians I know, who also happen to be some of the best human beings that I know. After so many concerts performed, pieces learned, places seen, and meals shared, we have made countless, priceless memories together, and I remember most of them like they happened yesterday. My world is infinitely bigger and richer thanks to my FQ family. 

“As I transition from quartet member to quartet groupie, I can’t wait to see what will happen in this next phase of FQ’s evolution,” Lee continued. “Jasmine, Matt, and Debbie have found a very special new colleague in David, and I know that the four of them will continue to represent this art form with the fiercest commitment: always searching, constantly reinventing, never taking anything for granted. I will be in the audience cheering them on.” 

“In Wayne we could not have had a better colleague,” commented Cohen, Pae, and Lin. “Our quartet owes so much of its success to his artistry, intelligence, business savvy, sophistication, imaginativeness, heart, and team spirit. While we will miss him greatly, we are tremendously excited to welcome David, whose brilliance, uniqueness, and creativity open up whole new worlds of possibility in our onward journey.”