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Winners of the first prize and the Amadeus Prize at the Tenth London
International String Quartet Competition in 2006, the Formosa Quartet
was formed in 2003 when the four founding members came together for a
concert tour of Taiwan, the land of their shared heritage. Reviewing
their critically acclaimed debut recording, released by EMI, Gramophone
describes their playing as "remarkably fine both in meticulous response
to the letter and in a desire to look beyond the notes." The quartet
has performed recently at the Ravinia Festival, Wigmore Hall, the Royal
Academy of Music and the Library of Congress in Washington.
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Jasmine Lin, violin
Described by the New York Times
as an "unusually individualistic player" with "electrifying
assertiveness" and "virtuosic abandon," violinist Jasmine Lin was a
prizewinner in the International Paganini Competition and took second
prize in the International Naumburg Competition. As a chamber musician,
Ms. Lin has been a participant of the Marlboro Music Festival and the
Steans Institute at Ravinia. Ms. Lin is a founding member of the
Formosa Quartet and a former member of the Chicago String Quartet. She
is a graduate of the Curtis Institute of Music.
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Ayano Ninomiya, violin
Violinist with the
Formosa Quartet, Ayano Ninomiya was second-prize winner of the Walter
W. Naumburg Competition and winner of Astral Artistic Services'
National Auditions. An avid chamber musician, Ms. Ninomiya performs
regularly at the Marlboro, Caramoor and Strings in the Mountains
chamber music festivals. Ms. Ninomiya received a Master of Music degree
from the Juilliard School, where she studied with Robert Mann, and
holds joint degrees in music and French from Harvard College.
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Che-Yen Chen, viola
Taiwanese violist Che-Yen
Chen has established himself as a prominent recitalist, chamber and
orchestral musician. Principal Violist of the San Diego Symphony, he
captured the first prize of the 2003 William Primrose Viola Competition
and the Yuri Bashmet prize of the 2003 Lionel Tertis Viola Competition.
Mr. Chen is a founding member of the Formosa Quartet, was a member of
Chamber Music Society Two at Lincoln Center and has taken part in the
Musicians from Marlboro tour. Mr. Chen studied at the Curtis Institute
of Music and the Juilliard School under the guidance of Michael Tree,
Joseph de Pasquale and Paul Neubauer.
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Jacob Braun, cello
Jacob Braun joined the
Formosa Quartet in January 2007. From 1998 to 2006, Mr. Braun was a
member of the Biava Quartet, winners of the 2003 Naumburg Chamber Music
Award. He has collaborated with Atar Arad, Paul Katz, and members of
the Brentano, Miami and Tokyo string quartets. Mr. Braun holds degrees
from the Cleveland Institute of Music, New England Conservatory and
Yale University; he has studied with Richard Aaron, Paul Katz, Aldo
Parisot and Clive Greensmith. He plays on a "Royal" Forster cello,
circa 1795.
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