The Clarion Quartet restores life to music by composers whose works were once banned. The force of political oppression denied these compositions their rightful place in the chamber music repertoire, but now their rediscovery serves as a clarion call, giving voice to works of genius that would otherwise be silenced.

The Clarion Quartet was formed in 2015 by Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra members Marta Krechkovsky, Jennifer Orchard, Tatjana Mead Chamis, and Bronwyn Banerdt, who joined forces to share their passion for chamber music and their particular interest in Entartete Musik, works that were termed “degenerate” and banned by the Nazi regime. The centerpiece of the Clarion Quartet’s debut season was a unique performance in the former Theresienstadt (Terezín) concentration camp in the present-day Czech Republic. The quartet performed works by composers whose abuses during the Holocaust ranged from exile to execution, including Viktor Ullmann, who was interned in Theresienstadt and later killed in Auschwitz-Birkenau. The emotional experience of performing in this extraordinary setting became the inspiration for Breaking the Silence, the critically acclaimed debut album from the Clarion Quartet.

With support from the Curtis Institute of Music’s Alumni Entrepreneur Grant, the Heinz Foundation Small Arts Initiative, and the Fine Foundation, the ensemble’s mission is to perform the works of forgotten composers alongside known masterpieces, thus returning lost voices to their deserved stature.

Recent and upcoming highlights include a collaboration with baritone Matthias Goerne; an award-winning virtual reality documentary featuring the Clarion Quartet entitled By the Waters of Babylon which debuted at the Carnegie Science Center in May 2022 and can currently be viewed at Chatham University; a performance and discussion at the American Academy in Berlin commemorating the one-year anniversary of the Tree of Life massacre; a feature performance with the Pittsburgh Symphony of Jessie Montgomery’s Banner for string quartet and orchestra; and a concert partnership with City of Asylum, the largest residency program in the world for writers living in exile under threat of persecution

Through a yearning to bring justice to creative voices that have been silenced, the Clarion Quartet is dedicated to providing renewal, hope, and healing through its music and work.