Ensembles
Chamber ensemble projects and partner groups from the original MG Art Pro catalog.
Chamber ensemble projects and partner groups from the original MG Art Pro catalog.
A singularly unique ensemble, the Rastrelli Cello Quartet has thrilled audiences with non-traditional programming since 2002. Kira Kraftzoff (founder and artistic director), Kirill Timofeev, Misha Degtjareff, and Sergio Drabkin formed the ensemble with a mission to perform music "between the genres," mixing Bach, Saint-Saens, and Tchaikovsky with George Gershwin, Dave Brubeck, and Leroy Anderson.
The quartet's name comes from the eighteenth-century architect Bartholomew Rastrelli, who designed the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, the home city of three of the four quartet members.
The Rastrelli have performed in major European halls including Munich's Gasteig, St. Petersburg Philharmonic Hall, Bulgaria Hall Sofia, Liederhalle Stuttgart, and Philharmonic Hall in Minsk. They also appear at festivals such as Beethoven Festival Bonn, Schleswig-Holstein Music Festival, Darmstadter Festspiele, Oberstdorfer Musiksommer, Hohenlohe Kultursommer, Rheingau Musikfestival, Ohridsko Leto, and Meadowlark Music Festival.
The ensemble has released multiple recordings (Rastrelli Volumes 1-5) on Amphion, TonArt, and Manchester labels, along with a Piazzolla release titled "Cello in Buenos Aires."
Lauded for their "intelligence" and "immensely satisfying" playing by The New York Times, the Amernet String Quartet has earned global recognition as one of today's exceptional string quartets. Ensemble-in-Residence at Florida International University since 2004, the group was formed in 1991 while its founding members were students at Juilliard.
Amernet gained international attention by winning the Gold Medal at the Tokyo International Music Competition in 1992, and later won First Prize at the Banff International String Quartet Competition in 1995.
Their schedule has taken them across the United States and internationally to Japan, Korea, Canada, Belgium, France, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, and Mexico. They have collaborated with numerous renowned artists and ensembles and appeared at Ravinia, Lincoln Center, Mostly Mozart Festival, Harvard Musical Association, and leading festivals worldwide.