The Strad: Two new members among big changes for Fine Arts Quartet in 72nd season

"The Fine Arts Quartet is drawing to the end of a 55-year residency at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, with its final concerts as part of the arrangement taking place at the Helene Zelazo Center for the Performing Arts on 27 and 28 January.

At the same juncture, its current violist Juan-Miguel Hernandez and cellist Robert Cohen will be leaving the group, and will be replaced by Gil Sharon and Niklas Schmidt respectively. ‘As the legendary FAQ celebrates its 72nd anniversary, violinists Ralph Evans and Efim Boico, who have performed together for 35 years, are thrilled by the incoming new members’ positive energy, enthusiasm, and dedication,’ the quartet’s management told The Strad.

The incoming musicians are both experienced chamber specialists: Gil Sharon, as a violinist, founded and lead the Sharon Quartet and Netherlands-based Amati Ensemble, while Niklas Schmidt was a founder member of the Trio Fontenay.

Ralph Evans is only the second leader in the Fine Arts Quartet’s history..."