(le) poisson rouge

Born in Kamakura, Japan, Aki Takahashi began the study of piano at the age of five with her mother, and later entered Tokyo University of the arts, where she received her M.A., studying with Yutaka Ito, Ray Lev, and George Vasarhelyi.

Since her first public recital in 1970, she has been active in the field of new music. Composers such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, Isang Yun, Joji Yuasa, Toshi Ichiyanagi, Carl Stone, Maki Ishii, and Takehisa Kosugi have created works especially for her. In addition, she has also displayed her talent and technique performing works by Messaien, Boulez, Xenakis, Takemitsu, and her brother Yuji Takahashi.

She has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia, appearing in numerous recitals and international festivals including the Berlin Festival Week, the Paris Autumn Fesival, the Holland Festival, New Music America, Berlin's Meta Musik, and the First New York Festival of the Arts.

She is also active as a member of Sound Space ARK, a contemporary music ensemble, and as director of the "New Ears" concert series in Yokohama since 1983. She received the first Kyoto Music Award in 1986.

Aki Takahashi was Artist-in-Residence at the State University of New York at Buffalo from 1980-81 and a guest professor at the California Institute of the Arts in 1984-85.

The JACK Quartet electrifies audiences worldwide with "explosive virtuosity" (Boston Globe) and "viscerally exciting performances" (New York Times). David Patrick Stearns (Philadelphia Inquirer) proclaimed their performance as being "among the most stimulating new-music concerts of my experience," and NPR listed their performance as one of "The Best New York Alt-Classical Concerts Of 2010." TheWashington Post commented, "The string quartet may be a 250-year-old contraption, but young, brilliant groups like the JACK Quartet are keeping it thrillingly vital." Alex Ross (New Yorker) hailed their performance of Iannis Xenakis' complete string quartets as being "exceptional" and "beautifully harsh," and Mark Swed (Los Angeles Times) called their sold-out performances of Georg Friedrich Haas' String Quartet No. 3 In iij. Noct. "mind-blowingly good." The quartet's recording of Xenakis' complete string quartets appeared on "Best Of" lists from the Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, New Yorker, NPR, and as "one of 2009's most impressive recordings" from Time Out New York.

JACK has performed to critical acclaim at the Muziekgebouw aan 't IJ (Netherlands), Festival Internacional Cervantino (Mexico), Donaueschinger Musiktage (Germany), Library of Congress, Miller Theatre, Morgan Library & Museum, and Kimmel Center with recent and upcoming performances at the Ultraschall Festival (Germany), Da Camera Society (Los Angeles), Monday Evening Concerts, Town Hall Seattle, Les Flâneries Musicales de Reims (France), Arcana Festival (Austria), Wigmore Hall (United Kingdom), and Strathmore Hall.

Comprising violinists Christopher Otto and Ari Streisfeld, violist John Pickford Richards, and cellist Kevin McFarland, JACK is focused on the commissioning and performance of new works, leading them to work closely with composers Helmut Lachenmann, György Kurtág, Matthias Pintscher, Georg Friedrich Haas, James Dillon, Toshio Hosokawa, Wolfgang Rihm, Elliott Sharp, Beat Furrer, Caleb Burhans, and Aaron Cassidy. Upcoming and recent premieres include works by Alan Hilario, Peter Ablinger, Gregory Spears, Elliott Sharp, Jason Eckardt, and Hannah Lash. The quartet also offers fresh interpretations of early music, including works by Don Carlo Gesualdo, Guillaume de Machaut, and Josquin des Prez.

JACK has led workshops with young composers at the University of Iowa, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Darmstadt Internationale Ferienkurse für Neue Musik (Germany), New York University, Columbia University, Carnegie Mellon University, Eastman School of Music, University at Buffalo, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Northwestern University, University of Huddersfield (United Kingdom), University of Washington, University of Victoria (Canada), and Manhattan School of Music. In addition to working with composers and performers, JACK seeks to broaden and diversify the potential audience for new music through educational presentations designed for a variety of ages, backgrounds, and levels of musical experience.

The members of the quartet met while attending the Eastman School of Music, and they have since studied with the Arditti Quartet, Kronos Quartet, Muir String Quartet, and members of the Ensemble Intercontemporain. JackQuartet.com