With a love of tackling the string quartet canon and as fierce a passion for discovering newly composed works, Amaranth Quartet was founded in 2013 and proudly calls the Bay Area home. Members Emily Botel, Abigail Shiman, Julie Michael, and Helen Newby strive to present classical music to divergent audiences in a variety of locales. Exciting projects this season include a residency in New Hampshire at Avaloch Farm with L.A. based composer Kenji Oh and appearances on concert series such as The Presidio Sessions, Old First Concerts, and the Shenson Faculty Series. Amaranth Quartet firmly believes in the importance of community engagement. They are actively involved in and committed to outreach at grade schools across the United States.
Commissioning and premiering new music for string quartet is essential to the quartet's mission; Amaranth has performed and recorded works by emerging and established composers including Nick Benavides, Ryan Brown, James Craft, Brian Fitzsousa, Lucas Floyd, Dylan Mattingly, Riley Nicholson and Adam Strawbridge. This season, Amaranth Quartet will workshop, premiere and record new works written by Haley Shaw, Jodie Rottle, Stephanie Neumann and Kenji Oh.
Beyond bringing the established string quartet repertoire to life, Amaranth Quartet is committed to working with a diverse group of Bay Area artists. Collaborators include Amie Cota, Kendra McKinley, Diana Gameros, Madeline Tasquin, and Nahuel Bronzini. Amaranth Quartet has performed at the historic Fillmore West as part of the venue’s first all-female lineup, and has also appeared at Freight and Salvage, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, and the late Viracocha. Amaranth has been a featured guest artist on several Bay Area radio programs including KPOO, KPFA and KALX.