Aizuri Quartet joins the Pink Noise Agency roster for worldwide management

Aizuri was recently selected for the 2022 Cleveland Quartet Award

The newly formed Pink Noise Agency is founded by artist manager Gregory Brown

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Contact: Gregory Brown, Pink Noise Agency
1.301.478.4410, gb@pinknoiseagency.com

Brooklyn, NY (January 31, 2022) -- Artist Manager Gregory Brown is pleased to announce the addition of Aizuri Quartet to his growing roster of artists, effective immediately.

With their extraordinarily thoughtful programming, numerous honors including a GRAMMY-nomination for their 2018 album Blueprinting (New Amsterdam Records) and Grand Prize in the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, a vigorous tour history, and notable collaborations with today’s most vital musicians such as clarinetists Kinan Azmeh and Anthony McGill, pianist Jonathan Biss, harpist Maeve Gilchrist, and composers Lembit Beecher, Caroline Shaw, Paul Wiancko, and Nina C. Young, Aizuri Quartet have established themselves as one the most important rising string quartets of the current moment.

Last week, the quartet was given the Cleveland Quartet Award by Chamber Music America, a biannual honor to promote a rising string quartet that is developing a major career. Previous recipients of the CQA include the Brentano, Borromeo, Dover, Miami, Pacifica, Miró, Jupiter, Parker, Jasper, Ariel, Rolston, and Verona Quartets.

Prior to joining Pink Noise Agency they were managed by Concert Artists Guild, the distinguished artist development agency.

“We truly couldn’t be more excited about joining forces with Greg Brown and Pink Noise Agency,” the quartet said. “We deeply admire Greg’s insightful and layered knowledge of our wider musical community, and his incredible energy and passion for our programming. We’re so grateful to have found such a unique, thoughtful and talented partner, and can’t wait to collaborate and realize our artistic dreams together!"

The 2021/22 season sees the Aizuri Quartet's major concerto debut with Milwaukee Symphony—performing John Adams's Absolute Jest with Music Director Ken-David Masur—a debut at New York's 92nd Street Y, a collaborative program with Anthony McGill and DeMarre McGill at Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and premieres of new quartets at the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.

The new agency, whose name references the natural acoustical phenomenon, will offer artist and project management to a roster that also includes flutist and MacArthur Fellow Claire Chase (in collaboration with First Chair Promotion), composer, flutist, and producer Allison Loggins-Hull, six piano ensemble Grand Band, and visionary pianist and producer Min Kwon.

"I formed Pink Noise Agency in order to advocate for musicians of the highest caliber who experiment in classical music. When I first heard the Aizuri in 2019 I was blown away by the depth of their playing, the innovative and engaging program, and the natural charisma of their playing as well as speaking from the stage. Their album Blueprinting remains one of my personal favorite recordings, classical or otherwise. The quartet’s success in inviting new audiences into concert halls speaks volumes to me. I could not be more excited to begin work with them. I am extremely grateful to Concert Artist Guild for their laying the groundwork with the Aizuri Quartet for what will undoubtedly be a long, fruitful career," Brown said.

About Aizuri Quartet

www.aizuriquartet.com

Composed of violinists Emma Frucht and Miho Saegusa, violist Ayane Kozasa, and cellist Karen Ouzounian, the Aizuri Quartet has established a unique position within today’s musical landscape, infusing all of their music-making with infectious energy, joy and warmth, cultivating curiosity in listeners, and inviting audiences into the concert experience through their innovative programming, and the depth and fire of their performances.

Praised by The Washington Post for “astounding” and “captivating” performances that draw from its notable “meld of intellect, technique and emotions,” the Aizuri Quartet was awarded the Grand Prize at the 2018 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition, along with top prizes at the 2017 Osaka International Chamber Music Competition in Japan and the 2015 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition in London. The Quartet’s debut album, Blueprinting, featuring new works written for the Aizuri Quartet by five American composers, was released by New Amsterdam Records to critical acclaim (“In a word, stunning” - I Care If You Listen), nominated for a 2019 GRAMMY Award, and named one of NPR Music’s Best Classical Albums of 2018.

The Aizuris view the string quartet as a living art and springboard for community, collaboration, curiosity and experimentation. At the core of their music-making is a virtuosic ability to illuminate a vast range of musical styles through their eclectic, engaging and thought-provoking programs. The Quartet has drawn praise both for bringing “a technical bravado and emotional power” to bold new commissions, and for its “flawless” (San Diego Union-Tribune) performances of the great works of the past. Exemplifying this intrepid spirit, the Aizuri Quartet curated and performed five adventurous programs as the 2017-2018 MetLiveArts String Quartet-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, leading The New York Times to applaud them as “genuinely exciting,” “imaginative,” and “a quartet of expert collaborators.” For this series, they collaborated with spoken word artist Denice Frohman and shakuhachi player Kojiro Umezaki, commissioned new works by Kinan Azmeh, Michi Wiancko and Wang Lu, as well as commissioned new arrangements of vocal music by Hildegard von Bingen and Carlo Gesualdo, which they paired with the music of Conlon Nancarrow, Haydn and Beethoven in a program focused on music created in periods of isolation.

The 21-22 concert season, featuring the Aizuri Quartet’s Expanse, What’s Past is Prologue, and Song Emerging recital programs, showcases the breadth of the Quartet’s musical appetite. Notable highlights include the Quartet’s major concerto debut with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra in performances of John Adams’s Absolute Jest, its debut at the 92Y, a collaborative program with Anthony McGill and Demarre McGill at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, and the premieres of new string quartets by Lembit Beecher and Paul Wiancko presented by the Phillips Collection in Washington D.C.

The 20-21 concert season illustrated the Aizuri Quartet’s ingenuity and creativity, as they offered presenters and audiences beautifully filmed performances along with spoken program notes for virtual concerts during the course of the pandemic. The Quartet appeared in virtual and hybrid concerts presented by Baryshnikov Arts Center, Tippet Rise, Friends of Chamber Music Denver, Kaufmann Music Center, Ohio Performing Arts, Philadelphia Chamber Music Society, New Orleans Friends of Chamber Music, Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music, Chamber Music Pittsburgh and Shriver Hall Concert Series, among others. Special projects included collaborations with Celtic harpist Maeve Gilchrist, as well as guitarist Nels Cline, with whom they recorded Douglas Cuomo’s Seven Limbs. Released on Sunnyside Records, the work was presented by the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Center for the Art of Performance UCLA, Moss Arts Center and Aperio, Music of the Americas. Additionally, the Quartet designed virtual residencies in collaboration with the composition departments of Princeton University, University of Southern California and the NEXT Festival of Emerging Artists, workshopping and filming the works of emerging composers.

The Aizuris believe in an integrative approach to music-making, in which their teaching, performing, writing, arranging, curation and role in the community are all connected. In Fall 2020 they launched AizuriKids, a free, online series of educational videos for children that uses the string quartet as a catalyst for creative learning and features themes such as astronomy, American history and cooking. These vibrant, whimsical and interactive videos are lovingly produced by the Aizuris and are paired with activity sheets to inspire further exploration.

The Aizuri Quartet is passionate about nurturing the next generation of artists, and is deeply grateful to have held several residencies that were instrumental in its development: from 2014-2016, the String Quartet-in-Residence at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, the 2015-2016 Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and the resident ensemble of the 2014 Ravinia Festival’s Steans Music Institute.

Formed in 2012 and combining four distinctive musical personalities into a powerful collective, the Aizuri Quartet draws its name from “aizuri-e,” a style of predominantly blue Japanese woodblock printing that is noted for its vibrancy and incredible detail.

About Pink Noise Agency

www.pinknoiseagency.com

Pink Noise Agency is a new boutique artist management organization serving the highest quality of innovative, inventive, and thoughtful individuals, ensembles, and projects.

We are rooted in the belief that collaboration, cooperation, and community are key to the success of the individual artist as well as the artistic ecosystem. The artist manager’s role is an advocate, an advisor, and a source of safety and trust for their client. PNA accomplishes this advocacy by offering highly personalized and organized services in booking, touring, project management, and consulting.

Gregory Brown is an arts professional with more than a decade of experience in artist management. Prior to forming Pink Noise Agency, he worked at Kirshbaum Associates and Boosey & Hawkes.

Having worked closely with the world's great artists such as the Danish String Quartet, Midori, Steve Reich, and David T. Little, he brings to the agency experience in traditional classical music and contemporary music practices.

Brown holds a Bachelor’s Degree in composition from Shenandoah University and loves baking, science fiction, and being outside.

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