A highly skilled, dynamic, and sensitive ensemble, the ‘Carlos Chávez’ String Quartet (previously known as the Russian-American Quartet) is one of the most sought-after string quartets in Mexico.
Since its formation in 1994, the Quartet has come to distinguish itself through its intense activity of performance and recording. Presenting a wide repertory of great chamber music they continue to forge a solid path in their medium, winning the esteem and support of their expanding audience. It is their philosophy that by design, a professional string quartet must be a functional vehicle through which society can examine important musical creations and in this way come to understand the trends and dimensions of it’s own musical history and culture.

The release in 1998 of their first CD in the series entitled “Unknown Mexican Quartets” (“Cuartetos Mexicanos Desconocidos”) caused a wonderful public sensation with the unexpected appearance of the young Guadalupe Olmedo’s delightful “String Quartet” written in the year 1876. This recording was made possible thanks to a prize awarded to the Quartet in 1997 by the Cultural Department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) for special projects in chamber music. This continuing project researches and endeavors to recover music written for string quartet by Mexican composers whose works have had little or no public exposure.

In 1997, the Quartet was awarded a grant from the National Council for the Arts (FONCA) to produce a second CD for this series featuring little known works of some of the most distinguished Mexican composers from the last half of the 20th century; Carlos Chávez, Candelario Huízar, and Salvador Contreras. Undoubtedly Carlos Chávez was the most influential figure during this key period of Mexican history, not only because of his great compositional output but also for the guiding role he played in creating the National Institute of Fine Arts, the country’s most important cultural institution.