Brooklyn Rider
Johnny Gandelsman, violin
Colin Jacobsen, violin
Nicholas Cords, viola
Michael Nicolas, cello
“They are four classical musicians performing with the energy of young rock stars jamming on their guitars, a Beethoven-goes-indie foray into making classical music accessible but also celebrating why it was good in the first place.”
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
“I don’t believe I’ve ever experienced the radical emotional range of Op. 132’s long, slow movement — with its liberating, dancing interjections — more intensely than when listening to the entirety of Healing Modes.”
— The New York Times
The name Brooklyn Rider is inspired by the artist group Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a symbol of openness and innovation. Hailed by Strings Magazine as “the future of chamber music” and praised by NPR for “recreating the string quartet as a vital and creative 21st-century ensemble,” Brooklyn Rider is today among the most dynamic and widely recognized ensembles on the international scene.
With The 4 Elements (album 2025), dedicated to the theme of climate change, the quartet drew critical acclaim: The New York Times described it as “intellectually lucid, aesthetically far-reaching and emotionally draining — a rare musical protest at the destruction of our planet that actually succeeds as art.” Already in 2020, their project Healing Modes (with commissions from Shaw, Du Yun, Frank, Esmail and Roberts alongside Beethoven) anticipated the spirit of the times, praised by The New Yorker as compelling and overwhelming.
Over the years, Brooklyn Rider has collaborated with leading artists such as Joshua Redman (Sun on Sand), Martin Hayes (The Butterfly), Magos Herrera (Dreamers), Anne Sofie von Otter (so many things), and Philip Glass, with whom they have enjoyed a long-standing partnership since 2011 (Brooklyn Rider Plays Philip Glass).
The 2025/2026 season marks the quartet’s 20th anniversary, celebrated with a new work by Gabriela Lena Frank (Frieda’s Dreams) and a series of performances at major international venues including the Berlin Philharmonie, Amici della Musica in Florence, Wigmore Hall London, DeSingel Antwerp, and the Beethovenfest Bonn.