The Quartet Project information

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The Quartet Project, created by composer Geoffrey Hudson from 2007-2014, is a collection of new music for graduated string quartets composed in six volumes. Modeled on Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos, and meant for musicians of all ages, it offers modern music for students' chamber studies beginning in Volume 1 with introductory pieces that are "easy contemporary music for string quartet",^[1] and become increasingly more difficult though Volume 6.

The Quartet Project provides music which is "contemporary in sound and technique (i.e. including the use of glissando, pizzicato, and modern harmonies)"^[2] early in players' studies, and is structured to accompany players as they advance to concert-level performance.

"Each of the six volumes contains approximately 25 minutes of music, divided into two types of pieces: miniatures and full-length performance quartets. The miniatures are typically less than a minute long and focus on a particular aspect of ensemble playing. The full-length quartets use the materials covered in the miniatures to create multi-movement string quartets suitable for performance. Volumes 1, 2, and 3 include an optional third violin part, which can be used in place of a viola. The Quartet Project encompasses approximately 2 ½ hours of new music for string quartet."^[3]

The Quartet Project has been workshopped and performed at, among other places, Community Music Works (Providence, RI), Drake University's Community School of Music (Des Moines, IA), the Greater Grand Forks Symphony Orchestra (Grand Forks, ND), Indian Hill Music (Littleton, MA), the MacPhail Center for Music (Minneapolis, MN), Greenwood Music Camp in Cummington, Massachusetts,^[4] and the Third Street Music School's Chamber Music Program in New York City.^[5]