Biography

Since winning both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists International Auditions in 1992, the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) has delighted audiences with its spontaneous, passionate, and dynamic performances. Violinists Geoff Nuttall and Scott St. John both grew up in London, Ontario; Mr. Nuttall is a founding member and Mr. St. John joined in 2006. The two alternate the role of first violin. Violist Lesley Robertson is a founding member of the group, and hails from Edmonton, Alberta. Cellist Christopher Costanza is from Utica, New York, and joined the quartet in 2003. As Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford University, the Quartet works with music students, conducts an annual summer chamber music seminar, and collaborates extensively with other faculty and departments. In addition to their work at Stanford, the members of the SLSQ are visiting artists at the University of Toronto. 

In 2009, the SLSQ celebrated the twentieth anniversary of its founding by commissioning five Canadian composers and performing their works across Canada. The Quartet also has active working relationships with numerous composers, including R. Murray Schafer, Christos Hatzis, Ezequiel Viñao, Jonathan Berger, Ka Nin Chan, Roberto Sierra, and Mark Applebaum. John Adams has written two works expressly for the quartet: the String Quartet and Absolute Jest, premiered with the San Francisco Symphony and Michael Tilson Thomas in 2012. The Quartet reprised Absolute Jest with the New World Symphony in December 2012, in a performance led by the composer. In 2011, the SLSQ premiered Qohelet, a new work composed for them by Osvaldo Golijov. They also performed the work at Carnegie Hall in February 2013 in a concert celebrating Golijov’s work.

Highlights of the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s 2012-13 season include visits to Columbus, Calgary, Houston, Iowa City, Miami, Philadelphia, Toronto, and Durham, in addition to a Carnegie Hall appearance and a visit to Seoul, South Korea. During the summer season, the Quartet is proud to continue its long association with the Spoleto Festival in Charleston, South Carolina and Bay Chamber Concerts in Rockport, Maine.

(April 2013)