Celebrating their 40th anniversary, the Penderecki String Quartet began their career as winners of the Penderecki Prize at the National Chamber Music Competition in Łódz, Poland in 1986. Now based in Waterloo, Ontario where they have been Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfrid Laurier University since 1991, The Penderecki String Quartet has become one of the most celebrated chamber ensembles of their generation. The four Penderecki musicians (now originating from Poland, Canada, and USA) bring their varied yet collective experience to create performances that demonstrate their “remarkable range of technical excellence and emotional sweep” (Toronto, Globe and Mail).
The PSQ's international performing schedule has included appearances in New York (Weill Recital Hall at Carnegie Hall), Amsterdam (Concertgebouw), Hong Kong (Academy for the Arts), Los Angeles (REDCAT Hall at Disney Center), St. Petersburg (Sheremetev Palace), the Adam Festival in New Zealand, and throughout Europe in Rome, Madrid, Paris, Belgrade, Prague, Krakow, Vilnius, and Zagreb. The PSQ has also toured extensively in Mexico, Australia, Venezuela, Brazil, Colombia, and from coast to coast in Canada.
Dedicated educators, the PSQ have been recent guests at Bloomington Indiana University’s String Academy, the Beijing Conservatory, University of Southern California (Los Angeles), University of British Columbia in Vancouver, and with their partner universities in Osnabrück, Germany and Lyon, France.
To this day the PSQ is a devoted champion of the music of our time, having premiered over 100 new works from composers in Canada and abroad. Penderecki Quartet's large discography includes over three dozen recordings including the chamber music repertoire of Beethoven and Brahms on both the Marquis and Eclectra labels, as well as the first Canadian release of the six Béla Bartók quartets. Their disc of Marjan Mozetich’s “Lament in the Trampled Garden” won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition. In October 2013, the PSQ worked with Maestro Krzysztof Penderecki on his Third Quartet (2008) and performed it at Symphony Space in New York City on the occasion of his 80th birthday. This followed with the recording of Penderecki’s Third Quartet along with quartets of Norbert Palej on the Marquis label. In 2022, the PSQ was featured in Howard Shore’s soundtrack to David Cronenberg’s film Crimes of the Future.
The Penderecki Quartet has performed with diverse artists such as Atar Arad, Jeremy Menuhin, Stewart Goodyear, James Campbell and have recently appeared with jazz saxophonist Jane Bunnett, jazz pianists Egberto Gismonti, Don Thomson and David Braid, pipa virtuoso Ching Wong, Dancetheatre David Earle, Pentaedre Wind Quintet, actor Colin Fox, and New York turntable artist DJ Spooky.
The Penderecki Quartet continue to be active members of the Faculty of Music at Laurier University where they have built the string program to be one of the top programs in Canada, attracting an international body of students. Their annual Quartetfest at Laurier is an intensive study seminar and concert series that has featured such ensembles as the Tokyo, Fine Arts, Lafayette, Miro, Ying, and Ariana String Quartets.
Pre-Concert Performance - 6:30pm
Jacques Forestier, violin & Jeanie Chung (piano)
Hailed by the Violin Channel as “a real poet with emotional maturity far beyond his young years”, Canadian violinist Jacques Forestier has quickly garnered international attention after winning the 2024 Joseph Joachim International Violin Competition in Hannover, Germany at age 19. A CBC Music “top 30 under 30” musician and “Violin Channel Artist”, Jacques has performed with orchestras including the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, NDR Radiophilharmonie, Munich Chamber Orchestra, Western Michigan Symphony, among others.
In 2026 Jacques looks forward to his first full season which includes débuts with the philharmonics of Bremen, Dresden, and Duisburg. Potsdam, Neuss & Württembergisches Heilbronn chamber orchestras, NFM Leopoldinum Orchestra (Wroclaw), Staatskapelle Badisches Karlsruhe, a number of reappearances with the NDR Radiophilharmonie as well as opening the 2025/2026 season with the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra and their new music director. Jacques will make débuts at important venues and festivals such as the Cologne Philharmonie, Heidelberg Fruhling, The Library of Congress (DC), The Musicus Society Hong Kong, Festspiel Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Ottawa Chamberfest, Impromptu Classical Concerts (Key West, FL) among others across North America, Europe, and Asia to be announced. He has appeared at important festivals including Chamberfest Cleveland and West, the Perlman, Gstaad Menuhin, and Victoria Summer festivals, Edmonton Chamber Music Society, Music Toronto, and Music From Angel Fire.
The Warner Classics label will be releasing Jacques’ début album in summer 2026 with pianist Boris Kusnezow.
An Efrem Zimbalist Fellow at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, Jacques is a student of Shmuel Ashkenasi and Pamela Frank and previously studied with Itzhak Perlman at the Perlman Music Program. He has won top prizes at a number of important international competitions including the Stulberg, Klein, Johansen, OSM Manulife, and Shean. Jacques is grateful for the support of the Edmonton Community Foundation and the Anne Burrows Foundation for their generosity in supporting his growth as a musician.
Jacques plays on a G.B. Guadagnini (c. 1765 Parma) violin on generous loan from the Fritz Behrens Foundation and is currently under the management of Sonia Simmenauer under her Zukunfts.musik initiative of Impresariat Simmenauer.
Single tickets: $60 - $65
Arts Workers: $20 – please purchase at the door or call the TOLive box office at 416-366-7723 and select options 1-1 to speak with a box office specialist.
Students and minors: Free with request
Adults (up to 2) accompanying minors (free): Half price
To request student tickets or for more information, please email tickets@music-toronto.com.
Please note, these concerts may not be suitable for children under 7.
Program
Mozart - String Quartet in D Major, K. 499, "Hoffmeister"
Krzysztof Penderecki - String Quartet No. 3 Leaves of an Unwritten Diary…
Schubert - Quintet in C major for two Cellos, D. 956 (with Roman Borys, cello)