Nichols Concert Hall presents: Formosa String Quartet

As a touring string quartet, we are grateful to call many wonderful places our home away from home. But there is no better feeling than kicking off our 2026–2027 season in Evanston, the hometown of our own Jasmine Lin!

The program features Bartók String Quartet No. 5 and a Formosa Quartet set.

Winners of the First Prize and Amadeus Prize at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, the FORMOSA QUARTET uses the string quartet as a vehicle for advocacy, storytelling, and innovation. Their critically acclaimed performances at venues including the Library of Congress, the Chicago Cultural Center, the Walter Reade Theater at Lincoln Center, the National Concert Hall in Taipei, and the Kammermusiksaal at the Berliner Philharmonie have forged uncharted musical terrain that are “spellbinding” (The Strad), “remarkably fine” (Gramophone), and “go beyond the beautiful and into the territory of unexpectedly thrilling… like shots of pure espresso” (MUSO Magazine).

Formed in 2002 when the four Taiwanese-descended founders came together for a concert tour of Taiwan, the Formosa Quartet’s cultural identity has since expanded to include broader American, pan-Asian, and Eastern European roots. Their name “Formosa” is taken in its most basic sense: Portuguese for “beautiful.” The founding members’ interest in championing Taiwanese music and Indigenous cultures has since expanded to include the exploration of the rich folk traditions and heritages found in America today. Whether in its uncompromisingly exploratory approach to the standard quartet literature; its socioculturally probing American Mirror Project; or its unique Sets curated from its collection of folk, pop, jazz, and poetry arrangements, the Formosa Quartet is committed to an insatiable search for the fresh and new in string quartet expression.