“One of the most fearless and important new music ensembles around” (Joshua Kosman, San Francisco Chronicle) “who has brought a new renaissance to quartet music” (Kyle Gann, The Village Voice), the FLUX Quartet has performed to rave reviews at numerous music centers around the world, including the Library of Congress, the Walker Art Center, the Kennedy Center, EMPAC at RPI, Roulette Intermedium, and Carnegie’s Zankel Hall as part of the When Morty Met John Festival.  It has also recently made two acclaimed international debuts: in Mexico, at the Chihuahua International Arts Festival, and in Ireland, at the Samuel Beckett Centenary Festival.  FLUX’s numerous radio credits include NPR’s All Things Considered, WNYC’s New Sounds and Soundtrack, and WFMU’s Stochastic Hit Parade.  Its growing discography includes recordings by composers Michael Byron, Annie Gosfield, and David Simons on the Tzadik, Innova, Mode, and Cold Blue Music record labels.  Recent performances feature the creation of a new work with choreographer Pam Tanowitz at The Kitchen, the Bowerbird Series in Philadelphia, Walt Disney Hall in Los Angeles, and a much-celebrated Feldman Festival at New York’s Bargemusic.  Highlights of the upcoming season include the Beyond Cage Festival, an extensive collaboration with the New York-based S.E.M. Ensemble in celebration of John Cage’s centennial year, as well as a debut appearance at the Santa Fe Chamber Music Festival.

FLUX captivates its audiences worldwide with a vivid repertoire that combines seminal pioneers with visionaries of tomorrow.  From late 20^th century masterworks by György Ligeti, Conlon Nancarrow, Giacinto Scelsi, and Iannis Xenakis, to new works by David First, Roscoe Mitchell, Matthew Welch, and John Zorn, FLUX brings to all of its performances a “boundless, uninhibited energy.”  (The New York Times)  The quartet avidly pursues collaborative relationships with genre-transcending artists such as Henry Threadgill, Oliver Lake, avant balloonist Judy Dunaway, and in digitial artists collective, The OpenEnded Group.  Members of the quartet have also done significant work in dance, including collaborations with choreographers Shen Wei, Christopher Wheeldon, and Tanowitz.  As part of its mission to discover future musical groundbreakers, FLUX actively pursues commissions, with recent grants from the American Composers Forum, USArtists International, Aaron Copland Fund, and the Meet-The-Composer Foundation.  The group also explores new voices from its numerous college residences throughout the US, including Wesleyan, Dartmouth, Princeton, Rice, and the College of William and Mary.

The spirit to explore and expand stylistic boundaries is a trademark of the FLUX Quartet.  Inspired by the all-embracing philosophy of the Fluxus movement, violinist Tom Chiu founded the FLUX Quartet in the 90’s with a quest similar to that of the original Fluxus artists, a search for a living art for all people with an “anything goes, do-it-yourself” spirit.  To that end, FLUX has always been committed to projects of unique vision that defy aesthetic categorization.  One such project is Feldman’s String Quartet No. 2.  Lasting more than six continuous hours, it is “a disorienting, transfixing experience that repeatedly approached and touched the sublime.”  (Alex Ross, The New Yorker)