Chamber Music Tuscaloosa (CMT) presents the internationally acclaimed Shanghai Quartet in concert, Sunday, April 13, 2025, 5:30 PM at Grace Presbyterian Church, Tuscaloosa, AL.  Seating is general admission; tickets are free but there is a suggested $20 donation per person.

Over the past forty-one years the Shanghai Quartet has become one of the world’s foremost chamber ensembles.  Their April 13, 2025 Tuscaloosa concert represents the Shanghai Quartet’s only Alabama performance and is their one of only two 2025 performances in the Southeast United States. The Shanghai’s elegant style, impressive technique, and emotional breadth allows the group to move seamlessly between masterpieces of Western music, traditional Chinese folk music, and cutting-edge contemporary works. Formed at the Shanghai Conservatory in 1983, soon after the end of China’s harrowing Cultural Revolution, the group came to the United States to complete its studies; and were based in the U.S. for more than thirty-five years while maintaining a robust touring schedule at leading chamber music series throughout North America, Europe, and Asia.

In September 2020, the Shanghai Quartet moved back to China to join the resident faculty of The Tianjin Juilliard School becoming one of the only Asian-based internationally touring string quartets. In addition to their teaching duties at Tianjin Juilliard, the Shanghai maintains a busy performance schedule throughout China, serves as the ensemble-in-residence with the Shanghai Symphony Orchestra, and as visiting guest professors at the Shanghai Conservatory and Central Conservatory in Beijing, all while maintaining a robust touring presence in North America and around the world.

Among innumerable collaborations with eminent artists, they have performed with the Tokyo, Juilliard, and Guarneri Quartets; cellists Yo-Yo Ma and Lynn Harrell; pianists Menahem Pressler, Peter Serkin, Jean-Yves Thibaudet, and Yuja Wang; pipa virtuoso Wu Man; and the vocal ensemble Chanticleer.

The Shanghai Quartet has a long history of championing new music, with a special interest in works that juxtapose the traditions of Eastern and Western music. The Quartet has commissioned works from an encyclopedic list of the most important composers of our time. The Quartet had a particularly close relationship with Krzysztof Penderecki; they premiered his third quartet – Leaves From an Unwritten Diary – at the composer’s 75th birthday concert which they will perform it at the April 13, 2025 Chamber Music Tuscaloosa concert.