San Angelo Museum of Fine Arts

Marian Anderson String Quartet

Marianne Henry- Violin

Nicole Cherry-
Violin

Diedra Lawrence- Viola

Prudence McDaniel- Cello


For over a decade the Marian Anderson String Quartet has brought inspiration and hope to every segment of American society, with performance venues ranging from the concert stage to the soup kitchens and from presidential inaugurals to juvenile correctional facilities. The Marian Anderson String Quartet continues to uphold its mission: To create new and diverse audiences for the field of chamber music.

On September 30, 1989 the members of the Marian Anderson String Quartet, then known as the Chaminade Quartet, came together; unaware that they would soon change history. It was in 1991, however, that the Quartet won the International Cleveland Quartet Competition, becoming the first African American ensemble, in history, to ever win a classical music competition. To highlight this singular achievement the members of the quartet asked permission of the great contralto, Marian Anderson, to use her name as their own. Miss Anderson responded with heartfelt approval and in a memorable show of gratitude, the Chaminade Quartet, newly named the Marian Anderson String Quartet, played for its legendary namesake and her nephew, conductor James DePriest.

The Marian Anderson String Quartet's artistic endeavors have brought them to such venues as New York's Alice Tully Hall, the Corcoran Gallery, the Library of Congress, the Cleveland Institute of Music, Kilbourn Hall, The University of Southern California and the Chateau Cantanac-Brown in Bordeaux, France. The Quartet's distinguished history includes performances through the Da Camera Society, the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival and the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Centre. On January 20, 1993, they performed at Washington D.C.'s Kennedy Centre as part of the 52nd presidential inaugural celebration.

Driven by their belief in the power of education, the Marian Anderson String Quartet has performed in hundreds of churches, libraries, museums, soup kitchens and prisons. They have brought their craft to countless children across the America, under the auspices of Young Audiences, Da Camera of Houston and Project G.R.A.D. (Graduation Really Achieves Dreams). In 2000 they were awarded a rural residency grant from the Texaco Foundation, which brought music and culture to small communities in the south and southwestern United States.

The Marian Anderson String Quartet was Quartet in Residence at City College of New York (1990-1995), Ensemble in Residence at California State University- Los Angeles (1995-1999), completed a graduate fellowship program at the acclaimed Shepherd School of Music at Rice University- Houston, Texas (1999-2001) and was Ensemble in Residence at Prairie View A&M University (2001-2005).

They are currently the Ensemble in Residence at Texas A&M University and Quartet in Residence with the Brazos Valley Symphony Orchestra in Bryan/College Station, Texas.

Additional funding provided by the Texas Commission on the Arts.