Pacifica Quartet

Based in Bloomington, Indiana, the Pacifica Quartet is a leading American chamber ensemble. The Pacifica Quartet was formed in southern California in 1994. As of the mid-2020s, its members were violinists Simin Ganatra and Austin Harman, violist Mark Holloway, and cellist Brandon Vamos. The group made its recording debut in 2000 with the album String Quartets by Easley Blackwood. The Pacifica Quartet has specialized in quartet cycles by Beethoven, Shostakovich, Mendelssohn, and Elliott Carter. The quartet has made more than 15 recordings. A highlight of the 2010s was a sequence of four albums entitled The Soviet Experience, featuring quartets by Dmitri Shostakovich and his contemporaries. The quartet released the album Contemporary Voices in 2020, returning in 2022 with American Stories.