Carpe Diem String Quartet, in residence at Ohio Wesleyan University, is an exciting ensemble that has captured the imagination of audiences, the respect of critics, and is one of the most versatile quartets of their generation. Carpe Diem has earned critical acclaim with innovative programming, electrifying performances, and a passion for audience engagement. The group’s musical passion has led them down the paths of gypsy, tango, folk, pop, rock, and jazz inspired music, but the quartet is equally at home with the traditional string quartet repertoire. Carpe Diem has become the premier American indie string quartet.

Defying easy classification, the quartet continues to break boundaries and push the limits of the classical string quartet. Carpe Diem writes, arranges and performs music of all styles, and works with artists of many different genres. The quartet recently performed with American songwriter/guitarist Willy Porter, and the CD of their live concert will be available in fall of 2010. Also this year Carpe Diem will be collaborating with Latin Grammy winner Raul Juarena. Carpe Diem was recently featured in Strings magazine, highlighting their unique and innovative vision for chamber music. The quartet has a busy recording schedule, and continues its project of recording the nine string quartets of Sergey Taneyev for the Naxos label. The first CD of this series was selected for the 51st Grammy Awards Entry List (2009) in four categories: Best Classical Album, Best Chamber Music Performance, Best New Artist, and Best Engineered Album-Classical. The quartet is the resident ensemble for Columbus Dance Theater, and their joint project The String Machine was aired by WOSU-PBS television through 2007-2008, and nominated for an Emmy award.

The quartet is committed to changing the concert experience of chamber music. Using innovative programming, thematic concerts, and popular music for younger generations, cameras and video to assist in the visual presentation, as well as speaking from the stage to better engage the audience, Carpe Diem is bringing new audiences into the concert hall and revitalizing the chamber music experience.

The quartet, violinists Charles Wetherbee and John Ewing, violist Korine Fujiwara and cellist Kristin Ostling, is dedicated to music education and outreach, and regularly performs educational programs specifically designed to relate to students of all ages and establish classical music's relevance to their lives. Carpe Diem has developed three engagement programs by which they accomplish this – MusiCare, Music Goes to School, and carpe_diem_ kids@harrisonpark.

MusiCare concerts are offered to those unable to attend regular concerts. This includes: free performances at senior citizen communities, hospice centers, hospitals, and Alzheimer care units. This year, the quartet will be expanding MusiCare to include visits to the Franklin County Juvenile Detention Center. This will be a unique and unprecedented expansion. Until now, no performing arts organization has ever taken on the mission of reaching out to the troubled young people in this facility.Music Goes to School gives Central Ohio schools the opportunity to have CDSQ come right to their classroom – up close and personal. We are proud to announce that next season we will team up with the Columbus Head Start Centers, offering a quality musical experience to pre-school age children in Columbus.

carpe_diem_kids@harrisonpark is a series of free family concerts performed in the Columbus community of Harrison West. Students and their parents join CDSQ for an hour of intimate, interactive music making. With the younger listener in mind, we engage the audience with playful musical selections, discussion, and question-and-answer time.

Carpe Diem champions the music of living composers, and has premiered and given first Mid-West performances of works by Frank Bennett, Danny Elfman, Ken Fuchs, Korine Fujiwara, Osvaldo Golijov, Andre Hajdu, Donald Harris, Jennifer Higdon, Jonathan Leshnoff, Nicholas Maw, William Thomas McKinley, Clancy Newman, Carter Pann, Kevin Putts, Eric Sawyer, Gunther Schuller, Richard Smoot, and Bruce Wolosoff, among others.