Our vision
Excellence in contemporary music
Tana commissions numerous new works each year with the support of SACEM, and has given more than 250 world premieres since its founding. A string quartet for the 21st century, Tana juxtaposes fresh interpretations of beloved masterpieces with brand-new works by living composers.
Education
In 2018, Tana co-founded ARCO, an annual summer academy for young composers and performers. The quartet has given masterclasses at the Conservatoire National Supérieur de Paris, University of California Berkeley, and Shanghai Conservatory, among others. As teachers, they follow in the footsteps of their own mentors, Walter Levine, Eberhard Feltz, and the Jerusalem Quartet.
Research
The Tana Quartet has partnered with leading music research centers including IRCAM, GRAME, GMEM, and the Centre Henri Pousseur. In 2015, together with composer Juan Gonzalo Arroyo, they created hybrid TanaInstruments that play electronics directly through their bodies rather than through external speakers. New works for these groundbreaking instruments are featured on their album Volts.
Community engagement
Tana aims to reduce the distance between audience and performer by creating immersive, participatory programs. Music Far and Wide brings live music to places often neglected by traditional tours, including rural towns and unexpected venues from grocery stores to hospitals. One-Day Orchestra gives participants the opportunity to immerse themselves in the musical creative process: learning about instruments, improvising, composing, and performing a final concert with the quartet.