String Quartet

The Balourdet Quartet is acclaimed for their vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision and emotional depth that brings a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions. Its unique closeness and willingness to take creative risks earned it the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. With more than 70 concerts per season, recent highlights include the Balourdet’s debuts at Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, and new string quartets by composers Karim Al-Zand, Paul Novak, and Nicky Sohn through grants from Chamber Music America (2021) and the Barlow Foundation (2023). They have recently been named the first ever Quartet-in-Residence at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and have recently completed residencies at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program. 

Highlights of the 2025-26 season include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Freer Gallery at the Smithsonian, Boston’s Celebrity Series in Jordan Hall, and Chamber Music Houston. Recently, they have performed at the Kennedy Center, Buffalo Chamber Music, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and La Jolla Music Society and Rockport Music. Collaborations include violinist James Ehnes, pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Simone Dinnerstein, cellists Zuill Bailey and Astrid Schween, violist Jordan Bak, and the Dover, Pacifica, and Ying Quartets. They continue their position as String Quartet in Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle in North Carolina where they curate the Up Close Chamber Music Series, serve as principals in the orchestra, and engage with the larger community of the Triangle region. Most recently, the Balourdet received the Chamber Music Award from the National Federation of Music Clubs for the 25-26 season and are winners of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music’s 2025 Innovation Competition for their educational initiative Expedition Strings.

Committed to sharing their musical values with the next generation, the quartet has served regularly as faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, JDR Summer Music Academy, Berkshire Summer Music, and Opus Chamber Music. They have also given masterclasses and coachings at Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Rice University, Emory University, New England Conservatory Preparatory Department, Fischoff Chamber Music Academy, Upper Valley Chamber Music, and Wright State University. 

The Balourdet journey began in 2018 in the mountains of New Mexico at the Taos School of Music, where violinists Justin DeFilippis, Angela Bae, and cellist Russell Houston first bonded as friends over long evenings of chamber music, luxurious Peppermint Schnapps and extravagant meals created by chef extraordinaire Antoine Balourdet, a renaissance man with an exceptional love of life and music. It was the friendships, a shared passion for music and food, and gratitude for the role the festival played in the formation of the quartet, that inspired the members to name the ensemble in Chef Balourdet’s honor. 

Soon thereafter, in the heat of a waning Texas summer, Justin, Angela, and Russell joined with violist Benjamin Zannoni at Rice University, and the Balourdet Quartet was formed. Inspired by their love for the repertoire and the excitement of having found each other, the four friends found themselves playing quartets late into the night for fun. After having been together for only one year at Rice University, and a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, they took second prize at the Nielsen International String Quartet Competition, and were selected as the only quartet admitted to Boston’s historic New England Conservatory Professional String Quartet Program under the tutelage of Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz.

In 2021, the Quartet won the Grand Prize at New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, which included joint management by Concert Artists Guild in the U.S., and Young Classical Artist’s Trust (YCAT) in the UK and Europe. In addition, the Balourdet has been prizewinners in Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, Gold Medal winners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Gold Medal and Audience Prizewinners at the Yellow Springs Competition.

Pianist

New York-based pianist Shuhui (Sophia) Zhou has performed internationally as a soloist and chamber musician at renowned venues including Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, the Royal Concertgebouw, Shanghai Concert Hall, and National Sawdust. A winner of the V BPA International Piano Award in Barcelona, she was invited on recital tours across Spain and has collaborated with members of the New York Philharmonic, the Metropolitan Opera, Berlin Philharmonic, Bavarian Radio Orchestra, London Philharmonic Orchestra, and faculty from the Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Manhattan School of Music, Barenboim-Saiid Academy and Kronberg Academy in Germany.

Sophia is recognized for her versatility and commitment to contemporary music. She recorded and premiered works by leading composers such as Andrew Norman (Carnegie Hall’s Debs Composer’s Chair) , Benjamin Broening (Guggenheim Award) and Thomas Adès, John Harbison, Alexander Goehr and Nina Shekhar.  An in-demand vocal pianist and coach, Sophia has worked with Brooklyn Art Song Society, Mannes Opera, Bare Opera, and Classical Lyric Arts (Italy), and served as post-graduate piano fellow at the Vocal Arts Program at Bard College Conservatory of Music, working closely with Dawn Upshaw and Stephanie Blythe. As a multi-disciplinary artist, her recent projects include project “Bach VS The Climate Crisis”  in collaboration with renowned environmental photographer J Henry Fair and solo performance in the Nam June Paik retrospectives show in San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. 

Born and raised in Shanghai, Sophia was the first student from mainland China admitted to Oberlin College’s double-degree program, graduating with majors in piano performance and German literature. She continued her studies at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and earned her Master of Music from Mannes College in New York City, studying with Thomas Sauer. Her training includes work with Richard Goode, Peter Serkin, Barry Douglas, Ruth Slenczynska, Jacques Rouvier, Karl Heinz Kaemmerling, Bernd Goetzke, Hortense Cartier-Bresson, and others.

As a concert curator and presenter, Ms. Zhou is the founder and director of Chamber Music at The Stissing Center since 2020 and Millbrook Music Salon since 2025, bringing world-class music to the heart of the community. With the mission of providing more support for emerging artists, she has established an annual award in partnership with Young Concert Artists. Further collaborations include Carnegie Ensemble Connect, Kronberg Academy in Germany, Sir Andras Schiff’s Building Bridge Program, to name a few.