Blair Quartet

{{Short description|String quartet at Vanderbilt University}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}}

The Blair String Quartet is the string quartet-in-residence at the Blair School of Music of Vanderbilt University, {{As of|2022}}, consisting of violinists Cornelia Heard and Stephen Miahky, violist Eric Wong and cellist Felix Wang."[https://blair.vanderbilt.edu/ensembles/blair-string-quartet.php Ensembles: Blair String Quartet]", Blair.Vanderbilt.edu. Accessed: 29 July 2018."[https://www.chamber-music.org/member/blair-string-quartet Blair String Quartet]", Chamber-Music.org. Accessed: 29 July 2018. They perform frequently at Blair, and have also performed at the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, and the Weill Recital Hall.{{AllMusic|artist|blair-string-quartet-mn0001617111|Blair String Quartet|first=John|last=Bush}}. Accessed: 29 July 2018. In 1980 the Blair Quartet consisted of violinists Christian Teal and Lee Joiner, violist Kathryn Plummer, and cellist David Vanderkool as members. Prior members also include violist Christina McGann, and cellist Grace Mihi Bahng. Stephen Clapp was lead violinist from 1967 to 1972.

Their repertoire ranges from traditional classical music, including Mendelssohn, Debussy, and Ginastera, to contemporary classical music, including John Harbison, George Rochberg, and George Tsontakis. They have also worked with jazz banjoist Bela Fleck and bluegrass bassist Edgar Meyer. Meyer and Fleck composed a Quintet for Banjo and String Quartet (1984) together for performance with the Blair Quartet. Michael Hersch's piece Images from a Closed Ward (2010) was commissioned by the Blair Quartet, who premiered the work and recorded it.[https://www.innova.mu/albums/michael-hersch/images-closed-ward Images from a Closed Ward]", Innova.mu. Accessed: 29 July 2018. They commissionedSchool of Music (1992). [https://books.google.com/books?id=b0sJAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22blair+string+quartet%22&pg=RA3-PA31 Music at Michigan, Volumes 26-27], p.31. University of Michigan. and premiered Daniel Bernard Roumain's String Quartet no. 1: X (1993), dedicated to Malcolm X.McDonald, Anthony; ed. (2012). A Catalog of Music Written in Honor of Martin Luther King, Jr, p.70. Scarecrow Press. {{ISBN|9780810881983}}.