Individual bios: Stephanie Matthews, Naira Underwood, Adiza Sanchez-Rahim, Patrice Jackson

The Ebony Strings Quartet is an all-female African-American string quartet comprised of Stephanie Matthews and Naira Underwood (violins), Adiza Sanchez-Rahim (viola), and Patrice Jackson (cello). Established at The Juilliard School, the group recently made their Lincoln Center debut in March 2006. The Ebony Strings Quartet strives to achieve the highest level of musicianship and is dedicated to exploring primarily new works. String quartet works have already been commissioned by composers Cristina Spinei, Dr. Samuel Zyman, Nathan Bugh, Ulysses Owens, and Ricardo Romaneiro. The group has been invited to perform in several Juilliard Plays Juilliard concerts which highlight compositions written by Juilliard composers and are performed by Juilliard students. Members of this dynamic ensemble can be cited for working with a wide array of noteworthy artists across all genres of music, including the Juilliard String Quartet, Chiara String Quartet, Itzhak Perlman, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, Pinchas Zukerman, Pamela Frank, Kanye West, Regina Carter, and Richard Smallwood.

The Ebony Strings Quartet