Kirshbaum Demler & Associates is pleased to welcome cellist Dane Johansen to the Escher String Quartet. Mr. Johansen replaces Andrew Janss, who had been cellist since the ensemble's inception in 2005.

American cellist Dane Johansen has performed throughout the United States and Europe, including appearances at the Seattle Chamber Music Festival, Chicago's Young Steinway Performance Series, Brooklyn's Bargemusic, Helsinki's Sibelius Academy, Prague's Academy of Music, Paris's Conservatoire National Supérieur de Musique and BBC Live Radio. Orchestral appearances feature the Houston and Fairbanks Symphonies, the Juilliard Orchestra and the National Repertory Orchestra. He has been invited to such music festivals as the Marlboro Music Festival, Ravinia's Steans Institute for Young Artists, Musique de Chambre à Giverny, IMS Prussia Cove and the Kronberg Cello Festival. Mr. Johansen is currently enrolled in Juilliard's prestigious Artists Diploma program, where he works with Joel Krosnick and Darrett Adkins and studies privately with Bernard Greenhouse.

The Escher String Quartet has received acclaim for its individual sound and unique cohesiveness. The quartet has performed at prestigious venues and festivals across the United States, including Lincoln Center, 92nd Street Y and Symphony Space in New York, Boston's Gardner Museum, The Louvre in Paris, Dallas Chamber Music Society, Fortas Series at the Kennedy Center, New Orleans Friends of Music and Orange County Performing Arts Center, as well as the Ravinia and Caramoor Festivals, Music@Menlo and La Jolla SummerFest. The Escher Quartet has served for the past three years as resident ensemble of Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center's "CMS Two" program. The group has collaborated with such eminent artists as Andrés Diaz, Lawrence Dutton, Kurt Elling, Leon Fleisher, Lynn Harrell, Wu Han, Jeffrey Kahane, Joseph Kalichstein, Pepe Romero, pop folk singer-songwriter Luke Temple, David Shifrin, and Pinchas Zukerman. Within months of its inception in 2005, the Escher was invited by both Pinchas Zukerman and Itzhak Perlman to be quartet-in-residence at each artist's summer festival. The ensemble takes its name from Dutch graphic artist M.C. Escher and draws inspiration from the artist's method of interplay between individual components working together to form a whole.

For further information, please contact Kirshbaum Demler & Associates at 212-222-4843 | info@kirshdem.com