Internationally recognized as one of the world's finest quartets, The American String Quartet recently celebrated its 30th anniversary during the 2005-2006 season. Highlighting the anniversary was the Quartet’s debut in a new series of recordings on the Arabesque label, including quartets of celebrated composer Richard Danielpour, and the launch of the Complete Brahms String Chamber Music featuring a stellar list of collaborative artists. Highlights of their 2006-2007 season include performances with Guillermo Figueroa and Lydia Artimiw, and a tour of Europe. The Quartet was honored to be selected to represent the chamber music field in a series of retrospective concerts celebrating the Naumburg Foundation’s 80th anniversary, performed by previous winners of the Naumburg Award.

In three decades of touring, the American has performed in all fifty states and appeared in virtually every important concert hall throughout the world. Their presentations of the complete quartets of Beethoven, Schubert, Schoenberg, Bartók, and Mozart have won widespread critical acclaim. The 1998 MusicMasters Complete Mozart String Quartets performed on a matched quartet set of instruments by Stradivarius are widely considered to have set the standard for this repertoire.

The American’s innovative approach to concert programming has won them a number of notable residencies in recent years, including "Beethoven the Contemporary" at the University of Michigan, The Six Mozart Viola Quintets at the Aspen Music Festival with Guarneri Quartet violist Michael Tree (broadcast live nationally via Chicago superstation WFMT), and a just-concluded four-year cycle titled “4-5-6…” at Princeton University, where the Quartet performed the complete quintets and sextets of Mozart and Brahms, joined in each concert by renowned guest artists.

Resident quartet at the Aspen Music Festival since 1974 and the Manhattan School of Music in New York since 1984, the American has also served as resident quartet at the Taos School of Music (1979 to 1998), the Peabody Conservatory, and the Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. The Quartet's diverse activities have also included numerous international radio and television broadcasts, tours of Asia, and performances with the New York City Ballet, the Montreal Symphony and the Philadelphia Orchestra.