Cedille Records to Release PACIFICA QUARTET Boxed Set THE AMERICAN COLLECTION

On Friday, November 20, Cedille Records will release The American Collection, a 3-CD boxed set featuring the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet. Celebrating the United States' 250th anniversary, the collection brings together three acclaimed recordings—Grammy-nominated American Stories (2022), American Voices (2024), and the quartet's newest release, American Portraits (2026)—offering a sweeping exploration of nearly a century of American music.

Through works that engage with the nation's history, geography, poverty, environmental advocacy, equality, war, memory, and national identity, The American Collection reflects the richness and complexity of the American experience while underscoring the Pacifica Quartet's adventurous programming and enduring commitment to championing American composers.

The collection opens with American Stories, the Pacifica Quartet's 2022 collaboration with New York Philharmonic principal clarinetist Anthony McGill. Comprising Valerie Coleman's Shotgun Houses, and the world-premiere recordings of Richard Danielpour's Four Angels, James Lee III's Quintet for Clarinet & String Quartet, and Benjamin J. Shirley's three-movement High Sierra Sonata, the album explores defining moments and cultural narratives in American history, from the 1963 Birmingham church bombing and Indigenous traditions to the landscapes of California's Eastern Sierra and the legacy of Muhammad Ali. Praised by The New York Times for the interplay between McGill's 'pure, gorgeous tone and expressive musicianship' and the 'excellent Pacifica Quartet,' American Stories received a nomination for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance at the 66th Annual Grammy Awards in 2024.

The quartet's 2024 release, American Voices, explores the influence of American folk music, spirituals, and popular culture through Dvořák's String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, 'American,' Florence Price's String Quartet in G Major, Louis Gruenberg's Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32, and the world-premiere recording of James Lee III's Pitch In. Performed with Chicago's Uniting Voices under conductor Josephine Lee, Pitch In sets a poem by Sylvia Dianne Beverly addressing global poverty and food insecurity.

The boxed set concludes with American Portraits, Pacifica Quartet's latest release, issued October 9, 2026. The album pairs landmark American chamber works—Samuel Barber's String Quartet, Op. 11, George Walker's Lyric for Strings, and George Crumb's Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land—with world-premiere recordings of two newly commissioned compositions: 2026 Pulitzer Prize winner Gabriela Lena Frank's The Edge of Everything: Elegy for Rachel Louise Carson, honoring the environmental pioneer, and Pulitzer Prize and three-time Grammy Award winner Jennifer Higdon's Steps for Justice, a portrait of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Both new works feature narration by NPR legal affairs correspondent Nina Totenberg.

These recordings are made possible through the support of the National Endowment for the Arts and Cedille's community of donors; the project reflects a shared commitment to preserving these distinctive voices with clarity and care, ensuring that future listeners can enjoy a richly layered portrait of America through music.

About Pacifica Quartet

Simin Ganatra, violin; Austin Hartman, violin; Mark Holloway, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello.

With a career spanning nearly three decades, the multiple Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet has achieved international recognition as one of the finest chamber ensembles performing today. The Quartet is known for its virtuosity, exuberant performance style, and often-daring repertory choices. Having served as quartet-in-residence at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music for more than a decade, the Quartet led the Center for Advanced Quartet Studies at the Aspen Music Festival and School, and was previously the quartet-in-residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and University of Chicago.

In 2021, the Pacifica Quartet received its second Grammy Award, for Cedille's Contemporary Voices, an exploration of music by three Pulitzer Prize-winning composers: Shulamit Ran, Jennifer Higdon, and Ellen Taaffe Zwilich.

Formed in 1994, the Pacifica Quartet quickly won chamber music's top competitions, including the 1998 Naumburg Chamber Music Award. In 2002, the ensemble was honored with Chamber Music America's Cleveland Quartet Award and appointment to Lincoln Center's The Bowers Program (formerly CMS Two) and, in 2006, received a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. With its powerful energy and captivating, cohesive sound, Pacifica has established itself as the embodiment of the senior American quartet sound.

The members of the Pacifica Quartet live in Bloomington, IN, where they serve as quartet-in-residence and full-time faculty members at Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music. Prior to that appointment, the Quartet was on the faculty of the University of Illinois at Champaign Urbana from 2003 to 2012, and also served as resident performing artist at the University of Chicago for 17 years. pacificaquartet.com

About Cedille Records

Launched in November 1989 by James Ginsburg, Grammy Award-winning Cedille Records (pronounced say-DEE) is dedicated to showcasing and promoting the most noteworthy classical artists in and from the Chicago area. A nonprofit record label, Cedille's mission is to produce and disseminate audiophile recordings presenting the finest classical music performers and composers in and from Chicago. The recordings further the careers and legacies of these Chicago artists as Cedille invests not only in the recordings but also in the artists represented on them.

The label's catalog of more than 200 front-line albums brims with attractive, off-the-beaten-path repertoire from the Baroque era to the present day, including world premieres of well over 400 classical compositions. Works from the classical canon, when they do appear, are usually heard in particularly imaginative programs. Cedille never removes albums from its catalog, and each recording is a permanent documentation of the artists' work. With more than 180 Chicago artists and ensembles, over 80 making their professional recording debuts on the label, Cedille brings the area's most significant classical music artists to a worldwide listening public. Cedille recordings are available on CD, as MP3 and hi-resolution FLAC downloads, and on all major streaming platforms. Learn more about Cedille Records and explore the label's catalog at cedillerecords.org.

American Stories (2022) — Cedille Records CDR 90000 216

Pacifica Quartet: Simin Ganatra, violin; Austin Hartman, violin; Mark Holloway, viola; Brandon Vamos, cello. Anthony McGill, clarinet.

Richard Danielpour: Four Angels (13:45)*

James Lee III: Quintet for Clarinet & String Quartet (21:58)*

2. I. Forgotten Emblems (5:49)

3. II. Awashoha (4:37)

4. III. Alas, my identity… (7:42)

5. IV. Celebrated Emblems (3:39)

Benjamin J. Shirley: High Sierra Sonata (19:04)*

6. I. Buttermilk Morning (8:15)

7. II. Angry Secrets (3:34)

8. III. Reflections on a Day (7:14)

Valerie Coleman: Shotgun Houses (17:43)

9. I. Shotgun Houses (5:21)

10. II. Grand Ave. (5:38)

11. III. Rome 1960 (6:35)

TT: (72:30) *World-premiere recording

American Voices (2024) — Cedille Records CDR 90000 228

Pacifica Quartet

Antonín Dvořák: String Quartet in F Major, Op. 96, 'American' (27:14)

I. Allegro ma non troppo (9:50)

II. Lento (7:45)

III. Molto vivace (3:51)

IV. Finale: vivace ma non troppo (5:36)

Florence Price: String Quartet in G Major (16:34)

5. I. Allegro (9:29)

6. II. Andante moderato – Allegretto (7:02)

Louis Gruenberg: Four Diversions for String Quartet, Op. 32 (8:47)

7. I. Allegro moderato (2:01)

8. II. Moderato ed à capriccio (1:54)

9. III. Andante moderato e delicato (2:54)

10. IV. Allegro burlando (1:51)

James Lee III: 11. Pitch In (12:26)* With Uniting Voices (children's choir), Josephine Lee, conductor

TT: (65:23) *World-premiere recording

American Portraits (2026) — Cedille Records CDR 90000 246

Pacifica Quartet

Samuel Barber: String Quartet, Op. 11 (18:54)

I. Molto allegro e appassionato (8:15)

II. Molto adagio (8:13)

III. Molto allegro (2:22)

Gabriela Lena Frank (Text by J. Drew Lanham): 4. The Edge of Everything: Elegy for Rachel Louise Carson (12:43)*

George Walker: 5. Lyric for Strings (6:12)

Jennifer Higdon (Text by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Patrice Michaels & Jennifer Higdon): 6. Steps for Justice (14:41)*

George Crumb: Black Angels: Thirteen Images from the Dark Land (19:04)

I. Departure (6:11)

7. 1. Threnody I: Night of the Electric Insects (1:35)

8. 2. Sounds of Bones and Flutes (0:45)

9. 3. Lost Bells (1:07)

10. 4. Devil-music (1:35)

11. 5. Danse Macabre (1:07)

II. Absence (5:19)

12. 6. Pavana Lachrymae (1:00)

13. 7. Threnody II: Black Angels! (2:15)

14. 8. Sarabanda de la Muerte Oscura (0:57)

15. 9. Lost Bells (Echo) (1:06)

III. Return (7:33)

16. 10. God-music (3:05)

17. 11. Ancient Voices (0:32)

18. 12. Ancient Voices (Echo) (0:30)

19. 13. Threnody III: Night of the Electric Insects (3:25)

TT: (72:00) Nina Totenberg, narrator. *World-premiere recording