Jupiter String Quartet to Release UNDREAMED SHORES Album

The Jupiter String Quartet will release its new album UNDREAMED SHORES on April 17, marking the ensemble’s ninth studio recording and its first release on Orchid Classics.

The album features world premiere recordings of string quartets written for the ensemble by Michi Wiancko, Stephen Andrew Taylor, and Kati Agócs. The works explore themes including the climate crisis, the COVID-19 pandemic, memory, and renewal, reflecting the composers’ long-standing artistic relationships with the quartet.

The recording also represents the ensemble’s final album with violinist Nelson Lee, who departed the group in September 2025 and has since been succeeded by violinist Mélanie Clapiès.

“We are excited to share these three wonderful works, which were written for us, all of which find space for hope and light in challenging times,” the quartet said in a statement. “While each compositional voice represented on this album is distinct and original, the three quartets find common ground in their desire to reach for something that transcends our often difficult and fraught modern-day society.”

Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores examines ecological grief and regeneration, while Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth reflects the disorientation of the pandemic through a looping musical structure. Agócs’s Imprimatur (String Quartet No. 2) explores memory and transformation through a multi-movement suite.

Founded in 2001, the Jupiter String Quartet—comprising violinists Mélanie Clapiès and Meg Freivogel, violist Liz Freivogel, and cellist Daniel McDonough—has performed internationally at venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Wigmore Hall, and the Kennedy Center.

The ensemble is currently in residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, where its members direct the chamber music program.

The album was recorded in September 2024 at the Krannert Center for the Performing Arts and is produced by Judith Sherman.