PRISM Quartet

PRISM Quartet, led by co-artistic director and Pew Fellow Matthew Levy, creates and performs music that places the saxophone in unexpected contexts, charting fresh musical territory that challenges audiences. Two-time winners of the Chamber Music America/ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming, the ensemble has performed at Carnegie Hall, at Alice Tully Hall with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, and throughout Latin America, among many other venues. Past projects presented with Center support include commissions of new compositions by Steve Lehman, David Liebman, Miguel Zenón, Steven Mackey, and Ken Ueno. With Center support in 2016, PRISM undertook a discovery process to explore the artistic possibilities of intersecting saxophone music, technology, and time-based visual art with Breath Beneath; and in 2018 a Project grant has supported Mending Wall, with new works from composers Martin Bresnick, George Lewis, Arturo O’Farrill, and Juri Seo that explore the metaphorical meaning of walls in contemporary society. In 2021, PRISM received a Re:imagining Recovery grant to study its online educational program—an offering the ensemble piloted during the pandemic—to assess its effectiveness, impact, and potential to serve a wider audience.