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Emilie-Anne Gendron, violin
Adda Kridler, violin
Stephanie Griffin, viola
Michael Haas, cello
Biography
Momenta: the plural of momentum – four individuals in motion towards a common goal. This is
the idea behind the Momenta Quartet, whose eclectic vision encompasses contemporary music of
all aesthetic backgrounds alongside great music from the recent and distant past. Momenta has
premiered over 100 works and collaborated with over 120 living composers and, in the words of
The New Yorker’s Alex Ross, “few American players assume Haydn’s idiom with such ease.”
The quartet came into being in November 2004, when violist Stephanie Griffin was invited to
perform Mario Davidovsky’s String Trio for events celebrating Judaism and Culture at New
York’s Symphony Space and Temple University in Philadelphia. The rehearsals and
performances were so satisfying that the players decided to form a quartet. It was so easy – add
one violinist, and away it went. A residency through the composition department at Temple
University was already in place. Through this residency, Momenta gave two concerts a year
highlighting the talents of Temple University student composers alongside 20th-century
masterworks and works from the classical canon, repeating the programs at the Brooklyn Society
for Ethical Culture in the quartet’s home base of New York City. From the outset, Momenta
treated all music equally, devoting as much time, care and commitment to the student works as to
the imposing musical monuments.
Word of Momenta’s passionate advocacy for emerging composers spread quickly. Composers
started inviting Momenta for similar concerts and residencies at other academic institutions,
among them Cornell, Columbia and Yeshiva Universities; the Boston and Cincinnati
Conservatories; and the Eastman School of Music. In 2008 the quartet won its first major
commission grant from the Koussevitzky Foundation for Malaysian composer Kee Yong Chong,
and since received a second Koussevitzky grant for Bolivian composer Agustín Fernández.
Deeply committed to the musical avant-garde of the developing world, Momenta has been the
single most important advocate for the music of numerous international composers in this
country. In addition to world premieres by Chong and Fernández, Momenta has premiered and
championed the works of Tony Prabowo (Indonesia), Cergio Prudencio (Bolivia) and Hana
Ajiashvili (Georgia.) Upcoming adventures include a project to perform and record all thirteen
string quartets by Mexican microtonal maverick Julián Carrillo (1875-1965) over the next three
years.
Momenta is a powerful collective incorporating the strengths and passions of each of its
individual members. Current members have been playing together since 2009, with Adda Kridler
joining in 2012. Founding violist Stephanie Griffin combines a classical music career with
multifaceted improvisational adventures in Indonesia and in New York City’s vibrant avant-jazz
scene. Violinist Emilie-Anne Gendron has won awards in major competitions such as the
Stulberg String Competition and the Sion-Valais International Violin Competition. She tours
regularly with Musicians from Marlboro and the Sejong Soloists and joined Momenta in 2009.
Also with Momenta since 2009, cellist Michael Haas spent his formative years studying with
renowned string quartet cellists David Soyer and Joel Krosnick. He is a graduate of the
prestigious Curtis Institute of Music and performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and
the Argento Chamber Ensemble. Adda Kridler studied neuroscience at Harvard and violin at the
New England Conservatory. She has held positions in major orchestras, performs regularly with
many of New York’s orchestras and contemporary music ensembles and has been a member of
Momenta since 2012. The combined musical tastes of Momenta’s four members have resulted in
a unique personal repertoire spanning from Palestrina to Cage, from the new complexity of
Arthur Kampela to theatrical works by Mauricio Kagel and Tan Dun and world premieres by
jazz legend Yusef Lateef.
As Steve Smith wrote in The New York Times, “Word of the Momenta Quartet’s diligence,
curiosity and excellence is definitely out.” Momenta has appeared at such prestigious venues as
the Library of Congress, National Gallery of Art, the Smithsonian’s Freer Gallery, Rubin
Museum, Miller Theatre at Columbia University, and the Princeton Institute for Advanced Study
and looks forward to high-profile concerts at Chamber Music Cincinnati, Washington University
and at the internationally renowned Cervantino Festival in Mexico. Momenta gave its Mexican
debut at the National University (UNAM) last June and has performed in the United Kingdom,
Indonesia and Singapore.
Momenta has recorded for Centaur Records, Furious Artisans, PARMA, New World Records,
and Albany Records; and has been broadcast on WQXR, Q2 Music, Austria’s Oe1, and Vermont
Public Radio. The quartet’s debut album, Similar Motion, is available on Albany Records. For
more information, please visit www.momentaquartet.com.
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Member Biographies
Lauded by the New York Times as a “brilliant soloist" and by France’s ClassiqueInfo for her “excellent
technical mastery” and “undeniable sensitivity”, Emilie-Anne Gendron enjoys an active freelance career
based in New York. A deeply committed chamber musician, Ms. Gendron is a core member and frequent
leader of the Sejong Soloists; a member of the Toomai String Quintet; and on the roster of the Marlboro
Music Festival and the touring Musicians From Marlboro. Ms. Gendron is a past winner of the Stulberg
String Competition and took 2nd Prize and the Audience Prize at the 2009 Sion-Valais International
Violin Competition. She was trained at the Juilliard School where her teachers were Won-Bin Yim,
Dorothy DeLay, David Chan, and Hyo Kang. She holds the Artist Diploma and Master of Music degree
from Juilliard, as well as a B.A. in Classics from Columbia as a graduate of the Columbia-Juilliard jointdegree program. www.emilieannegendron.com
Violinist Adda Kridler, lauded in the Miami Herald for her "incisive energy and lovely tone," debuted
with the Knox County Symphony at age seven. An Ohio native based in New York, she completed her
Masters of Music at the New England Conservatory after graduating cum laude from Harvard University.
Ms. Kridler serves as concertmaster of several groups, including Miami’s Firebird Chamber Orchestra
and CounterPoint in Washington, DC. An avid teacher, she has served as Visiting Professor of Violin at
Ball State University. She has recorded for Seraphic Fire, Mapleshade, Mode and Naxos Records. Ms.
Kridler performs with Project 440, a non-profit organization presenting classical music to children and
adults throughout the east coast. She has made solo appearances with the Charleston Symphony and the
Firebird Chamber Orchestra, and at Charlotte Chamber Music Series and the Piccolo Spoleto Festival.
Acclaimed by the New York Times for her “fiery, full-throttle performance” and described as
“enthralling” by the Los Angeles Times, violist Stephanie Griffin has performed internationally as a
soloist, chamber and avant-jazz musician. As a soloist, she has worked closely with numerous composers,
among them Tony Prabowo; Kee Yong Chong; Matthew Greenbaum; Arthur Kampela; Ursula Mamlok
and Tristan Murail. Ms. Griffin is a regular guest with Continuum, and member of the Argento Chamber
Ensemble, the Riverside Symphony and the Princeton Symphony, where she serves as principal
violist. As an improviser, she was a 2014 fellow at Music Omi, and is a member of Carl Maguire’s
Floriculture, Gordon Beeferman’s Other Life Forms, Hans Tammen’s Third Eye Orchestra, Adam
Rudolph’s Go: Organic Orchestra and the composer/improviser collective the Brooklyn Infinity
Orchestra. Ms. Griffin has recorded for Firehouse 12, Aeon, Albany, Koch, Arte Nova, Centaur and Siam
Records. She studied viola with William Gordon, Paul DeClerck, Wayne Brooks and Samuel Rhodes and
holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from The Juilliard School. She serves on the viola faculty at
Brooklyn College.
Michael Haas is a sought-after chamber musician, performing in New York City and around the
world. In a recent performance his playing was noted as "refined and attractive" by the New York
Times. He has recently appeared performing chamber music at Alice Tully Hall, the Kennedy Center, and
as a guest at the Philadelphia Chamber Music Society. He is also a member of the New Haven
Symphony, and performs regularly with the Orchestra of St. Luke’s and the Princeton Symphony. Mr.
Haas holds degrees from the Curtis Institute of Music and the Juilliard School studying with David Soyer,
Peter Wiley, Joel Krosnick, and Darrett Adkins. He has taught at the CUNY Bronx Community College,
and given masterclasses at Williams College, the University of Hawaii and Manoa, and at the Cincinnati
College-Conservatory of Music as faculty at the Accent12 Festival.