Risus Quartet
　Haeni Lee, violin I (PMF 2018)
　Jieun Yoo, violin II (PMF 2019)
　Mary Eunkyung Chang, viola (PMF 2018)
　Yukyung Ma, cello
　
The Risus Quartet was founded in 2020 by four passionate musicians living in South Korea. ‘Risus’ means ‘laugh’ in Latin and the vision of the quartet is to bring joy and laughter to audiences around the globe. Members Haeni Lee and Jieun Yoo (violin), Mary Eunkyung Chang (viola), and Yukyung Ma (cello) graduated from Seoul National University with a devotion to chamber music and now reside in South Korea as they continue to expand their artistry and dedicate themselves to a deeper exploration of the art of the string quartet.
　
First Prize winners of the 2022 Chamber Music In Yellow Springs Competition and Grand Prize and Gold Medal prizewinners at the 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Risus Quartet earned an AD degree after a Young Professional String Quartet residency at the University of Texas in Austin’s Butler School of Music under the Miró Quartet and Sandy Yamamoto. They were awarded the “City of Portsmouth Prize” in the 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition and were finalists of the Concert Artist Guild (CAG) in 2022 and semi-finalists of the ARD International Music Competition in Munich 2022. Recently, they were announced as the winners of 3rd Prize and the Quartet Commission Prize in the Melbourne International Music Competition 2023. In the summer of 2022, they participated in the Chigiana International Festival and Summer Academy in Siena, Italy. At the 2022 McGill International String Quartet Academy (MISQA) in Montreal, they received mentoring and coaching from world-class artists including Günter Pichler, Gerhard Schulz, and Valentin Erben from the Alban Berg Quartet, Heime Müller, former member of the Artemis Quartet, Mathieu Herzog, former member of the Ébène Quartet, Min-Jeong Koh from the Cecilia Quartet, and all members of the Meta4 Quartet.
　
The Risus Quartet has presented concerts at the Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival, Lotte Concert Hall, Jeju International Music Festival, Gum Nanse Music Center, and the House Concert series in Seoul. North American appearances include performances at the Dame Myra Hess Series in Chicago, Illinois, the DeBartolo Performing Arts Center’s “Presenting Series” at Notre Dame University in Indiana, and the Artists Series Concerts in Sarasota, Florida. Virtual performances have played an important role in community outreach, including the Music For Food Benefit Concert broadcast by the Violin Channel. They also presented concerts in Italy, at the Santa Lucia Church cloister in Forli, the Rocca in Riolo Terme, the Cloister of Palazzo Vescovile in Imola, and at the Fontanelice San Pietro Apostolo Church.
　
Haeni Lee and Mary Eunkyung Chang were members of the PMF Academy in 2018, and Jieun Yoo was a member in 2019. This is the Risus Quartet’s first appearance at PMF.