Russell Houston ’12 and his quartet, the Balourdet Quartet, received the Avery Fisher Career Grant from the Lincoln Center. The recipients of this honor are awarded $25,000 to aid them with their needs for furthering their careers.
Houston and his quartet never imagined they would receive this award.
“I grew up always hearing about the Avery Fisher Career Grant as a kid and all the amazing people who have gotten it in the past, and I never imagined that I would ever be in a position to be thinking about something like that [for myself],” Houston said.
Houston began playing the cello at 10 years old and played in the Greenhill Orchestra for one year. He continued his education at Northwestern University where he earned his bachelor’s degree, the Colburn School for his first master’s degree and Rice University for his second master’s degree.
The summer before Houston started at Rice in 2018, he met the other members of his quartet, Angela Bae, Justin DeFilippis and Benjamin Zannoni. They began this endeavor as part of a school project, later applying to their first music festival where they won second prize.
“We worked really hard that summer and at Rice,” Houston said. “We were lucky enough to get second prize there and started thinking about getting more serious.”
Houston says working with this group has been a great experience, as he feels that he learns so much from the other members.
“I enjoy working with other people because it is like having three really great teachers with you, and you have people who know you super well as a person and as a musician,” Houston said.
The quartet applied and accepted a residency position at the New England Conservatory right before the outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020.
Houston and his quartet quarantined together during the pandemic, and during this time, they were able to rehearse together daily.
As the shutdown ended, they were able to compete in competitions and play many concerts, including Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competiton and more.
Houston shared that one of his favorite places to play at was Wigmore Hall in London, as he was able to clearly hear the sounds on stage.
“Wigmore Hall is different because it is so perfectly constructed to transmit your sound to the entire audience, so it allows a special, more intimate kind of playing,” Houston said.
After their tour of the UK tour in 2023, the Balourdet Quartet won the Avery Fisher Career Grant.
Having won the Avery Fisher Career Grant, the quartet plans to use the money to commission well known composers to create pieces they hope to record. Additionally, they plan to use this money for other areas the quartet is in need of, including professional headshots.
Houston says being the recipient of this grant gives the quartet a ‘stamp of approval’ in the music industry due to its prestige.
“Receiving recognition like this gives you a stamp of approval in a certain way and it lets you explore your wildest creative dreams,” Houston said.
Balourdet Quartet also has many long-term plans for their career, including hopes of increasing the amount of concerts they play, and creating more connections with various artists in the industry. Currently, they are at Indiana University, where they have a graduate residency, but are looking to secure a permanent residency and teach at a college.
“It is really [a] special thing to get to travel to all these wild places with your three best friends, it is pretty wild that it is my life,” Houston said.
