Our work with today's composers - be they young, emerging, or established - was central to our artistic mission.

Each interaction brought new musical inspiration to the quartet as we acted collaboratively to create the next generation of great works for string quartet. Through intensive rehearsal and dialogue involving challenging explorations of sound, time and style, we brought these works to life.

▢ - watch/listen to it ◯ - find the album

Samuel Carl Adams: String Quartet No. 2 “Current” (2016-19) Commissioned by Spektral Quartet and Cal Performances at UC Berkeley, with assistance from New Music USA and a private donor. ▢

Lawrence Axelrod: Meditation on a theme by Bernard Rands (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composer’s Consortium

Marcos Balter: Chambers (2010) ▢ ◯

Eliza Brown: String Quartet No. 1 (2011) ▢ ◯

The Light that Blurred the Stars (2019) for String Quartet + Soprano. Co-Commissioned with Scrag Mountain Music Festival 🎶▢

Lisa R Coons (composer) and Mark DeChiazza (choreographer): The Space Between (2019)

Supported by the Faculty Research and Creative Activities Award (FRACAA), Western Michigan University (WMU), and the Kalamazoo Artistic Development Initiative.

Anthony Cheung: The Real Book of Fake Tunes (2015) with Claire Chase, flute Commissioned by the Fromm Foundation ▢ ◯

Kyoung Mee Choi: Falling Leaves (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composer’s Consortium ▢

Daniel Dehaan: Sterile Contaminant  (2012) ▢

Timothy Dwight Edwards: With Pause for Reflection (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composer’s Consortium ▢

David Fulmer: David Fulmer - verse, verses (2017-20) Commissioned by The Koussevitsky Music Foundation

Chris Fisher-Lochhead: Dig Absolutely (2010) ▢ ◯

I Never Learnt to Share by James Blake (2012) (arrangement) ▢

Backwater Blues after Bessie Smith (2013) ▢

Hack (2015) Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment ▢ ◯

Stephen Gorbos: Passage Through the City (2013) Commissioned by High Concept Labs ▢

Tomas Gueglio Saccone: Decals II (2015-6)

Luke Gullickson: Pancho & Lefty by Townes Van Zandt (2014) (arrangement)

Ben Hjertmann: String Quartet No 2: Étude (2013) ▢ ◯

Martha Horst: rabbithole (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composers’ Consortium

Ryan Ingebritsen: 4x4 #2: 3 Birds (2014) ▢ ◯

Timothy Ernest Johnson: For The Love Of Home (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composers’ Consortium

Avery Knific: Arnika by Sufjan Stevens (2019) (arrangement) ▢

Avery Knific with Joey Meland: Game of Thrones Theme (2019) (arrangement)

Tonia Ko: Plain, Air (2017) Commissioned by Spektral Quartet and Chamber Music America ▢ (album forthcoming)

Mikel Kuehn: String Quartet No. 1, “If on a winter’s night…” (2016) Commissioned by the Barlow Endowment ▢

Julien Labro: Astor de Pibe by Diego Schissi (2014) (arrangement)

Charmaine Lee: Spinals (2018) ▢ ◯

George Lewis: String Quartet 1.5 “Experiments in Living” (2016) Commissioned by the Fromm Music Foundation at Harvard University ▢ ◯

Jenna Lyle: Inkblot (2012) ▢

Sky Macklay: Many Many Cadences (2014) Commissioned by the Walden School ▢ ◯

Andrew McManus: Art of Almost by Wilco (2013) (arrangement)

pathways, bursting [neurosonics 2]  (2016) ▢

Sam Pluta: binary momentary logics: flow state/joy state (2016) Commissioned by the Cliff Dwellers Club ▢ ◯

Bernard Rands: String Quartet Music (2020) Commissioned by John Bierbusse.

Tomeka Reid: Prospective Dwellers (2014-15) ▢

David Reminick: The Ancestral Mousetrap (2014) ▢ ◯

Laura Schwendinger: un breve canzone senza parole (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composers’ Consortium

Charlie Sdraulig: Scan (2017) ▢

Elizabeth Start: Conclusions (2020) In partnership with Chicago Composers’ Consortium

Alex Temple: Behind the Wallpaper  (2013-15) with Julia Holter, voice ▢ (album coming March 2023)

Hans Thomalla: Bagatellen (2015-16) Commissioned by the Ernst von Siemens Foundation ▢ ◯

Augusta Read Thomas: CHI (2017) Commissioned by Rockefeller Chapel at the University of Chicago ▢ ◯

Anna Thorvaldsdottir: Enigma (2019) Commissioned by Spektral Quartet, Carnegie Hall, and Washington Performing Arts (Full version: video art by Sigurdur Gudjonsson) ▢ ◯

Christopher Trapani: Isolario – Book of Known Islands (Vol. 2) (2019) Commissioned by Spektral Quartet and the Koussevitsky Music Foundation

Lee Weisert: Polychoron(b) (2015)

LJ White: Zin Zin Zin Zin (2011) ▢ ◯

Foot Foot (2018)

Tarek Yamani: Skylines Ahead ▢ and Berytus Suite ▢ (2021) Commissioned by University Musical Society (Univ of Michigan)

Katherine Young: I’m Hiding Your Present From You by Arthur Russell (2013) (arrangement) ▢

Miguel Zenón: Yo Soy La Tradición (2016) Commissioned by the Hyde Park Jazz Fest ▢ ◯

Esquinas (2022) Commissioned by Robert and Laura Watson ▢

Mobile Miniatures - A catalog of over 60 miniatures composed for use on mobile phones by Augusta Read Thomas, David Lang, Nico Muhly, Shulamit Ran,  Anna Thorvaldsdottir, George Lewis, and many others.