Kairos: Chamber Music of Kyle Werner The Balourdet Quartet

• Kyle Werner: String Quartet No. 1:
• 1 Werner: String Quartet No. 1: I Night 03:43
• 2 Werner: String Quartet No. 1: II Morning 04:27
• 3 Werner: String Quartet No. 1: III Afternoon 04:41
• 4 Werner: String Quartet No. 1: IV Evening 05:26
• Piano Trio:
• 5 Werner: Piano Trio: I Andante 03:01
• 6 Werner: Piano Trio: II Adagio 07:12
• 7 Werner: Piano Trio: III Animato 06:59
• String Quartet No. 2 “In Memory”:
• 8 Werner: String Quartet No. 2 “In Memory” 20:13
• Total Runtime 55:42

Info zu Kairos: Chamber Music of Kyle Werner

"I have chosen the title Kairos for my debut album of compositions, as this richly meaningful Greek word conveys a sense of a significant moment or season of time. While the word Chronos refers to quantitative, measurable time, Kairos refers to a deeper, qualitative view of time. This music is the fruit of a season in which I turned over a new page as a composer, digging deeper into the forms and vocabulary of the historic classical music tradition, and delving into some of the most vital themes of human existence - time, birth, life, death, and love." (Kyle Werner)

The Balourdet Quartet:
Angela Bae, violin
Justin DeFilippis, violin
Benjamin Zannoni, viola
Russell Houston, cello

The Balourdet Quartet
is acclaimed for their vibrant energy and masterful blend of technical precision and emotional depth that brings a fresh perspective to both beloved classics and modern compositions. Its unique closeness and willingness to take creative risks earned it the 2024 Avery Fisher Career Grant, as well as Chamber Music America’s 2024 Cleveland Quartet Award. With more than 70 concerts per season, recent highlights include the Balourdet’s debuts at Carnegie and Wigmore Halls, and new string quartets by composers Karim Al-Zand, Paul Novak, and Nicky Sohn through grants from Chamber Music America (2021) and the Barlow Foundation (2023). They have recently been named the first ever Quartet-in-Residence at the Seattle Chamber Music Society and have recently completed residencies at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory’s Professional String Quartet Program.

Highlights of the 2025-26 season include performances at Carnegie Hall, the Freer Gallery at the Smithsonian, Boston’s Celebrity Series in Jordan Hall, and Chamber Music Houston. Recently, they have performed at the Kennedy Center, Buffalo Chamber Music, the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, and La Jolla Music Society and Rockport Music. Collaborations include violinist James Ehnes, pianists Marc-André Hamelin and Simone Dinnerstein, cellists Zuill Bailey and Astrid Schween, violist Jordan Bak, and the Dover, Pacifica, and Ying Quartets. They continue their position as String Quartet in Residence with the Chamber Orchestra of the Triangle in North Carolina where they curate the Up Close Chamber Music Series, serve as principals in the orchestra, and engage with the larger community of the Triangle region. Most recently, the Balourdet received the Chamber Music Award from the National Federation of Music Clubs for the 25-26 season and are winners of the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music’s 2025 Innovation Competition for their educational initiative Expedition Strings.

Committed to sharing their musical values with the next generation, the quartet has served regularly as faculty at the Green Mountain Chamber Music Festival, JDR Summer Music Academy, Berkshire Summer Music, and Opus Chamber Music. They have also given masterclasses and coachings at Northwestern University, University of Michigan, Rice University, Emory University, New England Conservatory Preparatory Department, Fischoff Chamber Music Academy, Upper Valley Chamber Music, and Wright State University.

The Balourdet journey began in 2018 in the mountains of New Mexico at the Taos School of Music, where violinists Justin DeFilippis, Angela Bae, and cellist Russell Houston first bonded as friends over long evenings of chamber music, luxurious Peppermint Schnapps and extravagant meals created by chef extraordinaire Antoine Balourdet, a renaissance man with an exceptional love of life and music. It was the friendships, a shared passion for music and food, and gratitude for the role the festival played in the formation of the quartet, that inspired the members to name the ensemble in Chef Balourdet’s honor.

Soon thereafter, in the heat of a waning Texas summer, Justin, Angela, and Russell joined with violist Benjamin Zannoni at Rice University, and the Balourdet Quartet was formed. Inspired by their love for the repertoire and the excitement of having found each other, the four friends found themselves playing quartets late into the night for fun. After having been together for only one year at Rice University, and a summer at the Aspen Music Festival, they took second prize at the Nielsen International String Quartet Competition, and were selected as the only quartet admitted to Boston’s historic New England Conservatory Professional String Quartet Program under the tutelage of Cleveland Quartet cellist Paul Katz.

In 2021, the Quartet won the Grand Prize at New York’s Concert Artists Guild Competition, which included joint management by Concert Artists Guild in the U.S., and Young Classical Artist’s Trust (YCAT) in the UK and Europe. In addition, the Balourdet has been prizewinners in Canada’s Banff International String Quartet Competition, the International Premio Paolo Borciani Competition in Italy, Gold Medal winners at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, and Gold Medal and Audience Prizewinners at the Yellow Springs Competition.

Kyle Werner
is a composer based in New York City who creates works that embrace the classical music tradition with a sense of renewal. Drawing on inspirations such as natural landscapes, birdsong, art, and theology, his music seeks to bridge the transcendent and the deeply personal.

He frequently collaborates with neoclassical ballet choreographer and former New York City Ballet member Silas Farley, creating works that have been featured by The Houston Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Wolf Trap, MarqueeTV, Guggenheim Works & Process Digital Commissions, Chattanooga Ballet, and Southern Methodist University. They are currently creating a new work in collaboration with student dancers from Canada’s National Ballet School and student musicians from the Glenn Gould School of the Royal Conservatory.

Kairos, the first complete album of Werner’s compositions, features the Balourdet Quartet and pianist Chenchun Ma and will release on Centaur Records in February 2026.

Werner’s works for the concert hall have been performed by distinguished artists including the Grand Rapids Symphony, Windscape, the Chicago Chamber Musicians, mezzo-soprano Raehann Bryce-Davis, guitarist Jordan Dodson, and members of Eighth Blackbird and at venues including the Colburn School, University of Michigan, University of Colorado-Boulder, Midwest Composers’ Symposium, Opera on Tap, Palais de Fontainebleau, Society for American Music Annual Conference, and New York-Presbyterian’s Allen Hospital. Werner has also served as composer-in-residence at Chamber Music Campania in Varano, Italy.

He previously served as Music Director of Christ Church Anglican NYC on Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and his works have been heard at Redeemer Presbyterian, Tenth Presbyterian, Emmanuel Anglican, Emmanuel Presbyterian, and Marble Collegiate Church.

He completed the Doctor and Master of Music degrees in Composition at Manhattan School of Music, studying with Susan Botti and J. Mark Stambaugh, and a Bachelor of Music in Composition at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, studying with Joel Hoffman and Michael Fiday. He also completed summer studies at the American Conservatory in Fontainebleau, France and the MusicX Festival in Blonay, Switzerland.

A passionate music educator, Werner currently serves as the Director of the Geneva Conservatory at the Geneva School of Manhattan and as a member of the faculty at Manhattan School of Music Precollege.

When he’s not composing, Werner enjoys cooking, birding, hiking, sailing, and exploring parks and gardens. He lives with his wife and muse, Laura, in Northern Manhattan.

Booklet für Kairos: Chamber Music of Kyle Werner