PMP ALUMNI QUARTET
Njioma Grevious, violin; Rebecca Benjamin, violin; James Kang, viola; Macintyre Taback, cello
ABEO Quartet
Tuesday, February 11, 2025 | 7:30 PM
First Presbyterian Church
2050 Oak Street, Sarasota, FL 34237
$25 General Admission | $35 VIP-Front Rows
NEW! $10 Youth Ticket (under 21)
Thursday, February 13, 2025 | 7:00 PM
Gold Coast Eagle
7051 Wireless Ct, Sarasota, FL 34240
Lakewood Ranch
$30 General Admission
*Please note, attendees must be 21 or older.
Ticket includes beer, cocktail and snacks.
All ticket purchases are final sales and cannot be refunded.
About Abeo Quartet
The Abeo Quartet, formed at Juilliard in 2018, was the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence at the University of Delaware under the mentorship of the Calidore String Quartet from 2021-2023. Abeo’s recent accomplishments include Third Prize at the 2023 Bad Tölz International String Quartet Competition, making the semi-finals at the 2023 Melbourne International Chamber Music Competition and being among ten quartets invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition in 2022. The quartet was also a First Prize and Audience Favorite Prize winner in the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition for Emerging Professional Ensembles and Silver Medal winner of the Chesapeake International Chamber Music Competition, both in 2022. Additionally, Abeo was a finalist in the 2021 Young Concert Artists International Competition and the silver medal winner of the 2019 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition.
Recent highlights have included performances at Music@Menlo, the Schneider Concert Series, the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival, and collaborations with members of the Calidore and Dover string quartets. In March 2024, Abeo returns to perform at the Kennedy Center, having been featured there in 2019 with distinguished pianist Joseph Kalichstein at the Reach Opening Festival. The 2023-2024 season brought a yearlong residency for Abeo as the Ernst Stiefel String Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts in Katonah, NY., with performances that will include outreach to young listeners and others who are unable to attend live concerts.
Past Abeo highlights include performances at Alice Tully Hall, the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s masterclass series with the Danish String Quartet, and on WQXR’s Midday Masterpieces. Abeo was invited to perform in Norway’s 2019 Vertavo Festival, performing seven Haydn string quartets and was in residence at the Glenstone Museum, debuting “Moonshot” by Alistair Coleman. The quartet has studied and performed at Music@Menlo, with the Emerson Quartet at the Great Lakes Chamber Music Festival and with the Brentano String Quartet at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. At the Montreal International String Quartet Academy, Abeo was coached by members of Quatuor Ébéne, Alban Berg, Takács, Artemis, Cecilia and Meta4 String Quartets. During their time at Juilliard, Abeo studied regularly in the Honors Chamber Music Program under the tutelage of The Juilliard String Quartet with Joseph Lin, Astrid Schween and Roger Tapping.
The quartet chose the name Abeo / ah – bey – oh / — an expression of joy in a Nigerian dialect — to reflect their love for playing chamber music and sharing it with others.
Njioma Grevious, violin
Violinist Njioma Grevious is a passionate and versatile solo, chamber and orchestral musician and performer. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School and a winner of its John Erskine Prize for scholastic and artistic achievement. In 2023, Njioma won both the Robert F. Smith First Prize and the Audience Choice awards in the Senior Division of the Sphinx Competition and First Prizes for Performance and Interpretation in the 2018 Prix Ravel in Fontainebleau, France.
A founding member of the Abeo Quartet, Njioma is a graduate student of Ryan Meehan and the Calidore String Quartet at the University of Delaware where she is also a fellow in the inaugural Graduate String Quartet in Residence Program. In 2022, Abeo won First Prize and the Audience Favorite Prize at the Yellow Springs Chamber Music Competition and was invited to participate in the 14th Banff International String Quartet Competition. Njioma is a frequent chamber music series player and has performed in festivals including Music@Menlo, Perlman Chamber Music Workshop, Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Meadowmount, Fontainebleau Schools and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute.
Njioma, who began studying the violin at the age of 4, was a scholarship recipient through Boston’s Project STEP string training program for Black and Latino youth. Her principal teachers included Ronald Copes, James Buswell, Mariana Green-Hill and Farhoud Moshfegh.
Rebecca Benjamin, violin
Rebecca Benjamin, a native of Warsaw IN, is an engaging and versatile musician who has made appearance across the United States. An avid chamber musician, she has participated in the Perlman Music Program Chamber Music Workshop, Aspen Music Festival Wu Han/David Finkel Chamber Studio, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Mimir Chamber Music Festival, and Caroga Lake Music Festival. She has worked with members of the Juilliard, Brentano, Cleveland, Orion, Pacifica and Cavani String Quartets.
Rebecca performed in Carnegie Hall as concertmaster of the 2016 New York String Orchestra Seminar and has also been a member of the Hartford Symphony and Akron Symphony orchestras. She served as concertmaster for the Cleveland Institute of Music orchestra, the Symphony of the Lakes, the Music Institute of Chicago Academy Chamber Orchestra and more. As winner of the Ft. Wayne Young Artist Competition junior and senior levels, Rebecca soloed with the Fort Wayne Philharmonic at their Young People’s Concerts. She has also soloed with the Cleveland Institute of Music orchestra, the MasterWorks Festival orchestra, the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony, the Symphony of the Lakes, and the MIC Academy Chamber Orchestra.
Rebecca graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music and holds additional degrees from CIM and the Yale School of Music. Her teachers include Hyo Kang, Jaime Laredo, Jan Sloman, Joel Smirnoff and Almita and Roland Vamos.
James Kang, viola
Violist James Kang is a graduate of The Juilliard School as a proud recipient of a Kovner Fellowship, and is currently pursuing his DMA studies at Northwestern University as the Teaching Assistant of Prof. Helen Callus. He has served as Principal Violist for the Juilliard and Symphony in C orchestras, Assistant Principal for the Elmhurst Symphony Orchestra and has performed with the Chicago Philharmonic, Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, Princeton Symphony, and Fulcrum Point New Music Project. In March 2024, he performed as a member of the NYO-USA All Stars concert at Carnegie Hall.
As a soloist, James won top prizes at the American Viola Society Solo Competition, Atlanta Federation of Musicians Scholarship, and the ASTA National Solo Competition. In the Spring of 2023, he performed Hindemith’s Der Schwanendreher Viola Concerto with the University of Delaware Symphony Orchestra.
James has collaborated with musicians such as Itzhak Perlman, Shai Wosner, Joseph Kalichstein, and Donald Weilerstein. He is also a founding member of the Abeo Quartet.
Macintyre Taback, cello
Born in New York City, Macintyre Taback began his cello studies at the age of 11 as a part of his school’s strings program.
Mac is the founder of the Bennetts Point Cello Seminar in Charleston, SC, which held its first festival in January of 2024. In addition, he recently performed at IMS Prussia Cove, the Perlman Music Program, and Yellow Barn, and he participated in the Kronberg Academy’s ‘Chamber Music Connects the World’ in 2024.
Mac has worked closely with musicians such as Steven Isserlis, Gary Hoffman, and the Brentano Quartet, and has recently collaborated with Erich Höbarth, Alasdair Beatson, and the Emerson, Borromeo, and St. Lawrence String Quartets.
In 2021, Mac completed his undergraduate studies with Steven Doane and Rosemary Elliott at he Eastman School of Music, where he received the Performance Certificate and Harris Cello Prize. He is currently pursuing his DMA at the New England Conservatory under Laurence Lesser, Donald Weilerstein, and Vivian Weilerstein. Mac plays on a cello made by David Tecchler in Rome, 1723.
