Grand Prize and Gold Medal Prizewinners at the 2021 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Risus quartet is currently the Young Professional String Quartet in residence at the Butler School of Music at the University of Texas in Austin. Recently, in the 2022 Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition, they were awarded The City of Portsmouth Prize, given to the most promising young quartet.

The Risus Quartet was founded in 2020 by four passionate musicians living in South Korea. After graduating from Seoul National University, they moved to the United States of America to expand their artistry and dedicate themselves to a deeper exploration of the art of the string quartet.

Their 2021-22 season includes performances at the Seoul Arts Center Summer Music Festival, Jeju International Music Festival, Gum Nanse Music Center, The House Concert, Seocho-gu Chamber Music Festival, Tongui-dong Classic, the Samick Cultural Foundation with support from the Busan Classical Development Council. Their winner’s tour for the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition included concerts for the Dame Myra Hess Series, O’Neil Hall at Notre Dame University and Howard Arts Center. They have also included virtual performances this season, most recently a benefit for Music for Food broadcasted by The Violin Channel. The quartet has also performed at the Artist Series Concert at Sarasota.

Community engagement is important to their mission and this season the quartet has engaged with the community through a variety of experiences through collaboration with the Midwest Young Artists Conservatory(MYAC), St Joseph High School, Upton Middle School, Penn High School, LaSalle Intermediate Academy, Manatee School for the arts and Goshen High School.