Turtle Island Quartet with Ying Quartet, 4 + Four BEST CLASSICAL CROSSOVER ALBUM

The Turtle Island Quartet was honored to have its latest recording 4 +Four win the GRAMMY Award for Best Classical Crossover Album at the 48th Annual GRAMMY Awards Ceremony on Wednesday, February 8, 2006.

"We are so excited and thrilled to receive the GRAMMY for Best Classical Crossover Album," said David Balakrishnan, Turtle Island's violinist/founder, to represent the community of alternative string players looking to go beyond the limits of only one style in a category that is often regarded for pop is a big honor. We feel that we are part of a movement of redefining what classical music is by integrating jazz, American folk, rock and roll and blues with a 200-year-old art form.

Under the great leadership of GRAMMY-winning producer Thomas C. Moore, Turtle Island Quartet (TIQ) teamed up with a traditional string combo, the Ying Quartet, to make an album aimed at redefining the face of traditional chamber music. The idea came to life when Moore and Balakrishnan met at the 2003 GRAMMY Awards. We struck up a conversation about what makes a recording project great and worthy to produce, says Moore. David began telling me about an idea he had for a project that meshed the traditional classical string quartet with that of jazz, groove, and improvisation.

This GRAMMY Award is TIQ's first after being nominated twice before. This award means that the creative potential of classical music is being recognized, acknowledged and appreciated, says Balakrishnan, and we are honored to share that with the Ying Quartet, who represent the purity of this great tradition.

Both quartets extend their thanks to the Lied Center of the University of Kansas, the Porter Center of Brevard College, and Minnesota State University of Moorhead for co-commissioning 4 + Four.

For the past twenty years, the Turtle Island Quartet has been at the vanguard of musical innovation and eclecticism. Blending a comprehensive understanding of the classical string tradition with a virtuosic assimilation of 20th century American styles, TIQ continues to redefine the string quartet for the new century. They have developed a unique and internationally acclaimed musical voice, drawing on the diverse influences of folk, bluegrass, swing, bebop, funk, R&B, new age, rock, hip-hop and world music (specifically from Latin America and India) and grafting them to their deep and solid European classical roots.