The 92nd Street Y, New York (92NY), will present the Dublin Guitar Quartet on the David Geffen Stage at Kaufmann Concert Hall on Sunday, February 22, 2026, at 2pm, marking a significant New York appearance for one of Europe’s most distinctive contemporary classical ensembles. Tickets for the afternoon concert start at $45.
The engagement highlights the continued appetite among major cultural institutions for specialist groups capable of broadening the commercial and artistic scope of classical music programming. For presenters such as 92NY, whose Kaufmann Concert Hall has long balanced tradition with innovation, the Dublin Guitar Quartet represents a model of how niche ensembles can attract international touring opportunities while maintaining a clear artistic identity.
The quartet occupies a singular position within the global classical music sector as the only classical guitar quartet dedicated entirely to contemporary music. Its work focuses on expanding a traditionally limited repertoire by adapting and commissioning works that sit outside conventional guitar literature. Over the past decade and a half, this strategy has allowed the group to build a recognisable brand within the contemporary music market, particularly in North America.
The New York programme reflects that focus. Central to the concert is music by Philip Glass, including an arrangement of his String Quartet No. 2, “Company”, reimagined for four guitars, alongside selected Piano Études. The programme concludes with the quartet’s adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, based on the composer’s own piano version. The arrangement has become a defining work for the ensemble, offering audiences a new perspective on a canonical 20th-century score.
The full programme includes Nikita Koshkin’s Changing the Guard, Rachel Grimes’ Book of Leaves (trans. B. Bolger), Wojciech Kilar’s Orawa (trans. B. Bolger), selected Piano Études by Philip Glass (Nos. 2, 9, 16 and 20, trans. B. Bolger), Glass’s String Quartet No. 2, “Company” (trans. B. Bolger), and Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring (trans. B. Bolger).
Formed at the Dublin Conservatory of Music and Drama, the ensemble has steadily positioned itself at the intersection of performance and repertoire development. Described as a “quartet with a difference” by The Irish Times, the group has focused on long-term sustainability through commissions, partnerships and recordings rather than reliance on standard touring circuits alone.
A key element of the quartet’s sound is its use of extended-range instruments, including eight- and eleven-string guitars. This technical approach has enabled arrangements of works by composers such as Philip Glass, Steve Reich, Arvo Pärt and György Ligeti, broadening the sonic range associated with classical guitar performance. That work has translated into tangible commercial outputs, including an album release on Glass’s Orange Mountain Music label and a 55-minute commissioned work by composer Michael Gordon.
The ensemble’s collaborative profile has also strengthened its international standing. In 2015, it performed alongside the Grammy Award-winning LA Guitar Quartet, Conspirare and the Texas Guitar Quartet in the premiere of Nico Muhly’s How Little You Are, written for three guitar quartets and choir. A reduced version of the work was later taken on a 2019 US tour in collaboration with the vocal ensemble Roomful of Teeth, further consolidating the group’s presence in the American market.
Past projects include a 2010 performance of Sofia Gubaidulina’s Repentance for cello, guitars and double bass with Russian cellist Ivan Monighetti at St Peter’s Church in Drogheda, Ireland. A recording of the work was released on the LCMS label in 2012. Earlier collaborations with Philip Glass, including a 2008 performance at St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dundalk, contributed to recordings that reached No. 8 on the US iTunes classical charts in 2014.
Touring has remained central to the quartet’s growth strategy. Highlights include nine tours of North America, performances at Wigmore Hall and the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival, and appearances at institutions such as Yale University, Lincoln Center and Symphony Space. The group was also a jury-selected ensemble at Classical Next in Rotterdam in 2019, underlining its profile within the international classical music industry.
More recently, the quartet has explored the electric dimension of its repertoire, notably through Michael Gordon’s Amplified, which premiered in 2015 at a David Lang/Bang on a Can-curated festival at Dublin’s National Concert Hall, with the US premiere following during a residency at the Brooklyn Academy of Music.
For presenters and audiences alike, the forthcoming 92NY concert offers both a high-profile performance and a case study in how contemporary classical ensembles can sustain international relevance through innovation, collaboration and careful repertoire development.
