What happens when you put four musicians together with backgrounds ranging from bluegrass to classical, and give them the common goal of making music come to life in the mandolin family of instruments (and have a lot of fun doing it)? You get the Modern Mandolin Quartet!

The Quartet is the first ensemble of its kind, with an original, exciting musical language for the American flat-back mandolin family (two mandolins, mandola, mando-cello). These virtuosi offer a fascinating repertoire of 19th & 20th century pieces from around the world, plus new works specially written for the Quartet and charming, unexpected gems.

The Quartet was founded in 1985 by Mike Marshall, the acclaimed mandolinist known for his tenures with the David Grisman Quartet, Stephane Grappelli and the Grammy-nominated group Montreux. His interest in adapting string quartet literature led to the formation of the Quartet with Dana Rath (mandolin), Paul Binkley (mandola) and John Imholz (mandocello).

The Quartet have four recordings on BMG/Windham Hill that have sold over 100,000 copies worldwide. They have appeared on international radio and television, and tour extensively in North America and Europe; the Quartet were also recipients of a 1994 NEA grant to tour new American works. They are new recipients of the 1996-97 Meet The Composer/Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund Commissioning Program to create two new works with composers David Balakrishnan and Tully Cathey.

They offer a variety of programs, including a "Nutcracker Suite" holiday program, "Baroque to Bluegrass", and "Pan-American Journeys". Critics and fans alike praise the Quartet's performances as warm, polished, never less than technically dazzling and always marked by a lively, entertaining dialogue with the audience.