as we are
Poiesis Quartet, Nancy Maultsby

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ABOUT Poiesis Quartet:

An “ensemble to watch” (Hyde Park Herald), the Poiesis Quartet is the First Prize and Commission Prize winners of the 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition. In 2023, they were named the Grand Prize and Lift Every Voice Prize winners of the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, as well as Gold Medal and BIPOC Prize winners at the 2023 St. Paul String Quartet Competition. In May 2024, Poiesis joined the Concert Artists Guild roster for North American management as winners of the Louis and Susan Meisel Competition. 

Derived from ancient Greek (ποιεῖν), the word Poiesis means “to make”; specifically, to create something that has never existed before. With a focus on expanding the string quartet repertoire with vibrant new works by emerging composers, the Poiesis Quartet infuses each performance with unique moments of synchronicity and verve. Their 2024 debut album ‘as we are’ on the Bright Shiny Things label, which features world premiere recordings with mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby, was lauded for the quartet’s “bottomless depth” (Cleveland Classical). Having had presented several world premieres of works by composers including Brian Raphael Nabors, Kitty Brazelton, and Cara Haxo, their commission of String Quartet No. 7 ‘Surfacing’ by Chinese-Canadian composer Kevin Lau received its world premiere at the Chautauqua Institution in 2025. Furthermore, the Oberlin Commission Project (TOCP), an exciting new endeavor spearheaded by Poiesis, presents the world premieres of five newly commissioned works by LGBTQ+ composers of color from Oberlin Conservatory in March 2026. 

Poiesis is honored to be selected as the 2025-26 Ernst Stiefl Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, and as the 2025 St. Lawrence Emerging String Quartet in Residence at Stanford University, Poiesis has also previously acted as ensemble-in-residence of concertnova, a Cincinnati-based collective which presents multi-sensorial and interdisciplinary concert experiences. Recent and upcoming engagements include the San Antonio Chamber Music Society, Newport Classical, Chamber Music Raleigh, Noe Music, Guarneri Hall, and the Austin Chamber Music Center, amongst others. Highlights of the 2025-26 season include performances of ‘Absolute Jest’ with the Dayton Philharmonic in Dayton, OH and with the Oberlin Orchestra in Oberlin, OH. Poiesis has completed multiple international residencies in Punta del Diablo and Punta del Este, Uruguay; the Emilia Romagna Festival in Italy; the Lunenburg Academy of Music Performance in Nova Scotia, CAN; the University of Victoria in British Columbia, CAN; and the Festival d’Aix-en-Provence in France. Additionally, the Poiesis was selected as the only North American ensemble to compete in the prestigious 2025 Banff International String Quartet Competition in Alberta, CAN.

The Poiesis Quartet is currently the Graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) studying under the Ariel Quartet. As graduates of Oberlin College & Conservatory, they were previously mentored by Sibbi Bernhardsson of the Pacifica Quartet and members of the Verona Quartet. As a multi-faceted ensemble, in addition to their performance degrees from Oberlin, members of the quartet also individually received formal education in disciplines such as chemistry, comparative American studies, feminist studies, baroque, and jazz. When not playing chamber music, Poiesis loves to learn new languages, share ice cream cakes, and take long walks on the beach.

Members of the Poiesis Quartet play on instruments and bows generously loaned by Jonathan Solars Fine Violins.

ABOUT Nancy Maultsby

American mezzo-soprano Nancy Maultsby is in demand by opera companies and orchestras throughout the world. Her unique vocal timbre and insightful musicianship allow her to pursue a repertoire extending from the operas of Monteverdi and Handel to recent works by John Adams. She regularly performs the major heroines of nineteenth-century French, Italian, and German opera and the great symphonic masterpieces.

Nancy Maultsby’s recent projects include performances as Genevieve in Pelléas et Mélisande at the Los Angeles Opera, directed by David McVicar and conducted by James Conlon, and the Cleveland Orchestra in a new semi-staged production by Yuval Sharon, conducted by Franz Welser-Möst, as well as at Cincinnati Symphony with Louis Langrée in a staging by James Darrah. At the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Ms. Maultsby performed the role of Julia in Lou Harrison’s Young Caesar, a reimagining of the classic piece by Yuval Sharon, which was later released on recording, and Bianca in Boston Lyric Opera’s production of The Rape of Lucretia. Ms. Maultsby also performed Handel’s Messiah with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Mozart’s Requiem with the Indianapolis Symphony and Verdi’s Requiem with the Florida Orchestra, Akron Symphony and Eugene Symphony. Ms. Maultsby was also featured in performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the San Antonio Symphony conducted by Sebastian Lang-Lessing, Handel’s Messiah with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Edward Polochick, as well as a return to Lyric Opera of Kansas City as Ježibaba in Dvořák’s Rusalka. Finally, Ms. Maultsby recently appeared at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln for the world-premiere of Richard Stout’s Songs of Correspondence, with texts by celebrated American author Willa Cather, performed with the Poiesis Quartet.

Nancy Maultsby’s other recent engagements include her role debut as Gaea in Strauss’ Daphne with the Cleveland Orchestra conducted by Franz Welser-Möst at Severance Hall in Cleveland and at New York’s Lincoln Center Festival; her role debut as Mrs. Sedley with the St. Louis Symphony in Britten’s Peter Grimes under the baton of David Robertson at Powell Hall in St. Louis and at Carnegie Hall, with additional performances of the role at the San Francisco Symphony conducted by Michael Tilson Thomas; her role debut as Mamma Lucia in Mascagni’s Cavalleria Rusticana with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl under the baton of Gustavo Dudamel; Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra under the baton of Donald Runnicles, the Cleveland Orchestra at the Blossom Festival under the baton of Franz Welser-Möst, and with the Florida Orchestra; Haydn’s Paukenmesse with the San Diego Symphony conducted by Jahja Ling; Judith in Bluebeard’s Castle with the Wichita Symphony Orchestra; and Verdi’s Requiem with the Pacific Chorale and the Charlotte Symphony Orchestra.