Push the limits of what a violin and cello can do! The award-winning string duo Arkai fuses classical virtuosity with the electricity of a rock band and encourages students to defy genres and explore new musical possibilities.
ARKAI is an award-winning string duo that redefines the boundaries of musical genre — fusing classical virtuosity with the electricity of a rock band, the spontaneity of a jazz combo, and the beauty of a string quartet. Winners of the 2021 Astral Artists National Auditions, their past engagements have included performances at The MET Breuer, Rockwood Music Hall, Juilliard School, Curtis Institute, Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the 92nd Street Y. Their electronic debut composition, “Letters from COVID”, was recently featured at TED@PMI for a global audience of over 30,000 people from 182 countries. ARKAI was recently commissioned by the Museum of Chinese in America to write a piece for their new exhibition Responses: Asian Americans Resisting the Tides of Racism.
As active educators & presenters, ARKAI’s Global Perspectives program provides participants with the opportunity to learn artistic traditions from around the world from master artists, employing the performing arts as a model for exploring global citizenship within our increasingly interconnected world.