Thursday, March 19, 2026

Dover Quartet

Location: First Presbyterian Church – Joplin

Time: 7:00 PM

DOVER QUARTET
Joel Link, violin
Bryan Lee, violin
Julianne Lee, viola
Camden Shaw, cello

Named one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years by BBC Music Magazine and “the next Guarneri Quartet” by the Chicago Tribune, the two-time GRAMMY-nominated Dover Quartet is one of the world’s most in-demand chamber ensembles. The group’s awards include a stunning sweep of all prizes at the 2013 Banff International String Quartet Competition, grand and first prizes at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition, and prizes at the Wigmore Hall International String Quartet Competition. Its honors include the prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant, Chamber Music America’s Cleveland Quartet Award, and Lincoln Center’s Hunt Family Award. The members are on faculty at the renowned Curtis Institute of Music.

The Dover Quartet’s 2025-26 season features collaborative performances with preeminent artists including Marc-André Hamelin and Edgar Meyer, and performances in internationally renowned venues from Carnegie Hall to Kennedy Center to Konzerthaus Berlin. The quartet’s most recent commission is from Jerod Impichchaachaaha’ Tate, a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation and a leading composer of American Indian classical music. His new piece, Abokkoli’ Taloowa’ (Woodland Songs), is featured on Woodland Songs, the group’s most recent album, which also includes Tate’s new string-quartet orchestration of Rattle Songs by the Indigenous singer Pura Fé, originally for her a cappella vocal group Ulali. Dvořák’s “American” Quartet, a classic of the repertoire, completes the album, released in August 2025 on the Curtis Studio label.

Recent collaborators of the ensemble include Leif Ove Andsnes, Emanuel Ax, Inon Barnatan, Ray Chen, Anthony McGill, the Pavel Haas Quartet, Roomful of Teeth, and Davóne Tines. The quartet has also recently premiered works by Mason Bates, Steven Mackey, Marc Neikrug, and Chris Rogerson.

The Dover Quartet’s highly acclaimed three-volume recording, Beethoven Complete String Quartets (Cedille Records), was hailed as “meticulously balanced, technically clean-as-a-whistle and intonationally immaculate” (The Strad). Other discography highlights are Encores (Brooklyn Classical), a recording of 10 popular movements from the string quartet repertoire; The Schumann Quartets (Azica Records), which was nominated for a GRAMMY for Best Chamber Music/Small Ensemble Performance; Voices of Defiance: 1943, 1944, 1945 (Cedille Records); and an all-Mozart debut recording (Cedille Records), featuring Michael Tree, the late, long-time violist of the Guarneri Quartet. The quartet’s recording of Steven Mackey’s theatrical-musical work Memoir was released on Bridge Records in 2024.
The Dover Quartet draws from the lineage of the distinguished Guarneri, Cleveland, and Vermeer quartets. Its members studied at Curtis Institute of Music, Rice University’s Shepherd School of Music, New England Conservatory, and Conservatoire Supérieur de Musique et de Danse de Paris. They were mentored extensively by Shmuel Ashkenasi, James Dunham, Norman Fischer, Kenneth Goldsmith, Joseph Silverstein, Arnold Steinhardt, Michael Tree, and Peter Wiley. The Dover Quartet was formed at Curtis in 2008; its name pays tribute to Dover Beach by fellow Curtis alumnus Samuel Barber.

The Dover Quartet plays on the following instruments and proudly endorses Thomastik-Infeld strings:
• Joel Link: a very fine Peter Guarneri of Mantua, 1710–15, on generous loan from Irene R. Miller through the Beare’s International Violin Society
• Bryan Lee: Nicolas Lupot, Paris, 1810; Samuel Zygmuntowicz, Brooklyn, 2020
• Julianne Lee: Robert Brode, 2005
• Camden Shaw: Samuel Zygmuntowicz, New York, 2024

Emlyn Johnson

Emlyn currently serves as Creative Director of Pro Musica. Emlyn’s background as a classically trained flutist, educator, and presenter eventually led her to Missouri, where she taught in the music department at Missouri State University and was the Executive Director for Pro Musica from 2021 – 2023. She is the co-director of the American Wild Ensemble and performs regularly around the state and beyond, and is an adjunct instructor of Flute at UMKC Conservatory in Kansas City, MO. Emlyn holds a doctorate from the Eastman School of Music and holds additional degrees from Eastman and the University of Michigan. She is responsible for creative and artistic aspects of Pro Musica and guides the selection process of concerts, reporting to the Board of Directors

Joani Zibert

Joani serves as the incoming Executive Director of Pro Musica, bringing more than 17 years of executive leadership experience across nonprofit governance, arts education innovation, K-12 and postsecondary education development, public and private funding strategy, legal compliance, and organizational growth. A nationally recognized school founder and non-profit executive, she has secured millions in public and private funding, built high-performing organizations from the ground up, and guided boards through periods of transformation, scale, and long-term sustainability at the local, state, and national levels.

Joani is the founder and former Board President of Doral Academy of Nevada, where she led the creation and expansion of an arts-integrated school system now serving over 5,000 students, transforming community frustration over the loss of arts education into an award-winning model of creative excellence.

Originally from the 4-States area, with Slovenian grandparents, she has worked nationally gaining a professional background that includes serving in varying roles including President of nonprofits, Director of Operations, Director of Law & Policy, Director of Grants, Director of Marketing, and senior executive advisor roles. Joani is known for aligning missions with measurable impact while bridging vision, governance, and execution. Her work is rooted in the belief that the arts are not an accessory to education or community life, but a catalyst for connection, economic vitality, and generational change.

As Executive Director of Pro Musica, Joani brings a bold, forward-focused approach centered on organizational excellence, financial sustainability, expanded community engagement, and the elevation of Pro Musica’s role as a cultural cornerstone. She leads with clarity, courage, and collaboration while committed to honoring Pro Musica’s legacy as we build the next chapter with strength and momentum.