About Us:
The Ancora String Quartet is based in Madison, Wisconsin. The members have studied at some of the leading music schools in the country, including the New England Conservatory of Music, the Eastman School of Music, the Indiana University School of Music, and the University of Texas-Austin. They have attended numerous chamber music festivals and performed across the United States and Europe.

The four players have well-established individual musical careers as soloists, chamber musicians and orchestral players. They perform constantly in Madison and beyond, appearing regularly in such ensembles as the Madison Symphony Orchestra, the Wisconsin Chamber Orchestra, the Oakwood Chamber Players, the Madison Bach Musicians, and the Bach Collegium of Fort Wayne IN.

The quartet got its start in the summer of 2000 when violinist Robin Ryan bought a house, by chance, next door to violist Marika Fischer Hoyt, and recognized (with some difficulty) a fellow participant at a Vermont chamber music festival 14 years previously. Both musicians began playing with the Madison Symphony, met other local string players, and started thinking about playing chamber music together again. When violinist Leanne Kelso League and cellist Benjamin Whitcomb joined the group, the quartet was complete and the ensemble was ready to try its wings. For five years, the quartet gave recitals in Madison and in surrounding cities and towns, including Stoughton, Beloit and Whitewater.