about us

Praised as “experimental and ethereal” and a “welcome addition to the new music scene,” the Hinge Quartet is made up of Philipp Stäudlin (saxophones), Dan VanHassel (electric guitar), Matt Sharrock (percussion), and Keith Kirchoff (piano). Lying somewhere between a chamber ensemble and an avant-garde rock band, the Hinge Quartet combines cutting-edge contemporary classical and experimental music with seamless multimedia integration and the innovative re-imagining of rock and pop songs.

Dedicated to expanding and diversifying the repertoire for their ensemble, the Hinge Quartet has commissioned new works from composers including Bahar Royaee, Per Bloland, Kirsten Volness, LJ White, Ed Martin, Chen-Hui Jen, Kirsten Carey, Marti Epstein, Yoon-Ji Lee, Curtis Hughes, and Nicole Murphy. Recent seasons have also featured works by Julius Eastman, Sam Pluta, Jessie Cox, Philippe Hurel, Meshuggah, Katherine Young, Louis Andriessen, Chaya Czernowin, Klaus Lang, Björk, and more.

The Hinge Quartet’s educational initiatives have included residencies and workshops throughout the United States at institutions such as the Cincinnati University College-Conservatory of Music, Boston Conservatory at Berklee, UC Berkeley, East Carolina University, Ohio University, Miami University, the University of Georgia, St. Cloud State University, the University of Montana, and Western Michigan University. In 2019-20 the Hinge Quartet partnered with UMass Lowell in an innovative mentorship program in which the ensemble worked closely with an undergraduate performer throughout the season.

quartet members

Pianist Keith Kirchoff has toured extensively throughout the United States as well as major cities throughout Italy, New Zealand, Australia, England, Canada, Belgium, Mexico, China, and The Netherlands. Throughout his career, Kirchoff has premiered well over 100 new works and commissioned several dozen. As a strong supporter of modern music, he has worked closely with many prominent composers including Christian Wolff, Frederic Rzewski, and Louis Andriessen. He has served as Vice President of SEAMUS and is the founder and Artistic Director of Original Gravity, a Boston-based concert series that features the music of local composers and pairs that music with locally brewed beer. He co-founded the SPLICE Institute, a weeklong program for performers and composers working with electronics, and regularly tours and performs with the SPLICE Ensemble.

Percussionist Matt Sharrock has commissioned over 90 pieces and tours extensively around the world as half of the bass clarinet/marimba duo Transient Canvas. They served as Music Director for Equilibrium from 2013-2020 and are a founding member of the Boston Percussion Group. In demand as a chamber musician, Matt is the resident percussionist with the Chameleon Arts Ensemble of Boston and has performed with the Lydian String Quartet, Boston Musica Viva, Sound Icon, the Lorelei Ensemble, and Dinosaur Annex, among others. As an orchestral percussionist, Matt can be heard regularly with the New Hampshire Music Festival Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and the Orchestra of Indian Hill. They have recorded on BMOP/sound, Innova, Navona, New Focus, and Ravello record labels. They are an assistant professor of core studies and composition at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee and a course author and facilitator for Berklee Online. Matt proudly endorses Marimba One and Encore Mallets.

Saxophonist Philipp A. Stäudlin has performed hundreds of concerts and premiered more than 100 works throughout North America, Europe, and Japan. A native of Friedrichshafen, Germany, Stäudlin has appeared as a soloist with the Sinfonieorchester Basel, Sound Icon, Ensemble White Rabbit, Niederrheinische Sinfoniker, Callithumpian Consort, Bielefelder Philharmoniker, Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum, Tufts University Orchestra, and The Providence Singers. Stäudlin has also performed with the Harvard Group for New Music, Equilibrium Ensemble, ECCE, Talea Ensemble, Steamboat Switzerland, Dinosaur Annex, Ludovico Ensemble, IGNM Basel, Alea III, Back Bay Choral, and many others. He has recordings available on the New World, Tzadik, Albany, Innova, Suspicious Motives, New Focus, Navona, Newport Classics, Enja, and Ars Musici labels. He teaches saxophone at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee in both the standard degree and contemporary music programs, and is also on the applied music faculty at Tufts University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).

Electric guitarist and composer Dan VanHassel was a founding member and artistic director of San Francisco new music ensemble Wild Rumpus through 2016, which commissioned over 30 new works. As a guitarist he has appeared as a soloist with the UC Santa Cruz Wind Ensemble, the UC Berkeley Symphony, and as a featured performer with the Eco Ensemble, Original Gravity Concert Series, and the Callithumpian Ensemble. As a composer, his works have been performed by the Talea Ensemble, Dinosaur Annex, Transient Canvas, Now Hear Ensemble, Empyrean Ensemble, Ignition Duo, Ensemble Pamplemousse and has been featured at the MATA Festival, Bang on a Can Summer Festival, Bowling Green New Music Festival, UC Davis Music and Words Festival, Wellesley Composers Conference, June in Buffalo, Music11 Festival, ICMC, and the SEAMUS National Conference. His work has been recognized by grants from the Boston Foundation, Chamber Music America, the Barlow Endowment, the Johnstone Fund, and New Music USA. Dan is an assistant professor of composition and teaches electronic music at the Boston Conservatory at Berklee.