Music has always crossed borders.

As the first Quartet-in-Residence of the Embassy Series in Washington, D.C., the Embassy String Quartet is devoted to the highest level of music making in any diplomatic setting.

Its members — Nikita Borisevich (Russia), Renate Falkner (United States), Veronika Sveshnikova (Novosibirsk, Russia) and Jacques-Pierre Malan (South Africa) — carry forward the legacy of the Embassy Series, founded by Jerome Barry, to bring people from different cultures together through chamber music.

The quartet was founded by cellist Jacques-Pierre Malan, who also serves as its Artistic Director and as Cellist-in-Residence and Co-Artistic Director of the Embassy Series itself.

The Embassy String Quartet's mission is to use music to promote understanding and respect between cultures, crossing barriers and building bridges between people from different countries.

The ensemble curates programs that spotlight the unique cultural heritages of global nations, using the universal language of music as a conduit for peace and camaraderie amongst all human beings. A program may set a Czech chorale beside an American quartet, or place Panamanian dances next to a Viennese classic — the pairing itself is the argument.

Founded by baritone Jerome Barry, the Embassy Series presents concerts inside the embassies and diplomatic residences of Washington, D.C., pairing performances with the culture and cuisine of the host nation.

The Embassy String Quartet is its first Quartet-in-Residence, extending that mission into a repertoire written for four string players — the most intimate and most exacting conversation in classical music.

The quartet performs as Quartet-in-Residence at the embassies of South Africa, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France and Portugal, and has appeared at the Embassy of Sri Lanka and the Embassy of Austria, among other diplomatic venues in Washington, D.C.

Alongside that diplomatic work, the ensemble performs for concert series, museums, churches, universities, retirement communities and private hosts throughout the East Coast — from the Academy Art Museum in Easton to the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Cathedral of Mary Our Queen and the International Student House of Washington, D.C.

The quartet's public history begins in 2021 with performances at the Embassy of the Czech Republic and the Columbiere Jesuit Residence in Baltimore, built around Mozart's “Prussian” Quartet and Dvořák's “American” Quartet.

The seasons that followed brought Bloomberg Philanthropies at the Baltimore Museum of Art, the Washington Opera Society at the Embassy of Austria, world premieres by Tyler Lindsay at Grace Church of Kilmarnock, a program of Sri Lankan composers at the Embassy of Sri Lanka, and continuing residencies with the Sundays at Three series in Columbia and the Academy Art Museum in Easton.

The complete performance history, season by season, is kept in the concert archive.