FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

May 14, 2026

Ulysses Quartet welcomes new member, violist Julian Seney

NEW YORK -- The Ulysses Quartet announced today that violist Julian Seney is joining the prominent, New York-based string quartet.

In making the announcement, the continuing founding members of the quartet said: “We are so excited to announce that violist Julian Seney is joining the Ulysses Quartet family! Julian’s playing is full of incredible energy and a unique musical voice that harmonizes perfectly with the group as a whole. We look forward to seeing you all wowed by his sizzling virtuosity, warm resonant tone, and winning charm as we set off on this new adventure together. We wish Peter Dudek all the best in his ongoing journey, with profound gratitude for the music and friendship we shared!”

Violist Julian Seney has been praised for his “high levels of expressiveness” (ABC Seville) and has performed internationally at venues including Walt Disney Concert Hall, Carnegie Hall, Beijing Concert Hall, KKL Luzern, and Seoul Arts Center. As a chamber musician, he has collaborated with artists such as Itzhak Perlman, Kim Kashkashian, Peter Bruns, and Stephen Drury, and has appeared with organizations including Music for Food and Concerts for Compassion. A passionate advocate for new music, Julian regularly collaborates with living composers and is a founder of Trio Animoso, a flute-viola-harp ensemble dedicated to expanding the repertoire for its instrumentation. He is an alumnus of the Perlman Music Program, Yellow Barn Young Artist Program, and Lucerne Festival Academy, and holds degrees from the New England Conservatory and Yale School of Music.

The Ulysses Quartet has been praised by The Strad for “the kind of chemistry many quartets long for, but rarely achieve.” Founded in 2015, the group won the grand prize and gold medal in the senior string division of the 2016 Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition and first prize in the 2018 Schoenfeld International String Competition. In 2017, the quartet finished first in the American Prize and won the Vietnam International Music Competition in 2019. The ensemble has performed in top halls including Carnegie Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Harbin Grand Theatre, Jordan Hall, the Taiwan National Recital Hall, and Sociedad Filarmónica de Bilbao, among others. From 2023 to 2025, the Ulysses Quartet was GBH Music’s first-ever quartet in residence, bringing music to thousands of public school students, shelters, and public spaces, and recording extensively. At Juilliard from 2019 to 2022, they were the Lisa Arnhold Fellows, serving as the school’s Graduate Resident String Quartet for three years. Ulysses’ debut album, “Shades of Romani Folklore,” on the Navona label, was named “One of the year’s best” by All About the Arts. Gramophone wrote of the recording that “the performances reflect the ensemble’s deep immersion in the rhetoric of each score as they catapult the music from the page with a blend of thrusting energy and nuanced detail.”

The other members of the quartet consist of violinists Christina Bouey and Rhiannon Banerdt and cellist Grace Ho. Further information on the group and a schedule of its upcoming performances may be found on their website at www.ulyssesquartet.com.