"this will have them dancing in the aisles" The Scotsman

Kuotet was founded by a group of Graduate students at the Juilliard School in response to a growing need to break down the barriers which prevent a huge section of society from enjoying classical music. Passionately committed to education and outreach, July 2000 saw Kuotet undertaking their first concert tour in Scotland, to critical and popular acclaim. As a strong believer in the concept of music for all, Kuotet plays in small towns and lesser-known venues, with the primary goal of allowing everyone, regardless of background, location and musical experience, access to the emotional power of classical music making at the highest level. With this in mind, Kuotet performances in general dispense with regular concert etiquette and include a substantial element of spoken presentation and discussion in an informal setting. In July 2000 the group began developing a series of children's concerts, with the aim of introducing the joy of classical music to young people.

The ensemble has been involved in multi-media projects involving dancers, actors, physical theatre performers, lighting designers and filmmakers. In March 2001 Kuotet performed Journeys and Memories, a co-production with Theatre Cryptic and Glasgow's Tron Theatre. A piece of radical music theatre, Journeys and Memories staged three works for string quartet; Steve Reich's Different Trains, Istvan Marta's Doom A Sigh, and a Kuotet transcription of the Allegri Miserere were presented with film, light and movement. Following the success of the show's run at the Tron, Kuotet went on to perform at the Edinburgh Festival in August, including six shows for the British Council Showcase.

Kuotet's distinctive approach to traditional music has been pioneered by its fiddler Donald Grant. Brought up on the West Coast, Donald combines his unique fiddling style with his extensive classical training to produce his own brand of crossover, hailed by critics and audiences alike.

Kuotet is dedicated to new music. In addition to their work with Theatre Cryptic the ensemble includes American composer Mathew Fuerst, whose piano quartet Passacaglia received its world premiere on the July 2000 tour. A doctoral student at the Juilliard School, Mathew leads discussion within the concert format, allowing audience members more immediate emotional access to his music. Kuotet is also committed to the promotion of new Scottish music, most recently in the performance of James MacMillan's Tuireadh for clarinet quintet and Edward McGuire's Guest Quintet.