Sharon Stanis has a multi-faceted career as a performer and educator. As a co-founder of the Lafayette String Quartet, she has toured extensively in North America and Europe. The quartet garnered prizes from the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition and the Portsmouth (England) International String Quartet Competition with appearances in Wigmore Hall and Concertgebouw. The repertoire of the quartet spanned from Haydn to contemporary commissioned works and included the Beethoven and Shostakovich cycles. After 37 years of performing together, the four original members of the Lafayette Quartet took their final bows in August, 2023. A documentary about the quartet, Creating Harmony was released earlier that year.
Stanis has appeared as soloist with the Victoria Symphony and the Palm Court Orchestra and has served as concertmaster of these ensembles. She has performed with double bassist Gary Karr in the Bottesini Grand Duo.
A dedicated and enthusiastic teacher, Stanis taught at the University of Victoria from 1991 to 2023. Her students have gone on to become soloists, orchestral musicians, educators and researchers worldwide. She adjudicates numerous festivals across Canada and the US, giving master classes throughout North America.
Stanis was a member of the Renaissance City Chamber Players, and on faculty at Oakland University and the Institute of Music and Dance in Detroit.
Originally from Cleveland, Ohio, Stanis studied with Linda and David Cerone, Gary Kosloski, Henryk Kowalski, and Peter Salaff. She received her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University, where she coached with Rostislav Dubinsky who was integral in the formation of the Lafayette String Quartet. Other coaches include members of the Cleveland, Alban Berg, and Amadeus Quartets.
In addition to recordings on the Dorian and CBC labels with the Lafayette Quartet, Stanis has recorded the Murray Adaskin Second Violin Sonata and the John Mills-Cockell Concerto of Deliverance. In 2023, a recording entitled Four Voices was released by the Lafayette Quartet featuring newly commissioned works by four female composers: Vivian Fung, Nicola LeFanu, Kelly-Marie Murphy and Abigail Richardson Schulte.
