Lauded by the press for its “youthful energy, seasoned experience, invigorating playing and soulful interpretations”, the Vaughan String Quartet (Vladimir Rufino- Violin 1, Fabiola Amorim - Viola, Mattia Berrini - Violin 2, and Silvia Buttiglione - Cello) is one of the most active young chamber music groups in Canada. Past engagements include performances for the Banff Centre for Performing Arts, Edmonton Recital Society, Edmonton Opera, New Music Edmonton, the Western Canadian Music Awards, and the St. Albert Chamber Music Recital Series. The Vaughan has collaborated with a number of artists including classical accordionist Antonio Peruch, pianists Sarah Ho and Janet Scott-Hoyt, violinist Laura Andriani, and cellist Rafael Hoekman. The group has received reviews from the Edmonton Journal and the St. Albert Gazette, and has appeared on live radio (CBC Radio Canada) and television (City TV, L’Alberta en Bref, and France 3 Franche-Comté). 

The quartet has been coached by members of prominent North American string quartets such as the Cecilia, the St. Lawrence, the Lafayette, the Dover, and the Penderecki, as well as by world-renowned musicians including Gerald Stanick, Laura Andriani, Jonathan Crow, Robert Bardston, and Petr Holman.

In 2014 the Vaughan String Quartet was Artist in Residence at the Banff Centre. A recipient of the Luminato Festival String Quartet Fellowship in Toronto, the group was part of Murray Schafer’s “Apocalypsis”, recorded live by CBC in 2015 and released on CD in 2016 by Analekta. In 2017 the group participated in the St. Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University.

Since 2013 the Vaughan String Quartet has organized a concert series in Edmonton, inviting musicians from across Canada and abroad, and has received a number of grants and awards from the Edmonton Arts Council, including the Cultural Diversity Award in 2017.

The quartet’s debut on the international stage took place in New York City in the summer of 2015 under the sponsorship of the PAMAR (Pan American Musical Art Research). In the summer of 2016 the ensemble held its European debut at the FIMU festival in Belfort, France and continued on to perform in various cities in Northern Italy. This intense performance schedule has brought the Vaughan String Quartet to some of the most important concert halls in North America such as the Winspear Centre in Edmonton (AB), the Festival Hall in Calgary (AB), the Rolston Hall at the Banff Centre (AB), Philip T. Young Hall in Victoria (BC), the Sony Centre in Toronto (ON), Munson Recital Hall at Azusa Pacific University (CA), Campbell Hall in Stanford (CA), and the Symphony Space in New York (NY).

The Vaughan String Quartet is also very engaged in the community: they regularly performs in hospitals, senior centres, schools and have been involved in concerts for people in spectrum of the autism.