James Friskin was born in Glasgow on the 3rd of March 1886. His early musical talent as pianist and composer resulted in a piano scholarship to the Royal College of Music at the age of only fourteen. Five years of piano study with Edward Dannreuther followed; then in 1905 he was awarded a scholarship to study composition with Charles Villiers Stanford, the outstanding composition professor of the day.

In 1914 he emigrated to the USA. Based in New York, he taught at the Institute of Musical Arts. Later he was an original faculty member of the Juilliard Graduate School, where he taught until his death.

Friendships over many years preceded the formation of the Rasumovsky Quartet in 1984. Shared membership of such ensembles as the Music Group of London, the Julian Bream Consort and the Zorian and Amici Quartets has given the Quartet an unusual depth of experience. Audiences in Britain and abroad have warmed to the variety of programmes, mature interpretation and enthusiasm which characterise the Quartet's music making.

The Quartet derives its name from Count Rasumovsky, the Imperial Russian ambassador in Vienna for thirty years - now remembered primarily as the dedicatee of Beethoven's superb set of Quartets op.59.

Rasumovsky Quartet:
- Frances Mason (violin)
- Hilary Sturt (violin)
- Christopher Wellington (viola)
- Ian Pressland (cello)