This album marks the debut recording of the Amara Piano Quartet, the successor to the Ames Piano Quartet, whose distinguished performing history spanned the last thirty-six years. Once pianist William David and violinist Mahlon Darlington retired in 2012, Jonathan Sturm and George Work welcomed Borivoj Martinic-Jercic and Mei-Hsuan Hunga to the group. The quartet was named "Amara", a name connoting mythic paradise in Abyssinia. On this album, they start off their discography with works by Tsontakis, Schoenfield, and several others.