Cuarteto Latinoamericano, a string quartet from Mexico, was founded in 1981 by violinists Saúl Bitrán and Arón Bitrán, violist Javier Montiel, and cellist Álvaro Bitrán. The group began their career touring extensively across Europe, the Americas, Israel, China, Japan, and New Zealand. In 1987, they became the quartet-in-residence at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh until 2008. Cuarteto Latinoamericano has premiered over 100 works written for them and produced more than 100 CDs, including complete works by Heitor Villa-Lobos and Alberto Ginastera. They have won two Latin Grammy Awards for Best Classical Album, the Diapason d'Or, the Mexican Music Critics Association Award, and three "Most Adventurous Programming" Awards from Chamber Music America.
