A founding member of the JACK Quartet, violinist Christopher Otto specializes in contemporary music and has a growing catalog of compositions. He is also on the faculty of the Mannes School of Music, where the JACK Quartet has served as quartet-in-residence. Otto has performed frequently and made various recordings, often devoted to new works by the likes of Philip Glass and John Zorn but also to those by established figures in contemporary music, including Iannis Xenakis and John Luther Adams. With his wife, Emily DuFour, Otto founded the group Hutchins East, which performs on a set of eight proportionally sized stringed instruments created by researcher Carleen Hutchins. Otto's rag′sma, for two or three string quartets, was recorded by the JACK Quartet and released in 2021. The following year, Otto was heard with the JACK Quartet on the album John Luther Adams: Sila -- The Breath of the World.