In various iterations, the Ames Piano Quartet has been the ensemble-in-residence at Iowa State University since its inception in 1976. The Quartet has an extensive discography, including fourteen CDs under the Ames name and a further two as Amara. Of their most recent release (Faure Piano Quartets) critic Huntley Dent writes in Fanfare magazine, “As to the performances on this release, the second by the Amaras on Fleur de Son, they equal the best in the catalogue…we get the two virtues that make for a superb chamber ensemble: each player has an individual voice, and the group as a whole expresses a unified musical conception.”