Quartet San Francisco

Last updated
Quartet San Francisco
Origin San Francisco, California, United States
GenresClassical, jazz
Years active2001–present
LabelsViolin Jazz
Members
  • Jeremy Cohen
  • Matthew Szemela
  • Chad Kaltinger
  • Andrés Vera
Past members
  • Kelley Maulbetsch
  • Alisa Rose
  • Keith Lawrence
  • Michelle Djokic
  • Joel Cohen
  • Emily Onderdonk
  • Kayo Miki
  • Dawn Harms
  • James Shallenberger
Website quartetsanfrancisco.com

Quartet San Francisco is a non-traditional and eclectic string quartet led by violinist Jeremy Cohen. The group played their first concert in 2001 and has recorded five albums. Playing a wide range of music genres including jazz, blues, tango, swing, funk, and pop, [1] the group challenges the traditional classical music foundation of the string quartet.

Contents

Quartet San Francisco won a tango music competition in New York in 2004, [2] and their albums have been nominated five times for Grammy Awards: three in the Best Classical Crossover Album category and two for Best Engineered Album, Classical. [3]

Members

Quartet leader and violinist Jeremy Cohen founded the Quartet San Francisco as a forum to explore a multitude of musical styles that were important to him but were not being exercised in his work with other ensembles such as Turtle Island Quartet. Cohen produces the quartet's albums on his label, Violin Jazz. Classically trained under Itzhak Perlman and Anne Crowden, his playing style shows influences of violinists Fritz Kreisler, Joe Venuti, and Eddie South. [4]

A native of Maine, Matthew Szemela joined the quartet in 2012. He has toured and recorded with singer-songwriter Nina Nastasia, recorded with Sufjan Stevens, and in 2006 served as concertmaster of the Hustla Symphony Orchestra for Jay-Z's Reasonable Doubt 10th Anniversary Concert at Radio City Music Hall in New York. He has collaborated with tap dancer, actor, and choreographer Savion Glover on his production Classical Savion, and he has appeared with Sting, Dave Stewart, Lana Del Rey, Cassandra Wilson, the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, guitarist Vernon Reid of Living Colour, Susan Sarandon, Beyoncé Knowles, and Olivia Newton-John.

Chad Kaltinger, violist with QSF since 2012, grew up in Chicago and moved to San Francisco in 1997. He has been Principal Violist for Opera San Jose and the Santa Cruz Symphony and has toured in the US and Europe as a multi-instrumentalist with several singer-songwriters and bands. He studied privately at Northwestern University with Peter Slowik, at the University of Illinois with Emanuel Vardi, and at the Aspen Music Festival as a fellowship recipient with Heidi Castleman and Victoria Chiang.

Andrés Vera, a native of Puerto Rico, began playing with the quartet in 2015. At 17 he was invited to join the Miami Symphony Orchestra as a section cellist. He holds a B.A. degree from the University of Miami and an M.M. degree and post-graduate Professional Studies Diploma from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. He studied with Ross Harbaugh, Jean-Michel Fonteneau, and Jennifer Culp. He is a founding member of the Cello Street Quartet, with whom he traveled in 2014 to Russia, Kosovo, and Hungary for the U.S. State Department.

Past members

Kelley Maulbetsch played cello for the quartet from 2011 to 2015. Kelley is a freelance performer and teacher in the Bay Area. She is a member of the Santa Cruz, Monterey, Napa, and Modesto symphonies. She is also a member of the Sarasota Opera Festival and the Utah Festival Opera. Kelley has participated in music festivals such as Tanglewood, the National Repertory Orchestra, and AIMS in Graz, Austria. She is a member of Duo Cantando and Tango Porteno. She was a string ensemble coach at the Nueva School, a private teacher, and a faculty member of the Community Music Center in San Francisco. She is also a certified Suzuki instructor. Kelley received her BM in Cello Performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where she studied under Richard Aaron. She has also studied with Irene Sharp.

Alisa Rose played violin for Quartet San Francisco from 2009 to 2012. Born in Wisconsin, she has played in bluegrass bands and at festivals such as Hardly Strictly Bluegrass in San Francisco and the Strawberry Music Festival in Yosemite. She is director of a San Francisco Conservatory of Music program at a city elementary school and has written an instructional book aimed at music students aged seven to ten years old. [5]

Keith Lawrence, member from March 2008 to 2012, [6] began learning viola in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 11, then pursued undergraduate study at Oberlin Conservatory, taking instruction from Peter Slowik and Roger Chase. He attended the Henry Mancini Institute three years during his time at Oberlin. Until 2007, he studied at the DePaul University School of Music with Rami Solomonow. [7]

Michelle Djokic, cellist for the quartet, was a founder of Concordia Chamber Players in New Hope, Pennsylvania, and has lived in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2004. She served as assistant principal cellist of the San Francisco Symphony for two seasons. She joined the New Century Chamber Orchestra in 2008. She has appeared on stage and in the studio many times as a cello soloist, including Carnegie Hall with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, and as accompanist to violinist Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg. [8] She married professional squash athlete Mark Talbott. [9]

Joel Cohen, Jeremy Cohen's brother, played cello in the group from its inception on Whirled Chamber Music in 2007 [10] and into 2008. [6] Cohen served as co-principal cellist with the Oakland East Bay Symphony from 1979 to 1985, after which he lived in Vienna to perform as principal cellist of the Vienna Chamber Orchestra. Cohen moved to Boston in 1997 and has been involved in various orchestras and chamber music groups including the Boston Symphony Orchestra. He is a member of the faculty of the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts. [11]

Emily Onderdonk, a San Francisco native, played viola in the group from its first recording in 2002 [12] to early 2008. [13] Onderdonk studied at Manhattan School of Music, earning her bachelor's and master's degrees, after which she enrolled in post-graduate studies at Boston University and the New England Conservatory of Music. She has served as principal violinist for the New York City Opera National Company, the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra, the Berkeley Symphony Orchestra, the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra, the Opéra National de Lyon touring Europe, and the Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra. [14]

Kayo Miki helped Quartet San Francisco win the Grand Prize at a tango music competition in May 2004 at the auditorium of the Consulate General of Argentina in New York City. [2] The prize included a trip to Buenos Aires where the quartet performed at Cafe Tortoni and other classic tango dance venues. Born in Nanaimo, British Columbia, she studied violin at the Hochschule Mozarteum in Salzburg and earned bachelor's and master's degrees from the Eastman School of Music. [15]

Dawn Harms, a cousin of musician Tom Waits, played violin in the group from 2002 [12] until 2004. [16] Harms has collaborated with a number of ensembles, including ten years as first violinist of the Harrington String Quartet and five years with the Santa Fe Opera. She is co-concertmaster of the Oakland East Bay Symphony and concertmaster with the Santa Fe Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra. She is on the faculty of the Music Department at Stanford University. [17]

James "Jim" Shallenberger, a founding member of the Kronos Quartet, played violin on the 2002 recording Quartet San Francisco. Shallenberger is a member of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and the San Francisco Opera and Ballet Orchestras. He is one of the extended faculty of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. [18] [19]

Albums

Pacific Premieres, the group's fifth album, was released in 2013. The album consists of compositions by four California based composers; Gordon Goodwin, Vince Mendoza, Patrick Williams and Jeremy Cohen. Gordon Goodwin and Vince Mendoza were both nominated for Grammy Awards in the Best New Instrumental Composition category for their tracks on the album. The album was recorded at Skywalker Sound in August 2013. [20]

QSF Plays Brubeck was released in 2009, and became the group's third consecutive nomination for Best Classical Crossover Album. The Dave Brubeck-inspired recording was also nominated for Best Engineered Album, Classical, honoring Judy Kirschner who recorded and mastered the album at Skywalker Sound. The album is the first all-Brubeck string quartet recording. [3]

The group released Whirled Chamber Music as a "mixture of American genres – blues, funk, jazz, tango, and rock." [21] Among the 18 tunes are 7 composed by Raymond Scott. The album was recorded June 12–15, 2007 at Skywalker Sound with veteran audio engineer Leslie Ann Jones. [22] Whirled Chamber Music was nominated for Best Classical Crossover Album.

Látigo, their 2006 CD which featured a number of tangos and Latin-inspired compositions, was nominated for Best Classical Crossover Album and Best Engineered Album, Classical. It was recorded August 22–24, 2005 at Skywalker Sound, with Jones as audio engineer, Kirschner as mixing engineer, and Bernie Grundman as mastering engineer. [23]

Quartet San Francisco, the group's initial self-titled album, debuted in 2002. Cohen was joined by James Shallenberger on violin, Emily Onderdonk on viola, Joel Cohen on cello, and three tracks included James Kerwin on bass violin. [24] Cohen included compositions by Scott and Brubeck, four Argentine tangos, and selections by Henry Mancini and Stevie Wonder. [25]

Related Research Articles

Ellen Taaffe Zwilich is an American composer, the first female composer to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music. Her early works are marked by atonal exploration, but by the late 1980s, she had shifted to a postmodernist, neoromantic style. She has been called "one of America's most frequently played and genuinely popular living composers." She was a 1994 inductee into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. Zwilich has served as the Francis Eppes Distinguished Professor at Florida State University.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aulis Sallinen</span> Finnish composer of contemporary classical music

Aulis Heikki Sallinen is a Finnish contemporary classical music composer. His music has been variously described as "remorselessly harsh", a "beautifully crafted amalgam of several 20th-century styles", and "neo-romantic". Sallinen studied at the Sibelius Academy, where his teachers included Joonas Kokkonen. He has had works commissioned by the Kronos Quartet, and has also written seven operas, eight symphonies, concertos for violin, cello, flute, horn, and English horn, as well as several chamber works. He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1978 for his opera Ratsumies.

Lera Auerbach is a Soviet-born Austrian-American classical composer, conductor and concert pianist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sérgio Assad</span> Musical artist

Sérgio Assad is a Brazilian guitarist, composer, and arranger who often performs with his brother, Odair in the guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad, commonly referred to as the Assad Brothers or Duo Assad. Their younger sister Badi is also a guitarist. Assad is the father of composer/singer/pianist Clarice Assad. He is married to Angela Olinto.

James Zuill Bailey, better known as Zuill Bailey is a Grammy Award-winning American cellist, chamber musician, and artistic director. A graduate of the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and the Juilliard School, he has appeared with major orchestras internationally. He is a professor of cello at the University of Texas at El Paso. Bailey has an exclusive international recording contract with the Telarc label.

Octavio Brunetti was a pianist, arranger and composer from Argentina. He was best known for his participation in the album Te amo tango by Raul Jaurena, which won the Latin Grammy Award for Best Tango Album in 2007, and was one of the most sought after tango pianists.

Margaret Brouwer is an American composer and composition teacher. She founded the Blue Streak Ensemble chamber music group.

Gabriela Lena Frank is an American pianist and composer of contemporary classical music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fernando Otero</span> Musical artist

Fernando Otero is a Grammy-award-winning Argentine pianist, vocalist, and composer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Andor Toth</span> American violinist and conductor

Andor John Toth was an American classical violinist, conductor and educator with a musical career spanning over six decades. Toth played his violin on the World War II battlefields of Aachen, Germany; performed with the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Arturo Toscanini in 1943 at age 18; and formed several chamber music ensembles, including the Oberlin String Quartet, the New Hungarian Quartet, and the Stanford String Quartet. For 15 years he was the violinist in the Alma Trio. Toth conducted orchestras in Cleveland, Denver and Houston. In 1969, he was the founding concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra under Neville Marriner. Toth taught at five important colleges and universities, and recorded for Vox, Decca Records and Eclectra Records.

David Balakrishnan is the founder of the Turtle Island Quartet.

Stephanie Ann Chase is an American classical violinist.

Hanna Kulenty is a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. Since 1992, she has worked and lived both in Warsaw (Poland) and in Arnhem (Netherlands).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Laura Schwendinger</span> Mexican composer

Laura Elise Schwendinger was the first composer to win the American Academy in Berlin's Berlin Prize.

Miguel del Águila is an Uruguayan-born, American composer of contemporary classical music.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turtle Island Quartet</span> American string quartet

The Turtle Island Quartet is a string quartet that plays hybrids of jazz, classical, and rock music. The group was formed in 1985 by David Balakrishnan, Darol Anger, and Mark Summer in San Francisco. They released their first album on Windham Hill Records in 1988 with Irene Sazer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Michael Colina</span> Musical artist

Michael Dalmau Colina is a GRAMMY-winning American musician, composer, producer and engineer. He has written music for television, film, theatre, dance and live performances on concert stages throughout the United States, Europe and Japan. Colina is best known as producer and writer on recordings for musicians Bob James, David Sanborn, Michael Brecker, Marcus Miller, Bill Evans and Michael Franks. He has won three gold albums, has received four Grammy Award nominations, and won three Grammy Awards for Best Contemporary Jazz Album.

Gábor Takács-Nagy, is a Hungarian violinist and conductor. He began violin studies at age 8. He attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music, where he won the Jenő Hubay prize. His teachers at the Liszt Academy included Ferenc Rados, András Mihály, and György Kurtág.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Caroline Shaw</span> American composer (born 1982)

Caroline Adelaide Shaw is an American composer, violinist, and singer. She was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Music in 2013 for her a cappella piece Partita for 8 Voices and the 2022 Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Classical Composition for her Narrow Sea.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregor Huebner</span> Musical artist

Gregor Huebner is a violinist, pianist and composer. He performs solo and with several ensembles including El Violin Latino, Sirius Quartet, Berta Epple and Salsafuerte. From 1985 to 2012 he was a member of Tango Five. He is a professor of composition at the University for Music and Theater in Munich, Germany. In 2017 he received the Grand Prize for New York Philharmonic's New World Initiative Composition Challenge for his composition “New World, Nov 9. 2016.”

References

  1. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "About the Quartet". Quartet San Francisco. Archived from the original on October 8, 2010. Retrieved February 22, 2010.
  2. 1 2 Jeffrey, James. "Quartet San Francisco Wins International Tango Competition: Prize Includes Concerts in Argentina and New York". Jeffrey James Arts Consulting. Archived from the original on August 5, 2004. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  3. 1 2 "KDFC presents Quartet San Francisco Plays Brubeck." Archived February 25, 2010, at the Wayback Machine Yoshi's Jazz Club, San Francisco, January 25, 2010. Accessed February 12, 2010.
  4. ↑ Jeremy Cohen, violin. Archived 2010-07-10 at the Wayback Machine Biographies, Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  5. ↑ Alisa Rose, violin. Archived September 1, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Biographies, Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  6. 1 2 Cohen, Jeremy. "Biographies". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2008-03-12. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  7. ↑ Keith Lawrence, viola. Archived September 26, 2009, at the Wayback Machine Biographies, Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  8. ↑ Michelle Djokic, cello. Archived 2009-08-30 at the Wayback Machine Biographies, Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  9. ↑ Lidz, Franz (May 14, 1990). "Team Talbott: A Duo Always In Concert". Sports Illustrated. 72 (20).
  10. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Whirled Chamber Music track notes". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on April 2, 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  11. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Joel Cohen, cello". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on May 2, 2009. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  12. 1 2 Cohen, Jeremy. "Biographies". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2002-12-08. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  13. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Biographies". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2008-01-15. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  14. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Joel Cohen, cello". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2007-08-06. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  15. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Kayo Miki, violin". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2004-06-08. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  16. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Meet the Musicians". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2004-04-01. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  17. ↑ Cohen, Jeremy. "Dawn Harms, violin". Quartet San Francisco. Violin Jazz. Archived from the original on 2005-03-06. Retrieved February 12, 2010.
  18. ↑ James Shallenberger, violin Archived May 27, 2010, at the Wayback Machine . San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Preparatory and Extension Faculty.
  19. ↑ Jim Shallenberger Archived July 25, 2011, at the Wayback Machine . Crowden Center for Music in the Community.
  20. ↑ Pacific Premieres Credits. Recordings. Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on March 9, 2016.
  21. ↑ Whirled Chamber Music Archived 2014-02-19 at the Wayback Machine . Violin Jazz. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  22. ↑ Whirled Chamber Music Credits. Archived 2009-04-03 at the Wayback Machine Recordings. Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  23. ↑ Látigo Archived 2014-02-19 at the Wayback Machine . Violin Jazz. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  24. ↑ Quartet San Francisco Archived 2014-02-19 at the Wayback Machine . Violin Jazz. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
  25. ↑ Quartet San Francisco. Archived 2009-08-30 at the Wayback Machine Recordings. Quartet San Francisco. Accessed on February 12, 2010.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.