quartet san francisco press kit

QUARTET SAN FRANCISCO

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Non-traditional in their delivery, QSF redefines the sound of chamber music. "When the music says swing, we swing. When the music says groove, we groove." Grammy nominees for their last four CD releases (2013, 2009, 2007, and 2006) and International Tango competition winners (New York, 2004), Quartet San Francisco expresses itself in its agility and standout virtuosic playing. Quartet San Francisco was founded in 2001 by celebrated Bay Area violinist and composer-arranger Jeremy Cohen. Along with violinist Matt Szemela, violist Chad Kaltinger, and cellist Andrés Vera, these crossover specialists excel in multiple styles — from jazz to tango, pop to funk, blues to bluegrass, gypsy swing to big band and beyond. Since its concert debut in 2001, Quartet San Francisco has offered its groundbreaking literature to local, national and international audiences in performing arts centers, tango and concert halls, jazz festivals, museums, and classrooms. In 2002 the quartet began its on-stage collaborations with tango dancers. Quartet San Francisco recently toured China, South Korea, Japan, and Turkey, performing in Seoul, Tokyo, Hyogo, Sanda, and Istanbul. Recent U.S. appearances include the Monterey Jazz Festival, Napa Valley Opera House, Berkeley Art Museum, Hopkins Center for the Arts, Minn., Old Town Temecula Community Theater, New York's Le Poisson Rouge, Yoshi's Jazz Club in San Francisco as the inaugural guests of “The Artist Sessions,” the Brubeck Room in the Wilton (Conn.) Library, the Mendocino Music Festival, in concert with the Marin Symphony and Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead in San Rafael, Calif., the Bay Area’s Peninsula Symphony, the Tulsa Symphony, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. They have appeared at the Corning Museum of Glass in Corning, N.Y., Troy Music Hall in Troy, N.Y., Herbst Theatre in San Francisco, Café Tortoni in Buenos Aires, Portland (Ore.) Friends of Chamber Music, the La Jolla Music Society, Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society Summer Music Festival, University of Vermont Lane Series, San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival, St. Peter's Church in New York, N.Y., Dumbarton Concert Series in Washington, D.C., Manhattan School of Music, Berklee College of Music, The Jazzschool in Berkeley, Ford Amphitheatre in Los Angeles, Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival, and the University of the Pacific’s Brubeck Festival at Mills College in Oakland, Calif. QSF’s September 2013 CD release, Pacific Premieres: New Works by California Composers, features new chamber music from Gordon Goodwin, Vince Mendoza, Patrick Williams, and Jeremy Cohen which showcases the swing, jazz, and lyrical leanings of the group. In 2009 they celebrated the music of the great Dave Brubeck with their release QSF Plays Brubeck which was awarded two Grammy nominations and featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday in a studio interview. Their Latin and tango CD, Látigo (2006), was honored with Grammy nominations for Best Classical Crossover and Best Engineered, Classical. The quartet members were again Classical Crossover Grammy nominees for Whirled Chamber Music (2007), "…what could easily be the most cheerful and brilliantly-executed release of 2007" (Judith Schlesinger, All About Jazz).



JEREMY COHEN, violin From Oakland, California, Jeremy Cohen is from a family of five musicians. Classically-trained and a student of Itzhak Perlman and Anne Crowden, Cohen's eclectic style reflects his respect for a wide range of violinists from Perlman and Fritz Kreisler to Joe Venuti and Eddie South. He has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Virginia Symphony, the California Symphony and the Reno Philharmonic. His recording credits include motion picture and television soundtracks including The Dukes of Hazzard and Jane Fonda's Dollmaker, and as concertmaster on recordings with Linda Ronstadt, Ray Charles, Aaron Neville, Howard Keel and Cleo Laine. He appeared on Carlos Santana's Grammy-winning CD Supernatural and the original Star Wars compilation CD with John Williams. On the stage he was the solo violinist in Forever Tango and The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas. He has toured and recorded with the Grammy

Award-winning Turtle Island Quartet. Cohen's orchestral arrangements have been featured by numerous orchestras, including the San Francisco Symphony, and the San Jose and San Francisco Chamber Orchestras. As an educator, he has served on the faculties of the Henry Mancini Institute (Los Angeles), The Jazz School (Berkeley, CA) and the Stanford Jazz Workshop. In 2004 Cohen released Jeremy Cohen and Friends Celebrate Joe Venuti—100 Years (VAI), a DVD tribute to Joe Venuti. Cohen and Violinjazz pay homage to violinist Eddie South in the 2010 release, The Music of Eddie South (Sono Luminous). Jeremy Cohen has received multiple Grammy nominations for CDs he produced and with Quartet San Francisco (Violinjazz Recordings). Most of their multi-genre material has been composed or arranged by Cohen who aspires to widen the repertoire available to modern string players. MATTHEW SZEMELA, violin Praised by the New York Times for his “outrageous fiddling,” Mannes College graduate Matthew Szemela crosses musical styles with ease. Originally from Maine, Matthew has performed as soloist, chamber and orchestral musician in New York’s Carnegie, Alice Tully, and Merkin Recital Halls and abroad in Belgium, Luxembourg, Italy, and Australia. Matthew 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. Matthew has collaborated with tap dancer, actor, and choreographer Savion Glover on his production “Classical Savion,” and he has appeared with artists Sting, Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Lana Del Rey, and Cassandra Wilson as well as the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, guitarist Vernon Reid of “Living Colour,” Susan Sarandon, Beyoncé Knowles, and Olivia Newton John. Matthew’s credits in violin jazz include performances and recordings with Dan Levinson and his Canary College Dance Orchestra, Barbara Rosene and her New Yorkers, and performances with The Manhattan Ragtime Orchestra, Vince Giordano and The Nighthawks, and Gregory Moore and the Cosmopolitan Orchestra. He was a long-time member of the Mahavishnu Project, the repertory



ensemble for the music of John McLaughlin and his contemporaries. With pianist Eric Lewis, Matthew has performed at the American Jazz Festival in Paris, the Traumzeit Festival in Duisburg, the Montreux Festival in Switzerland, and the Ischia Global Film and Music Festival in Italy. And in 2007 Matthew portrayed an Irish rock violinist in the Warner Brothers film “August Rush.” Matthew left New York for Berkeley, California in the summer of 2011. He also performs with the Berkeley Symphony.

CHAD KALTINGER, viola Chad Kaltinger is an active freelancer in the San Francisco area and maintains a busy schedule as orchestral violist, chamber musician, soloist, and recording artist. Principal violist for Opera San Jose and the Santa Cruz Symphony, he is a frequent guest principal at the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. Chad has performed in many festivals around the U.S. including Music in the Mountains, Arizona Musicfest, South by Southwest, the Monterey Jazz Festival, and the Mendocino Music Festival. He is an active proponent of new music and performs regularly with the Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, the University of California-Santa Cruz New Music Works Ensemble, and the Worn Chamber Ensemble. He was the soloist in the 2012 U.S. premiere of Noam Sheriff’s Canarian Vespers, for solo viola and strings, with the Cadenza Chamber Orchestra in Santa Cruz, California. Chad hails from Chicago where he began his studies at age 9. He

studied at the Music Institute of Chicago in Wilmette, Ill. with Peter Slowik, and at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with Emanuel Vardi. As a fellowship student at the Aspen Music Festival he studied with Heidi Castleman and Victoria Chiang. Chad was the winner of the 1994 E. Nakamichi Viola Concerto Competition at the Aspen Music Festival. ANDRÉS VERA, cello A native of Puerto Rico, Andrés Vera brings a rich mix of cultural influences to his playing. Surrounded by the sounds of salsa, reggae, Latin jazz, Mozart, Beethoven and Brahms, Andrés grew up with an affinity for music and its variety, color, and ethnic diversity. He is a skilled collaborator and performer of Classical and Baroque cello repertoire. 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. Andrés 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. He currently performs as a soloist, orchestra member, chamber musician, and has been seen in countless cabaret venues throughout the Bay Area.



REPERTOIRE LIST (* indicates arrangement by Jeremy Cohen)

Contemporary Chamber Music Guamba (with quintet option-bass added) Jeremy Cohen California Pictures for String Quartet (3 movts.) Gordon Goodwin Three Stages for String Quartet (3 movts.) Gordon Goodwin Funky Diversions in Three Movements Vince Mendoza Four Studies from American Dreams Peter Schickele The Bay Is Deep Blue Patrick Williams Three Themes for Guitar and String Quartet Jeremy Cohen and Alex DeGrassi Works for String Quartet with Orchestra Al Colón Jeremy Cohen Gallo Ciego Augustin Bardi* Guamba Jeremy Cohen La Cumparcita Gerald H. Matos Rodriguez* Melodia in A Minor/Libertango Astor Piazzolla* (suite with bandoneón) Concerto Carnevale for String Quartet and Jeremy Cohen Orchestra Americana Boy Scout in Switzerland Raymond Scott, arr. Bob Gilmore Celebration on the Planet Mars Raymond Scott* Dawg’s Bull David Grisman* Ives Been Thinkin’ About You Jeremy Cohen Penguin Raymond Scott* Peter Tambourine Raymond Scott* Powerhouse Raymond Scott* Siberian Sleighride Raymond Scott* Toy Trumpet Raymond Scott* Under the Sea Alan Menken* Jazz Armando’s Rhumba Chick Corea* Autumn Leaves Joseph Kosma* Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen Sholom Secunda* Blue Rondo A La Turk Dave Brubeck* Bluette Dave Brubeck, arr. Larry Dunlap Cachita Trad./Juan Garcia Esquivel* Cool Leonard Bernstein, arr. David Balakrishnan Count Bubba’s Revenge Gordon Goodwin* Dark Eyes Florian Hermann* Strange Meadowlark Dave Brubeck*



(Jazz cont.) Crowdambo Jeremy Cohen The Duke Dave Brubeck, arr. Matt Brubeck Felipe Evan Price Forty Days Dave Brubeck, arr. Robert Gilmore Gee, Officer Krupke Leonard Bernstein* The Golden Horn Dave Brubeck* Harlem Nocturne Earle Hagen* I Hear Music Frank Loesser, arr. Cory Combs It Had Better Be … Just Me Mancini and Greenan, arr. Evan Price It’s a Raggy Waltz Dave Brubeck* Jubilee Stomp Duke Ellington* Kathy’s Waltz Dave Brubeck* The Mooche Duke Ellington* Pink Panther Henry Mancini* Rachel’s Dream Benny Goodman* Sing, Sing, Sing Glenn Miller* St. Louis Blues William Christopher Handy* Spain Chick Corea* Take Five Paul Desmond* Tchavalo Swing Dorado Schmitt* Three to Get Ready Dave Brubeck* Unsquare Dance Dave Brubeck* Pop At Last Gordon/Warren* Got To Get You Into My Life Lennon/McCartney as done by Earth,

Wind, & Fire* I Wish Stevie Wonder* La Vie en Rose Louis Guglielmi* Pick Up the Pieces Roger and Hamish* Sir Duke Stevie Wonder* What is Hip? Kupka/Castillo/Garabaldi* Rock Because Lennon/McCartney* Bohemian Rhapsody Freddie Mercury, arr. Robert Gilmore Eleanor Rigby Lennon/McCartney* Martha My Dear Lennon/McCartney* Oh Darling Lennon/McCartney* Rock and Roll Hoochie Coo Rick Derringer* San Francisco Scott McKenzie* White Rabbit Grace Slick*



Tango A Los Amigos Armando Pontier* Comme Il Faut Eduardo Arolas* El Dia Que Me Quieras Carlos Gardel* Encuentro Pasional Jeremy Cohen Felicia Enrique Saborido* Francini Jeremy Cohen Gallo Ciego Augustin Bardi* La Cumparcita Gerald H. Matos Rodriguez* Libertango Astor Piazzolla* Melodía en la Astor Piazzolla* Milongueando en el ’40 Armando Pontier* Muerte del Angel Astor Piazzolla* Nuevo Tango Astor Piazzolla* Tanguori Jeremy Cohen Taquito Militar Mariano Mores* Verano y Primavera Astor Piazzolla* Tango Toscana Jeremy Cohen Tanguori Jeremy Cohen



SELECTED RECORDINGS

Pacific Premieres: New Works by California Composers (Violinjazz Recordings, 2013) Grammy nominee, Best Instrumental Composition, Gordon Goodwin Grammy nominee, Best Instrumental Composition, Vince Mendoza

QSF Plays Brubeck (Violinjazz Recordings, 2009) Grammy nominee, Best Classical Crossover Grammy nominee, Best Engineered-Classical

Whirled Chamber Music (Violinjazz Recordings, 2007) Grammy nominee, Best Classical Crossover

Látigo (Violinjazz Recordings, 2005) Grammy nominee, Best Classical Crossover Grammy nominee, Best Engineered-Classical



EDUCATIONAL PROGRAMS

Educational concerts are fun, interactive and informative with Quartet San Francisco, which to date has performed hundreds of family and children’s concerts as well as college-level demonstrations, workshops and seminars (often in conjunction with concert performances). Their presentations vary in length and content, and are tailored to the audience age group. Each program delivers a wide range of musical information in a participatory, spontaneous format, including classical string quartet fare, original arrangements of jazz, tango, Disney, and cartoon music. Programs are designed to fit the needs of each audience, whether they be introducing stringed instruments to children or improvisation to college students. The members of Quartet San Francisco illustrate how instruments are made and produce sound and demonstrate techniques for creating a colorful and fanciful variety of sounds and effects. Quartet members reveal how a string quartet puts together a piece of music; demonstrate the diverse techniques for performing tango, Latin, jazz and classical music; and discuss the history of the music they perform. Audience participation at a QSF educational concert is always encouraged! Quartet San Francisco also offers workshops in performance techniques for contemporary music composers and performers. Students of composition learn how to create traditional and cutting-edge techniques for stringed instruments, while focusing on works for string quartet in particular. Members of the quartet work with music performance students on chamber music pieces from all genres, collectively culminating their efforts in a semester-end performance. QSF is actively involved with the San Francisco Symphony’s “Adventures in Music” program, and with the “Music in Schools” program sponsored by Music at Kohl Mansion in Burlingame, Calif.



PRESS

They had us believing that a virtuoso string quartet could impersonate a genuine tango orchestra from Buenos Aires … Los Angeles City Beat … breezy wit, fine technical finish and a genuine feeling for musical idiom. Washington Post … a remarkable musical experience … simply delicious. Herald News, North Jersey Media Killer playing with fine attention to detail, musically and sonically, gives this set a head and shoulders lift above other comers. Midwest Record … unbridled optimism … unexpected beauty … Bay Area Reporter The greatest asset this quartet offers is a desire to connect with audiences by using popular music. Jeremy Cohen’s arrangements … sounded vibrant and pliant, as if they’ve been part of the chamber repertoire for years. Sacramento Bee

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