Program

"Telelab"
For the first half of the concert, Telegraph Quartet will give a presentation on Schoenberg’s String Quartet in D Minor, Op. 7, discussing the work’s structure and thematic development as well as their interpretation.
After intermission, the quartet will be performed in its entirety with the hopes that the audience will have gained a deeper appreciation and understanding of the work.

-Intermission-

Arnold Schoenberg: Quartet No. 1 in D Minor, Op. 7
     I. Nicht zu rasch
     II. Kräftig (nicht zu rasch)
     III. Mäßig, langsame Viertel
     IV. Mäßig, heite

Examples of Telelab can be found at the links below:

Mieczysław Weinberg String Quartet No. 6 in e Minor, Op. 35:
https://youtu.be/-C4B6FFmmh0

Erich Wolfgang Korngold String Quartet No. 3 in D Major, Op. 34:
https://youtu.be/Z80UCBt-Ueg

Artists

Telegraph Quartet

Eric Chin & Joseph Maile, violins
Pei-Ling Lin, viola
Jeremiah Shaw, Cello

About the Telegraph Quartet

The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) formed in 2013 with an equal passion for the standard chamber music repertoire and contemporary, non-standard works alike. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “…an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition. The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Interlochen Arts Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently on the chamber music faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music as the Quartet-in-Residence. 

Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; composer-vocalist Theo Bleckmann; and the Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet co-commissioned John Harbison’s String Quartet No. 6 and gave its West Coast premiere in the fall of 2017 on San Francisco State University’s Morrison Artists Series. The Telegraph Quartet premiered Richard Festinger’s third string quartet, Icarus in Flight, a musical representation of climate change data from the year 1880 to projected simulations of 2080. The Quartet gave the world premiere of Robert Sirota’s String Quartet No. 3, Wave Upon Wave at Weill Recital Hall for its Carnegie Hall debut in 2018, sponsored by the Naumburg Foundation. In summer 2022, the Telegraph premiered Robert Sirota’s Contrapassos with soprano Abigail Fischer, featuring libretto by Stevan Cavalier and commissioned by Sierra Chamber Music Society. 

In 2018 the Quartet released its debut album, Into the Light, featuring works by Anton Webern, Benjamin Britten, and Leon Kirchner on the Centaur label. The San Francisco Chronicle praised the album, saying, "Just five years after forming, the Bay Area’s Telegraph Quartet has established itself as an ensemble of serious depth and versatility, and the group’s terrific debut recording only serves to reinforce that judgment." AllMusic acclaimed, “An impressive beginning for an adventurous group, this 2018 release puts the Telegraph Quartet on the map.” In spring 2023, the Telegraph Quartet will release its next album on Azica Records, featuring Ravel’s renowned quartet and Schoenberg’s first quartet. 

Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. In the fall of 2017, the Quartet traveled to communities and schools in Maine with Yellow Barn’s Music Haul, a mobile performance stage that brings music outside of the concert hall to communities across the U.S. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. ChamberFEAST! featured two concerts by the Telegraph at Eslite Concert Hall, a week-long chamber music intensive with students from Taiwanese schools and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, and masterclasses and coachings at high schools and universities across Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. TeleLab draws the listener deeper into how those components fit together and evolve over the course of the piece while giving the audience the time and space to deepen their experience of music. 

Highlights of Telegraph Quartet’s 2022-23 season include performances presented by Stanford Live, The Argyros, Emerald City Music, UCLA's Chamber Music at the Clark, Chicago Chamber Music Society, Carmel Music Society, South Mountain Concerts, and many others, as well as a residency at the University of Idaho as part of the Auditorium Chamber Music Series. Telegraph will also perform residency concerts at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.  

While the Telegraph Quartet is indebted to numerous mentors and teachers, the group’s primary musical guidance and support has come from Mark Sokol, Bonnie Hampton, and Ian Swensen at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The Telegraph Quartet is based in the San Francisco Bay Area.