What’s cool about this evening of chamber music:

• NEW MONTHLY SERIES: Chamber Music Tuesdays is a new series where chamber music majors perform with world-renowned guest artists (including Opus 3 Artists and international competition award winners) and SFCM faculty members in the new Barbro Osher Recital Hall at the Bowes Center. The series is led and curated by SFCM Chair of String and Piano Chamber Music, Dimitri Murrath.
• This concert features the Telegraph Quartet and founder of the chamber music program at SFCM Bonnie Hampton. Hear Telegraph Quartet’s origin story.
• A piece by acclaimed African-American composer Florence Price performed by Telegraph Quartet and SFCM students.

Florence Price (1887-1953)
Five Folksongs in Counterpoint for String Quartet
     No. 1 "Calvary" - Adagio vigoroso
     No. 2 "Clementine" - Andantino
     No. 3 "Drink to me only with Thine eyes" - Andantino cantabile
     No. 4 "Shortnin' Bread" - Allegro
     No. 5 "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" - Andantino
Eric Chin* and Suni Norman, violins
Sohui Yun, viola
Jeremiah Shaw*, cello

Grażyna Bacewicz (1909-1969)
String Quartet No. 4
     I. Andante - Allegro molto
     II. Andante
     III. Vivace
Telegraph Quartet
Joseph Maile* and Eric Chin*, violins
Pei-Ling Lin* viola
Jeremiah Shaw*, cello

-Intermission-

Franz Schubert (1797-1828)
String Quintet in C Major, D. 956
     I. Allegro ma non troppo
     II. Adagio
     III. Scherzo. Presto - Trio. Andante sostenuto
     IV. Allegretto
Telegraph Quartet
with Bonnie Hampton*, cello

* SFCM Faculty

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About SFCM’s String and Piano Chamber Music Department:

SFCM’s chamber music ensemble experience strongly emphasizes studying, hearing, and performing the wide variety of works in chamber music literature. Performances are given in both informal and formal workshops, and in numerous public concerts at the Conservatory each semester.

Faculty chamber music concerts held throughout the year include advanced students in mixed ensembles. Guest artists are often invited to rehearse and perform with chamber music students and faculty, and to conduct chamber music master classes. Recent visitors have included violinist Robert Mann and cellist Joel Krosnick of the Juilliard String Quartet, Leon Fleisher, Garrick Ohlsson, Menahem Pressler, Sharon Robinson, Timothy Eddy, Jeffrey Kahane, Peter Oundjian, Kim Kashkashian, and Donald and Vivian Weilerstein.

Also a dedicated track of study, our degree programs in chamber music are two of the most elite majors we offer. With a department size never exceeding 10 (one quartet and up to six individuals), students get unrivaled access to faculty and visiting artists. As a student within the chamber music department, you’ll be connected with performance opportunities throughout the Bay Area—and with the networking opportunities that come with them.

Get to know 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 fall 2021, the Telegraph will premiere a new work with soprano Abigail Fischer by composer Robert Sirota and librettist Stevan Cavalier, 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.”

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.

The Telegraph Quartet has adapted to these challenging times and remains strongly committed to sharing its music. Recent and upcoming livestream concerts include performances presented by the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Crowden Chamber Music Workshop, Noe Music, Noontime Concerts, Music in Corrales, and Intermusic SF. For Earth Day 2020 (the 50th anniversary of Earth Day), the National Academy of Science in collaboration with the ClimateMusic Project hosted a virtual performance by the Telegraph Quartet of Richard Festinger's Icarus in Flight. Amid the ongoing COVD-19 pandemic, 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.

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.

Get to know Bonnie Hampton:

Cellist Bonnie Hampton leads an active music life as a chamber musician, soloist, and teacher. A founding member of the Naumburg Award-winning Francesco Trio, she has also performed as the Hampton-Schwartz Duo with her late husband, pianist Nathan Schwartz. Her solo debut with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra was followed by appearances with orchestras nationally performing the entire standard repertoire and many of the 20 th century cello concertos. Ms. Hampton’s chamber music guest appearances have included performances with the Juilliard, Guarneri, Cleveland, Mendelssohn, Alexander, Budapest, and Griller String Quartets, and concert tours have taken her to Europe and Asia. She has performed in halls throughout the United States, including Davies and the Opera House in San Francisco, Alice Tully, the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Jordan Hall, and many chamber music venues throughout the world. A student of Pablo Casals, she participated for many years in the Casals and Marlboro festivals. She has performed at many festivals including Tanglewood, Ravinia, Santa Fe, Kneisel Hall, and Yellow Barn. Her early studies were with Margaret Rowell, the Griller String Quartet, and Zara Nelsova. Her Francesco Trio Residencies have included Stanford University and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she taught for thirty years. Ms. Hampton was awarded an “Excellence in Teaching Award” from SFCM and Indiana University and was a member of the Juilliard School’s Cello and Chamber Music faculty from 2003-2012. In 2018, she was awarded an Honorary Doctorate Degree from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

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The health and safety of the SFCM community and its patrons is of the highest priority. To help maintain a safe environment on campus for the SFCM community, and in adhering to San Francisco city guidelines, patrons are required to show proof of full vaccination to attend SFCM events. Please visit https://sfcm.edu/about-us/covid-19-information/event-health-safety to read the SFCM's full Event Health & Safety policy.