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The Del Sol Quartet is a string quartet based in San Francisco, California that was founded in 1992.

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Del Sol Quartet
Origin	San Francisco, CA
Genres	Contemporary classical, minimalism, just intonation
Occupation(s)	String Quartet
Years active	1992–present
Labels	Bright Shiny Things, Sono Luminus, Other Minds, New World, Sacred Bones, Innova, Navona
Members	Samuel Weiser, violin Benjamin Kreith, violin Charlton Lee, viola Kathryn Bates, cello
Past members	Kate Stenberg, violin Hannah Addario-Berry, cello
Website	https://www.delsolquartet.com/

In 2012, the San Francisco Chronicle described it as having been "a stalwart force for new music in the Bay Area, a vigorous and fearless champion of living composers without always getting its due recognition."[1]

Del Sol has commissioned and premiered hundreds of works from a diverse range of international composers, including Frederic Rzewski, Mason Bates, Gabriela Lena Frank, Huang Ruo, Michael Harrison, Ben Johnston, Chinary Ung, Daniel Bernard Roumain, Kui Dong, Mohammed Fairouz, Theresa Wong, Erberk Eryilmaz, Tania León, Ken Ueno, Peter Sculthorpe, Pamela Z, Reza Vali, Per Nørgård.

Current^[when?] quartet members are Benjamin Kreith (violin), Samuel Weiser (violin), Charlton Lee (viola), and Kathryn Bates (cello).

Founding

Founded in 1992, the Del Sol String Quartet began its life in residence at the Banff Centre for the Arts, followed by residency at San Francisco State University in association with the Alexander String Quartet. In 2002, Del Sol released its CD Tear. Del Sol was named winner of the Chamber Ensemble/Mixed Repertory category for 2005-2006 by Chamber Music America and ASCAP, and also received an ASCAP award for Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music[2] Other early appointments included the 2003 "Emerging Quartets and Composers Residency" with the Muir String Quartet and Joan Tower in Park City, Utah; Quartet-in-Residence at University of New Mexico; residencies at The Walden School and Tahoe Music Festival; and Northeastern University in 2007. Del Sol appears on programs presented by Other Minds, San Francisco Performances, Montalvo Arts Center and Santa Fe New Music/Santa Fe Opera. (from website)

Outreach

The quartet has given lectures/performances by invitation from presenters including the San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music series, San Francisco Libraries, Music at Kohl Mansion, Young Audiences of the Bay Area, American Composers Forum and San Francisco Performances.

Recordings

Del Sol has released 11 full-length CDs since 2002 garnering international praise from publications including the New York Times,[3] Gramophone,[4] The Strad,[5] Chamber Music,[6] and the San Francisco Chronicle.[7]

• A Dust in Time (2021): World premiere recording of Huang Ruo's hour long meditation , released as a coloring book by Felicia Lee (Bright Shiny Things)
  • debuted at #3 on Billboard Classical charts
• Kooch-e Khamân (2021): Live concert recording of music by young Iranian composers (Gity Razaz, Adib Ghorbani, Elnaz Sayadi, Hesam Abedini, Nasim Khorassani, Niloufar Shiri and Iman Habibi)
  • debuted at #5 on Billboard Classical charts
• Dark Queen Mantra (2017): World premiere recordings including Terry Riley's "Dark Queen Mantra" & Stefano Scodanibbio "Mas Lugares"(with guitarist Gyan Riley)
• Scrapyard Exotica (2015): World premiere recordings of music by Ken Ueno, Mohammed Fairouz, and Mason Bates (Sono Luminus)
• Peter Sculthorpe Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu (2014) (Sono Luminus) (featuring Stephen Kent, didjeridu)
• Complete String Quartets of Robert Erickson (2014) (New World Records)
• Split EP (digital download): Del Sol with ZOFO, 4 hands piano duo
• ZIA (2013) features contemporary works with influences from Peru, Turkey, Spain, Iran and Uzbekistan. (Sono Luminus)
• First Life (2009), a world premiere recording of the complete string quartets of American composer Marc Blitzstein (Other Minds)
• Ring of Fire: Music of the Pacific Rim (2008), a compilation of works by eight composers from around the Pacific Rim (Other Minds)
• The Complete Works for String Quartet by American composer George Antheil (2005) (Other Minds: OM 1008-2.)
• Tear (2002), featuring a rendition of Ástor Piazzolla's "Libertango", as well as music by Lou Harrison, Earle Brown, Silvestre Revueltas, Ruth Crawford Seeger, Alberto Ginastera, and John Harbison.

Interest in Just Intonation

The quartet demonstrates a particular interest in string quartet writing in just intonation, particularly in the work of American composer Ben Johnston, along with composers such as Michael Harrison, Theresa Wong and Mathew Rosenblum. They are currently the only string quartet touring multiple quartets by Ben Johnston, which are notoriously difficult, and were the first group to premiere Johnston's music at the Library of Congress[8] in Washington, D.C in 2016. In 2019, the quartet launched the "Pacific Pythagorean Music Festival", a music festival dedicated to works of just intonation.[9] They were highlighted performers at the Pittsburgh "Beyond 2020: Microtonal Music Festival".[10]

References

External links

• Official Website
• PBS Video of Del Sol working with composers
• Classical Voice
• San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music
• Art of the States: Del Sol String Quartet
• Del Sol and Melody of China
• Del Sol and the complete quartets of George Antheil (with video)

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