Alexander String Quartet

Sunday, May 7, 2023, 7 p.m.

Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violin
David Samuel, viola; Sandy Wilson, cello

The Alexander String Quartet, having just celebrated its 40^th anniversary, has performed in the major music capitals of five continents, securing its standing among the world’s premier ensembles and a major artistic presence in its home base of San Francisco. The quartet has served since 1989 as Ensemble in Residence of San Francisco Performances and Directors of The Morrison Chamber Music Center Instructional Program at San Francisco State University. They have established themselves as important advocates of new music, commissioning dozens of works from composers including Jake Heggie, Cindy Cox, Augusta Read Thomas, Robert Greenberg, Cesar Cano, Tarik O’Regan, Paul Siskind, and Pulitzer Prize-winner Wayne Peterson. Samuel Carl Adams’s “Quintet with Pillars” was premiered and has been widely performed across the U.S. by the Alexander with pianist Joyce Yang. The ASQ’s distinguished discography of Mozart, Shostakovich, Beethoven, Dvořák and Mahler songs now includes a veritable Brahms compendium with a recording of the three string quartets, plus a recently re-recorded Intermezzo in A Major, Op. 118, No. 2, transcribed by Zakarias Grafilo.

6:00 PM – Pre-concert talk by Christopher Costanza, Cellist of the St. Lawrence String Quartet,  Artist in Residence, Lecturer, Stanford University

7:00 PM – Concert

9 PM – Celebrate with a complimentary glass of wine and dessert!