String quartet performing at local church
By Medicine Hat News on July 14, 2017.
Medicine Hat News The Thalea String Quartet, featuring Medicine Hat’s Kumiko Sakamoto on violin, will perform a concert in the city July 17. Based in San Francisco but currently at Banff Centre’s Summer Chamber Music Residency, the Thalea String Quartet will be on stage at 7 p.m. at the Christian Reformed Church, 300 Primrose Dr. Sakamoto is joined by fellow violinist Christopher Whitley, Luis Bellorin on viola and Brady Anderson on cello. Prior to its residency at Banff, the quartet was at The St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar at Stanford University, and in May they attended The Juilliard String Quartet Seminar in New York. They will be the quartet-in-residence at the Bear Valley Music Festival in California later in July, and in August play at the San Francisco International Piano Festival. The quartet recently collaborated in San Francisco with the Joe Goode Performance Group. They recently completed their two-year tenure as quartet-in-residence at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. The quartet has performed recitals in Italy, Canada and the U.S. The group’s bio said it was named one of the “Top 10 Bay Area Quartets You Should Know” by http://www.culturetrip.com and were the recipients of the 2016 Barbara Fritz Chamber Music Award from the Berkeley Piano Club. 7-6
