Quartet San Francisco Information

Non-traditional in their delivery, QSF redefines the sound of chamber music. "When the music says swing, we swing. When the music says groove, we groove." Grammy nominees for their last three CD releases (2009, 2007, and 2006) and International Tango competition winners (New York, 2004), Quartet San Francisco expresses itself in its agility and standout virtuosic playing. Quartet San Francisco was founded in 2001 by celebrated Bay Area violinist and composer-arranger Jeremy Cohen. Violinist Matthew Szemela began his collaboration with QSF in 2012 and violist Keith Lawrence has been a member since 2008. Cellist Kelley Maulbetsch joined the group as its interim cellist in March 2012. As crossover specialists QSF excels in multiple styles - from jazz to tango, pop to funk, blues to bluegrass, gypsy swing to big band and beyond. Since its concert debut in 2001, Quartet San Francisco has offered its exclusive and ground-breaking literature to local, national and international audiences in a variety of venues that include tango and concert halls, jazz festivals, museums, and classrooms. In 2002 the quartet began its on-stage collaborations with tango dancers. In the 2004-06 academic years the quartet was in residence at Mills College in Oakland, California. Quartet San Francisco's tours in 2010 through 2012 included China, Korea, Japan, and Turkey where they performed in Beijing (and nine other major cities in China), Seoul, Tokyo, Hyogo, Sanda, and Istanbul. Recent U.S. appearances include New York's Le Poisson Rouge, Yoshi's Jazz Clubs in San Francisco and Oakland, the Brubeck Room in the Wilton, Connecticut Library, in concert with the Marin Symphony and Bob Weir of The Grateful Dead in San Rafael, Calif., with the Tulsa Symphony, as well as with the San Jose Chamber Orchestra. They have appeared at the Corning Museum of Glass (Corning, NY); Troy Music Hall (Troy, NY); Herbst Theatre (San Francisco); Café Tortoni (Buenos Aires, Argentina); Portland Friends of Chamber Music (Portland, OR); La Jolla Music Society (La Jolla, CA) ; Martha's Vineyard Chamber Music Society Summer Music Festival; University of Vermont Lane Series; San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival (San Luis Obispo, CA); St. Peter's Church (New York, NY); Dumbarton Concert Series (Washington, DC); Manhattan School of Music; Berklee College of Music (Boston); The Jazzschool (Berkeley, CA); Ford Amphitheatre (Los Angeles); Redlands Bowl Summer Music Festival (Redlands, CA); and the University of the Pacific's Brubeck Festival at Mills College (Oakland, CA). In 2009 Quartet San Francisco celebrated the music of the great Dave Brubeck with their release QSF Plays Brubeck which was awarded two Grammy nominations and featured on NPR's Weekend Edition Sunday in a studio interview. Their Latin and tango CD, Látigo (2006), was honored with Grammy nominations for Best Classical Crossover and Best Engineered, Classical. The quartet members were again Classical Crossover Grammy nominees for Whirled Chamber Music (2007), "…what could easily be the most cheerful and brilliantly-executed release of 2007 (Judith Schlesinger, All About Jazz).