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Artist WebsiteBIOGRAPHY
“Thalea never failed to deliver a stirring performance” - Calgary Herald
The Thalea String Quartet brings their signature vibrancy and emotional commitment to dynamic performances that reflect the past, present, and the future of the string quartet repertoire while celebrating diverse musical traditions from around the world. Fueled by the belief that chamber music is a powerful force for building community and human connection, the Thalea String Quartet has performed across North America, Europe, and China, and has appeared at the Kennedy Center, Massey Hall, and Weill Hall at Carnegie Hall. They have shared the stage with luminaries of the chamber music world, including members of the Emerson, Brentano, and St. Lawrence String Quartets, and they have performed alongside celebrated artists including Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Caroline Shaw, violist Lawrence Power, acclaimed Canadian band BADBADNOTGOOD, Detroit hip hop icon Mahogany Jones, and visionary R+B artist Charlotte Day Wilson.
Committed to shaping and contributing to the future of the string quartet repertoire, the Thalea String Quartet has premiered dozens of new works and has collaborated on new commissions with composers including Osvaldo Golijov, Paola Prestini, Anthony R. Green, Akshaya Avril Tucker, and Tanner Porter.
Winners of the 2021 Ann Divine Educator Award from the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the members of the Thalea String Quartet have been celebrated for their innovative approach to education and community engagement. The members of the Thalea String Quartet have presented masterclasses and workshops at institutions across North America, including the Berkelee College of Music, the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami, and San Francisco State University. They have presented lectures and led discussions at institutions including the University of Maryland, Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia, and Wayne State Medical School in Detroit, where they presented a workshop on non-verbal communication to first year medical students alongside the Emerson String Quartet. The Thalea String Quartet also served as faculty and artistic advisors for the inaugural 2023 Fischoff Summer Chamber Music Intensive. Pioneers of virtual educational programming, the Thalea String Quartet has developed a variety of digital content, including two digital video series for students of all ages and the CHAMPS Virtual Chamber Music Seminar, which brought together students from across North America for an eight-week intensive study of the music of Florence B. Price, Joseph Haydn, and Antonín Dvořák.
The Thalea String Quartet served as the Doctoral Fellowship String Quartet at the University of Maryland from 2020-2023. The quartet has also held fellowship positions at the University of Texas at Austin and the San Francisco Conservatory. They served as Associated Artists at the Queen Elisabeth Music Chapel in Waterloo, Belgium for the 2019-20 season and were the 2019-20 Ernst Stiefel Quartet-in-Residence at the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts. They were the 2022 and 2023 resident ensemble at the Lakes Area Music Festival and were 2023 visiting artists at the Garth Newel Music Center. The Thalea String Quartet were top prize winners at the 2018 Fischoff Competition and 2018 Chamber Music Yellow Springs Competition.
Christopher Whitley (http://www.christopherwhitleyviolin.com/) (violin) is from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Kumiko Sakamoto (http://www.kumikosakamoto.com/) (violin) is from Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada; Lauren Spaulding (viola) is from San Antonio, Texas; and Alex Cox (cello) is from South Palm Beach, Florida. Christopher and Kumiko perform on instruments generously on loan from the Canada Council for the Arts Musical Instrument Bank. Christopher performs on a 1900 Stefano Scarampella violin and Kumiko performs on an 1820 Joannes Franciscus Pressenda violin.
PROGRAMS
Folksongs
Bob Dylan/Bill Frisell (arr. Christopher Whitley) – A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall
Christopher Whitley – Body Surfer Songs
- intermission -
Alice Coltrane (arr. Christopher Whitley) – Journey in Satchidananda
Joseph Haydn – String Quartet in D Major, Op. 20, No. 4
From Haydn to Bob Dylan, this concert explores the continuing impact of folk music traditions in our contemporary music world. Featuring arrangements of Alice Coltrane and Bill Frisell’s epic take on a Dylan classic, this program is perfect for intimate, alternative venues. This concert also features a collaboration between the Thalea String Quartet and Body Surfer, violinist Christopher Whitley’s song-writing alias, in a performance of original songs written for voice, guitar, and strings.
Art is Revolution
Pérotin (arr. Christopher Whitley) – Vidurent Omnes
Gabriella Smith – Carrot Revolution
Schulhoff – Five Pieces for String Quartet
- Intermission -
Beethoven – String Quartet in F major, Op. 135
In a 1919 manifesto, Erwin Schulhoff declared that “Absolute art is revolution” and that this revolution is most strongly and deeply felt in music. Art is Revolution explores the boundary-defying music of Pérotin, Gabriella Smith, Erwin Schulhoff, and Beethoven, music-makers who have been inspired by revolution and revolutionized music as we know it. Medieval trailblazer Pérotin revolutionized musical polyphony in the 12th century. Smith’s Carrot Revolution, inspired both by Pérotin and by Cézanne’s reflections on the revolutionary potential of a single, freshly-observed carrot, brings the string quartet to new virtuosic and sonic frontiers. Schulhoff’s Five Pieces for String Quartet synthesizes traditional dance forms with the modernist sensibilities of his age. Beethoven, perhaps one of the most revolutionary figures of Western art music, completes his revelatory cycle of late string quartets with his Op. 135.
A Woman's Work
Caroline Shaw – Valencia
Missy Mazzoli – Death Valley Junction
Andrew Yee – New Commission
-intermission-
Akshaya Avril Tucker – Radha in the Forest
Tanner Porter – New Commission
This program celebrates five of the most exciting composers working today. Featuring three works commissioned by the Thalea String Quartet alongside contemporary classics from Caroline Shaw and Missy Mazzoli, this concert brings the Hindu goddess Radha to life through the magic of Odissi dance, transports the listener to the blistering heat of Death Valley, and explores the sensory architecture of the Valencia orange. Each of these evocative, original works creates a vividly unique sound world for the listener.
PROJECTS
ENGAGEMENT
Winners of the 2021 Ann Divine Educator Award from the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the Thalea String Quartet has been recognized internationally for their innovative approach to education and community engagement. The quartet has developed a wide-range of programming which they have shared with audiences across North America, Europe, and China.
Find out more at www.thaleastringquartet.com/education
K-12 Offerings
The Thalea String Quartet believes that exposing new audiences to the collaborative and creative power of chamber music is one of the most important facets of our work as a group. Thalea offers engaging interactive performances, workshops, and masterclasses that explore a diverse range of musical and non-musical subjects, ranging from the history of the string quartet repertoire, to the power of non-verbal communication, to American history.
Performance offerings include Thalea’s dramatic musical re-telling of Aaron Reynolds’ award-winning children’s book Creepy Carrots. Hands-on experiences include instant composition workshops for musicians of all ages and abilities, and clinics on topics including stage presence and collaborative music-making.
Thalea has developed a number of innovative virtual offerings for K-12 students that can be supplemented with in-person engagement activities. Created in 2020 in partnership with the Caramoor Center for Music and the Arts, Hello Haydn! consists of a series of five short videos with corresponding response activities that invite students to explore the different roles found within a string quartet. These fun, engaging videos use a classic work by Joseph Haydn to demonstrate how four unique individual voices come together to create chamber music magic! Thalea’s follow-up video series Bringing Music to Life! was commissioned by Chamber Music Tulsa in 2021 and was presented to every fourth grader in Tulsa, OK through the Any Given Child Program.
University Programs
Thalea seeks to offer fresh and engaging approaches to their work with university students, encouraging young musicians to fearlessly commit to their individual musical voice while supporting and inspiring their colleagues. Thalea’s traditional offerings, including chamber music coaching and masterclasses, focus on elements of collaboration, teamwork, and spontaneity. Composition readings include open rehearsals, workshop sessions, and Q&A sessions on effective writing for string instruments. Interactive seminars explore diversity in Classical music, discovering and developing your personal artistic voice, interpersonal collaboration, and non-verbal communication.
Masterclasses and Coaching
The Thalea String Quartet has offered chamber music coaching and masterclasses at institutions across North America, including the University of Maryland, the University of Texas at Austin, the Frost School of Music, and Berkelee College of Music. In addition to fostering a deeper understanding of chamber music repertoire from a variety of musical traditions, masterclasses and coachings also focus on elements of collaboration, teamwork, and spontaneity.
Nonverbal Communication Workshop
This interactive workshop dives into the power of nonverbal communication in all areas of life. Originally designed for first year medical students at Wayne State University (Detroit, MI), this workshop demonstrates effective nonverbal communication in the contexts of chamber music rehearsal, performance, and stage presence, in the hopes of fostering impactful and thoughtful nonverbal interactions on stage and in the community.
This workshop was the basis of a peer-reviewed study and was covered in an article for the Wayne State School of Medicine News.
48 Hour Composition Marathon
This program, designed for university composition students, challenges young composers to create a brand new work for string quartet in just 48 hours! Developed in 2017, this workshop includes one-on-one sessions with members of the quartet, open workshop sessions, and a final performance and live recording by the Thalea String Quartet.
Community Engagement
Community engagement has been central to the mission of the Thalea String Quartet since its founding in 2014. Community-driven partnerships have allowed Thalea to perform at soup kitchens, libraries, retirement communities, prisons, and hospitals across North America and Europe. Highlights include performances with the Equinox Children’s Choir, a music program for underserved children in Brussels, and collaborations with Xenia Concerts, a Toronto-based organization that offers adaptive concerts for the disability and dementia communities.
In the 22/23 season, the Thalea String Quartet presented adaptive concerts in partnership with Xenia Concerts (Toronto), Calgary Pro Musica (Calgary), and Azure Concerts (Baltimore). Read more about their adaptive concerts here.
Lifelong Learners
The Thalea String Quartet believes that the joy of music can be shared with learners of all ages. The quartet offers specific, hands-on programming for adult amateur musicians and lifelong music lovers.
Virtual Sight-Reading Party
Let the Thalea be your tour guides through a variety of masterpieces and underappreciated classics of the string quartet. Offering performance tips, historical context, and tricks of the trade, the Quartet invites musicians and music lovers of all ages to play along, follow the score, or just enjoy this virtual sight-reading party. The first iteration of this program, presented in February 2021, was a huge success. This activity can also be offered in-person.
Adult Chamber Music Seminar
Modeled after the CHAMPS Virtual Chamber Music Seminar, this adult seminar currently in development invites adult amateur musicians to dive deep into a specific work of the string quartet canon. With emphasis on contemporary works by diverse composers, this asynchronous course offers adult string players the opportunity to continue to develop their technique, artistry, and collaborative skills.