Happy Spring!

1. Switchboard Music Festival

2. StringWreck
3. Memories of Other Minds 13
4. CD Release & Concerts (Ring of Fire)
5. Strings Magazine mention
6. New Board Member: Steve Pacheco

1. Switchboard Music Festival

Genre-bending! Convention-breaking! Eclectic! Get ready for an 8-hour, non-stop music festival where musicians push the boundaries of their respective genres. Del Sol’s cellist, Hannah Addario-Berry, says “I think that co-directors Jeff Anderle, Ryan Brown, and Jon Russell have done a fantastic job of creating an 8 hour marathon program which is wildly diverse in style. The only common thread that I see across all the sets is that it will be of high quality, exciting, and indefinable. I think it's a great chance for the fans of each of these groups to cross-breed and discover music they may not have had a chance to hear. I'm very excited to have yet another opportunity to perform Osvaldo Golijov's masterpiece ‘The Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind’ with clarinetist Jeff Anderle.” More information at switchboardmusic.

2. Stringwreck – April 10 through 13

World premiere! Experimental interaction! Don’t miss this dance theater performance where traditional roles are abandoned. Together with Janice Garrett & Dancers and choreographer Charles Moulton, the Del Sol String Quartet will surprise you yet again. “Dancers become music stands that take flight with the sheet music. A violist is lifted high in the air and is soon at the tumultuous center of a fast moving dance routine. Competition, compassion, communication, misunderstanding, rivalry, harmony – the performers experience all of these as they encounter each other on the stage.”

3. Memories of Other Minds 13

Del Sol String Quartet returned to the Other Minds Festival again this year, performing works by Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, Elena Kats-Chernin, and Keeril Makan. “This is the best environment for the Del Sol Quartet,” says Kate Stenberg, violinist with Del Sol, “since we get to work directly with the composers. It was great to work with Elena (from Australia) and Leo Wadada Smith (from LA) and his percussionist Anthony Brown (from the Bay Area) for the first time and also with Keeril Makan again and new percussionist David Shively (from NY) for the piece. Plus, we got to explore the Estaciones de Luz, environmental maze sculpture by Mark Reeves (1984), out at the Djerassi. Ranch.”

Read the reviews: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/ce00b37c-ef88-11dc-8a17-0000779fd2ac.html & http://www.sfcv.org/2008/03/11/meeting-of-the-minds/

4. CD RELEASE AND CONCERTS (MAY)

Mark your calendars now. Our new CD, “Ring of Fire,” will be released soon. Come hear the music live at our concerts on May 2 (SF) and May 4 (Pt. Reyes Station), which include the “Spiral X: In Memoriam” piece by Chinary Ung that we premiered at the Library of Congress last year. Pieces by other contemporary Pacific Rim composers such as Hyo-shin Na, Kui Dong, and Jack Body are also on the program. Composer Chinary Ung will attend the SF concert on May 2 for the West Coast premiere of his piece.

5. Strings Magazine mention

Strings Magazine, April 2008 "News & Notes" column, page 23
Awards & Accolades
Eleven chamber-music ensembles, festivals, and presenters were honored for their adventurous programming by the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers at the annual Chamber Music America (CMA) National Conference in January. Among the recipients were the DEL SOL QUARTET (first place, Mixed Repertory), the SEATTLE CHAMBER PLAYERS (first place, New Music) and EARPLAY (2nd place tie, New Music).

6. New Board Member: Steve Pacheco

Steve Pacheco has joined the DSPAO board of directors, assisting with PR and Development. His day job is as a mobile software developer in Silicon Valley. He is always seeking out new live and recorded music and plans to take a music tour of Turkey in May. His meditation is his artwork, where he loses himself in watercolors.

Happy Year of the Rat

1. Preparing for Other Minds Festival 13
2. Rehearsals with Janice Garrett and Dancers
3. CD Release & Concerts
4. Report from CMA Conference in January
5. Review from 1/29 “Coming Together” concert

1. Preparing for Other Minds Festival 13

Other Minds Festival 13 is next week. Del Sol will be playing on Thursday and Saturday, March 6th and 8th. We are premiering a new string quartet by free jazz legend, Ishmael Wadada Leo Smith, with trumpet and percussion. Smith’s piece, “Taif: Prayer in the Garden of the Hijaz,” suggests a beautiful painting of the sun with colorful spots and ribbons. We have made a recording of an interpretation of a section of this piece and will be playing alongside it during the live performance on Thursday. On closing night, Saturday, March 8, we play works by two other composers — Keeril Makan’s “Static Rising” with percussion, and works by Elena Kats-Chernin with the composer at the piano.

2. Rehearsals with Janice Garrett and Dancers

We have already begun rehearsals with choreographer Charles Moulton and Janice Garrett & Dancers in preparation for our April 10-13 joint performance. We are being choreographed into the live production and learning how to dance and play our instruments at the same time -- not an easy task!



3. CD Release and Concerts (May)


Our new CD, “Ring of Fire,” will be released soon. Come hear the music live at our concerts on May 2 (SF) and May 4 (Pt. Reyes Station), which include the “Spiral X: In Memoriam” piece by Chinary Ung that we premiered at the Library of Congress last year. Pieces by other contemporary Pacific Rim composers such as Hyo-Shin Na, Kui Dong, and Jack Body are also on the program.

4. Report from CMA Conference in January

Charlton, Hannah, Jane (Board President), and Peter Robles (our new Bookings & Publicity agent from NYC-based Serious Music Media) attended the 2008 CMA conference, going to concerts, workshops, and networking with other musicians, presenters, composers, and publishers over four action-filled days. At the CMA/ASCAP awards ceremony, Hannah, Jane and Charlton accepted the First Prize for Adventurous Programming on behalf of Del Sol.

Charlton participated in a panel discussion with Frank Oteri, editor of New Music Box. Charlton explained, "New music is anything that hasn't been heard before by whoever's hearing it! Haydn can be new music as much as anything written yesterday." Hannah joined the San Francisco-based group, Melody of China, for a performance of Yuanlin Chen's Wandering in the Journey for the CMA Commissions showcase concert.

5. Review from 1/29 “Coming Together” concert

Our January 29 “Coming Together” performance in Berkeley, presented by Berkeley Chamber Performances, drew a capacity crowd and was reviewed glowingly in San Francisco Classical Voice.