On April 19th Quartet San Francisco dazzled a full house at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater with a tour de force evening of tangos and other Latin-inspired music, augmented by fabulous dancers and percussion. Susan Bates presented SFFCM’s newest affiliate, and felt the ambiance in the responsive audience. “Jeremy spoke alluringly, his friendly anecdotes about each piece transforming Herbst Theater into an intimate cabaret.”

It was en route to a tour of Oregon and Washington that I was able to catch up with Quartet San Francisco: Emily Onderdonk (viola) driving, Jeremy Cohen (founder and first violinist) talking animatedly on his cell phone and Kayo Miki (2nd violin) concurring from the back seat. Cellist Joel Cohen would meet them at their destination, flying in from his home in Massachusetts. It’s an unusual set-up for a quartet, but since almost all their concerts are on tour, rehearsals take place in intense short spurts—creating an atmosphere of high energy, that complements their unique repertoire.

The history of QSF can be traced back to Jeremy’s double life as a student in New York. By day he trained as a classical violinist with Itzhak Perlman, by night he played in clubs. He has always felt a license to break the rules, and to bend the technical possibilities of the violin to better imitate the pop and jazz sounds he loves so much. A two-year stint with the Turtle Island String Quartet furthered his development of the crossover genre, and he has met with great success in creating a whole body of string arrangements.

With a library of music—Pink Panther, Blue Rondo, Libertango, music by Stevie Wonder and countless others—and a musical partnership with Emily forged through a year of AIM (Adventures in Music) concerts in S.F. schools, Quartet San Francisco was born in 2001. Soon their first CD was released, and the touring began. With presenters still somewhat nervous about hiring a quartet that doesn’t exactly play the classics, QSF have added traditional repertoire: this year Beethoven’s Op. 131, and Dvorak’s American Quartet. But it’s their special flare for dance music that has won QSF its critical acclaim.

As with all the music they play, the most important aspect is to deeply feel the music, understand the rhythmic gestures and find idiomatic techniques that translate the original (often guitar) to the violin family. In search of the “real thing”, QSF spent invaluable time in Argentina. Suddenly the groove of tango, with its note bending and “chicharra” (created by playing behind the bridge) emerged as a nuanced language, rather than a series of effects. Weeks steeped in the tango cafés of Buenos Aires, dancing and playing, hearing and breathing the music payed off. QSF were the winners of the 2004 New York City International Tango Competition.

A 2007 Grammy nomination for their album Latígo has launched this season auspiciously. Quartet San Francisco’s delight in music making and the infectious passion for what they play is communicated in recordings, in conversation, and in the concert hall.

Monica Scott (published in SFFCM's May 2007 newsletter)

N.B. The information contained in this article was correct at time of publication. Please refer to the date the article appeared in our newsletter.