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Dawn Wolski performs with SSQ Nov. 20

Soprano Dawn Wolski launches the “All in the Family” portion of the Spokane String Quartet season at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 20, at the Bing Crosby Theater.

Wolski, wife of SSQ first violinist Mateusz Wolski, will perform “…oder soll es Tod bedeuten?” (English translation: “…or should it mean death?”), which is eight lieder and one fragment by Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy arranged by Aribert Reimann. Dawn has performed around the world and recently left the Inland Northwest Opera after five years as its director. Her glowing reviews included for the Brahms Requiem in Stamford, Connecticut, in which she “delivered lines…with an elegance that produced chills” and Carmina Burana with the New York City Collegiate Chorale where she was “ravishing, all the way up to a crystal clear high D.”

Also on the program is “Carrot Revolution” by 21st century composer Gabriella Smith and String Quartet No. 13 in A Minor, Op. 29, D. 804 “Rosamunde” by Franz Schubert.

All seats are general admission. Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors, and free for people under 18 and students with ID. Tickets are available at the door or through TicketsWest.

Season tickets on sale!

Season tickets are on sale for the Spokane String Quartet’s 2022-23 season. The season brochure will be mailed the week of Aug. 1. Season tickets, which give you five concerts for the price of four, will be $100 for adults and $80 for seniors. Students with ID will be admitted free this season. All seats are general admission.

Order tickets by mailing in the form that is part of the season brochure, or visit our secure online site at https://spokanestringquartet.square.site/.

Season tickets will be mailed beginning in September. Tickets for individual concerts will be on sale beginning in September at TicketsWest outlets for $25 adults and $20 for seniors. Students will be admitted free by showing their ID at the Bing Crosby Theater when they arrive at the concert. The box opens at 2 p.m. and the concerts begin at 3 p.m.

New season starts Oct. 16

The Spokane String Quartet launches its 2022-23 season Oct. 16 at the Bing Crosby Theater. Season brochures will be in the mail by the end of July.

All five concerts this season will be at the Bing Crosby Theater. The theme for the season is “All in the Family,” and guest artists will include Quartet spouses Dawn Wolski (soprano), Chip Phillips (clarinet) and Leonard Byrne (tuba). Click here for the season schedule.

SSQ closes season May 22 with violist James Marshall

The Spokane String Quartet closes its 2021-22 season at 3 p.m. Sunday, May 22, with a concert featuring Spokane Symphony violist James Marshall.

Click here to buy tickets.

Marshall is guest performer on Brahms’ Viola Quintet No. 2 in G Major. Also on the program are String Quartet in E-flat Major by Joseph Haydn and String Quartet No. 10 by Dmitri Shostakovich.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors and $12 for students. All seats are general admission. Tickets are available via TicketsWest and at the door the day of the concert.

String Quartet looks to spring March 20 ‘on a lark’

The Spokane String Quartet looks to see its first lark of spring at its next concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 20, at The Bing Crosby Theater.

The concert features:

• Jennifer Higdon: An Exaltation of Larks
• Joseph Haydn:  String Quartet in D Major, Op. 64 No. 5,  “The Lark”
• Bedrich Smetana: String Quartet No. 1 in E Minor, “From My Life”

Tickets are $20 for Adults, $16 for Seniors and $12 for Students. Click here to buy tickets online.

SSQ celebrates Black History Month

Derrick ParkerThe Spokane String Quartet is observing Black History Month at its Sunday, Feb. 20, concert with music by Black composers and a guest appearance by bass-baritone Derrick Parker. The concert begins at 3 p.m. at the Bing Crosby Theater.

Parker has performed with opera companies and orchestras across the country. He is no stranger to Spokane audiences, where he now makes his home. He has performed in several local opera productions and soloed with the Spokane Symphony. He will sing Samuel Barber’s arrangement of the Matthew Arnold poem “Dover Beach.”

Also on the program are English composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s “Five Fantasy Pieces for String Quartet”; String Quartet No. 1 by George Walker, the first person of color to win the Pulitzer Prize for Music; and the “Rosa Parks Quartet” by contemporary Haitian-American composer Daniel Bernard Roumain, who goes by his initials, DBR. Roumain has collaborated with artists ranging from Philip Glass to Lady Gaga.

Tickets are $20 for adults, $16 for seniors and $10 for students. All seats are general admission and are available at TicketsWest or at the door before the concert. Click here to buy tickets. Proof of vaccination or a negative COVID test is required for entry into the theater.

Pianist Archie Chen joins SSQ for Nov. 21 concert at The Fox

Spokane native and internationally known pianist Archie Chen visits the Spokane String Quartet for a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 21, at the Martin Woldson Theater at The Fox. He and the SSQ will perform Dvorak’s Piano Quintet in A Major, Op. 81. Click here to buy tickets.

Chen is a graduate of Indiana University and the Royal Irish Academy of Music, Dublin, Ireland, where he resided for 15 years before returning to Spokane in 2019. Dr. Chen’s performances have led him to the most prestigious venues throughout the United States, Asia and Europe. A charismatic and commanding performer of solo and chamber music repertoire, he is noted for his warm tone, a dazzling technique and his unusual and compelling interpretations. Chen served as Assistant Professor of Piano at the Royal Irish Academy of Music for many years and along with his wife Rhona Gouldson, is co-founder and CEO of both the Dublin International Piano Festival and the International Piano Academy of Ireland.

Also on the program is music by Ludwig von Beethoven and contemporary Canadian composer Vivian Fung.