Education

Education is a key part of Del Sol's mission to heighten the public's awareness and understanding of contemporary chamber music and make this art form more accessible. The group conducts a wide variety of educational activities, including short-term residencies, master classes, lectures, concerts, coaching, and collaborations with faculty and new music festivals at universities and schools throughout the United States.

QuartetFest

Del Sols' unique QuartetFest program is a nationally regarded model for coaching of young string players in chamber music performance. As one of the Bay Area's premier training workshops offered to serious young musicians, QuartetFest has served hundreds of students, ages 8-18, in the last 16 years. The program provides a superb opportunity for young string players to immerse themselves in the art of rehearsal and performance of the string quartet repertoire.

During this four-day workshop, students engage in intensive playing of string quartets ranging from the early music of Antonio Vivaldi to contemporary, living composers such as John Adams. Del Sol Quartet members work intensively with the students, creating a musical journey of discovery and fun in an encouraging and energized environment. Interactive presentations by a special guest artist also focus on various dimensions of music making, including rhythm, voice and improvisation techniques.

Residencies

Del Sol also serves as faculty artists in residence and visiting artists at music festivals, symposia, and educational institutions. The group has participated in the University of New Mexico's Composer's Symposium, The 2010 Pacific Rim Festival, co-sponsored by the University of California at Santa Cruz and Brandeis University, the Walden School's Young Musicians Program in New Hampshire, the Lake Tahoe Music Festival Academy in California, and the Hot Springs Music Festival in Arkansas.

Del Sol also has performed and lectured as visiting artists and held short-term residencies at the Manhattan School of Music, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, University of California at Berkeley and at Santa Cruz, as well as Dartmouth College, Northeastern University, MIT, Brandeis and the University of New Mexico.

Del Sol also is engaged periodically as coaching faculty in sessions sponsored by the Chamber Musicians of Northern California at California State University, Hayward and at California State University, Fresno, both for pre- professional, collegiate students and for adult amateurs.

Lecture/Demonstrations

Del Sol regularly invites its audiences to pre-concert lectures, explaining and illuminating the music being performed, often joined by the featured composers. The Quartet's Home Season concert series always include additional, free outreach events at local schools or other public venues.

The Quartet also has given lectures and performances by invitation from presenters such as the San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music series, San Francisco Libraries, Fremont Symphony Family Concert series, Music at Kohl Mansion, Young Audiences of the Bay Area, American Composers Forum, and San Francisco Performances, the City's largest independent concert presenter.

Composing Together Program

Since the Fall of 2008 the Quartet has collaborated with composer and music educator, Katrina Wreede, to create the unique, semester-long "Composing Together" program. Targeted at traditionally under-served middle and high school students in Bay Area public schools, the program involves the students in the creative process of music composition. Each class works closely with Ms. Wreede in small, interactive group sessions to create several student compositions, which Del Sol rehearses with the student composers and performs in a final concert for the entire school at the end of the semester.

Concert Programs for Public Schools

Del Sol has been active in youth outreach since 1995, performing more than 300 concerts for over 30,000 students at local schools. With an emphasis on pieces by living composers, the Quartet brings the vitality of music today into the classroom. Del Sol has performed shows annually at dozens of public elementary schools throughout the Bay Area. In addition, members of the Quartet visit classrooms for an in-depth introduction to the chamber music genre and instruments. The Quartet also has performed in Kohl Mansion's prestigious Family Concert series, and "Strings Magazine" has published a full-length article about Del Sol's outreach programs.


Sample School Programs*

Peace Through Music

This presentation challenges students to listen critically to musical examples while learning about ways to lead more peaceful lives. Students are introduced to new ways of compromising with peers; shown how conflict, political protest, peace and celebration are portrayed in music; and exposed to composers who blend the music of different cultures.

The Del Sol Express

Featuring musical maps and a colorful scrap book of sights and sounds from Latin America, this fast-paced program takes the young listener to Mexico, Peru and Argentina, returning via Cuba and the Caribbean. The audience travels along, too, with a phrase-book and map. Math, History, Geography, Literature and Art come to life in Del Sol's interactive, musical show that captures the imagination of each child.

* These 45-minute programs were developed with Music at Kohl Mansion. All programs come with a Guide that can be used as a source for classroom projects, both before and after concerts. All areas of the curriculum are embraced, with games, puzzles and activities that encourage a cross-disciplinary approach to learning.