Alexander String Quartet in Concert April 3, 2010

San Francisco Performance's Ensemble-in-Residence, the Alexander String Quartet, will perform works by Mozart, Beethoven and contemporary composer Terry Riley.

The Alexander Quartet - violinists Zakarias Grafilo and Frederick Lifsitz, violist Paul Yarbrough and cellist Sandy Wilson - has been Ensemble-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances since 1989, the result of a unique three-way partnership between SFP, San Francisco State University and the May T. Morrison Chamber Music Center. They are also Quartet-in-Residence at San Francisco State University.

The complete program for the concert will be: MOZART: String Quartet in D minor, K. 499; RILEY: Mythic Birds Waltz; BEETHOVEN: String Quartet in B-flat Major, Opus 130.

Terry Riley, who trained at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and UC Berkeley, created "Mythic Birds Waltz" in 1983. The work opens with a jazz ballad that Riley improvised, and includes segments written for a larger work to be played by himself and sitarist Krishna Batt. "The piece's Indian rhythms shift into something closer to ragtime," comments Los Angeles Times music critic Mark Swed.

The Alexander Quartet also participates in San Francisco Performances' popular Saturday Morning Series with Music Historian-in-Residence Robert Greenberg. This season, they have been exploring works by Dvorak; the final installment will be on March 27.

The Alexander has appeared on SFP's mainstage Chamber Series nine times since 1990, in concerts that have featured soprano Elly Ameling, clarinetists Richard Stoltzman and Joan Enric Lluna, and pianists James Tocco and Menahem Pressler. They are also the cornerstone of SFP's Education Program in the public high schools.

Formed in New York City in 1981, the Alexander String Quartet is widely admired for its interpretations of Beethoven, Mozart and Shostakovich, as well as being an important advocate of new music through over 25 commissions and numerous premiere performances.

Official Website: http://www.performances.org