Kobo Sessions #1: Del Sol Quartet x Sake Masters

Kobo Sessions are set in an intimate location, with a small audience capacity to offer deeper experience of music and culture from contemporary Japan. This event blends chamber music, sake tasting, and talks by Sake masters, accompanied by a bento box dinner to explore the sound and taste of Japan through a unique, interactive format.

Date: May 17th, 2025 at 6pm
Location: San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Barbro Osher Hall
Admission: $150 with Sake Tasting, $125 without Sake Tasting. Tickets includes chamber music program, talks by sake masters, and a bento box dinner by Hanaizumi Japanese Restaurant

Collaborators: Del Sol Quartet
David Sakamoto from Jizake Quest, Oakland
Yoshihiro Sako from Den Sake Brewery, Oakland
Jake Myrick and Noriko Kamei from Sequoia Sake, San Francisco
Todd Eng, Sake master, discussion moderator
Hanaizumi Japanese Restaurant

Huang Ruo’s beloved Angel Island returns to the Bay Area, this time with Oakland Ballet, featuring new choreography by Natasha Adorlee, Phil Chan, Lawrence Chen, Ye Feng, Elaine Kudo, Ashley Thopiah, and Wei Wang! Musically, we are reunited with Volti and conductor Dr. Wei Cheng.

Del Sol members Charlton Lee & Kathryn Bates will join UCSC musicians for an evening of new works, including compositions by Nina Barzegar, Michael Fleming, Dohyun Jeon, and Maisha Lani.

TICKETS - currently sold out

Celebrate the creativity, brilliance, and legacy of Cuban-born American composer, conductor and educator Tania León in a special evening featuring Grammy-winning violinist Jennifer Koh and Chamber Music America Award-winning Del Sol String Quartet. Jennifer Koh, joined by her long-time collaborator Thomas Sauer, will present the world premiere of León’s McKim Commission at the Library of Congress. In the second half, the Del Sol String Quartet will perform León’s “Esencia para Cuarteto de Cuerdas” (2009), performed on the Library’s renowned Stradivari instruments.

Pre-concert conversation with the artists
6:30 pm
Whittall Pavilion

Schedule

Program
MAURICE RAVEL
Sonata in G major for Violin & Piano

TANIA LEÓN
Anima (2020)

ANGÉLICA NEGRÓN
Cooper and Emma (2020)

TANIA LEÓN
new work (2024)

REENA ESMAIL
Zeher (2013)

BEN JOHNSTON
String Quartet No. 4 “Amazing Grace” (1973)

TANIA LEÓN
Esencia para cuarteto de cuerdas (2009)

Details

The exciting release of SPELLLING’s latest album “Portrait of My Heart”, the third SPELLLING album with strings by Del Sol.

Listen & Buy

Experience the live phenomenaon of The Resonance Between, as it returns to the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

“The whole of nature come together…lifting your soul in pure joy” - News India Times
Voted amongst the Best Albums of the Year by Songlines Magazine.

Tickets

A dazzling collaboration created by Alam Khan and Arjun K. Verma, the Resonance Between deftly blends the resonant splendor of the Indian Classical tradition and Western Classical harmony, with composer Jack Perla. Featuring Del Sol Quartet and Nilan Chaudhuri.

theresonancebetween.com

RESERVE YOUR SEAT -

March 15, 2024 @ 12 PM (1 show only)

Program: Celebrating Women’s History Month

A concert by the Del Sol String Quartet in partnership with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), will present a concert highlighting female voices of Angel Island.

• Highlight of important women who lived, worked, were detained on Angel Island or who helped save its history

• Concert of female composers including Reena Esmail & Tania Leon

• Art Installation curated by Andi Wong, including artwork by Flo Oy Wong

• Children activities in the Hospital Building

*Exact time of the concert is subject to change based on ferry schedule changes

The event is free with admission to the Detention Barracks Museum ($5 adult, $3 youth).

Click here to sign up and attend the concert.

PLEASE NOTE:

This involves a fun ferry ride!*** Please check ferry for most up-to-date times.

DEPARTURE:
San Francisco: 10:15AM
TIburon: 10AM & 11AM

POST-CONCERT

return to SF: 3:20PM & 4:50PM
return to Tiburon: 1:20PM & 3:20PM

We suggest you visit AIISF’s website to plan your visit. You take a ferry from Tiburon or San Francisco. Then you bike, walk, or tram to the immigration station. The show times are arranged to accommodate the ferry schedules.

If you need extra help figuring this out, don’t let it stop you from coming. Call us at email kathryn@delsolquartet.com.

As part of our residency at the University of Iowa School of Music, Del Sol will participate in workshops and talks with University of Iowa students and faculty. Sponsored in collaboration with UI’s Center for Asian and Pacific Studies

7:30pm Concert @ Recital Hall (2301 VOX)

Reena Esmail (b.1983, USA): Zeher (2018) (9')
Tania León (b.1943, Cuba/USA) Esencia (2009)(6')
iii.Agua de Manantiel (6')
Chinary Ung (b. 1942, Cambodia/USA): Spiral X: “In Memoriam"(2007) (12')
Huang Ruo (b.1976, USA/China): ANGEL ISLAND – Oratorio for Voices and String Quartet (2021, rev.2023)
i. Chinese Massacre of 1871 (8')
Ben Johnston (1926-2019, USA): String Quartet no. 4 “Amazing Grace” (1973) (12')

As part of our residency at the University of Missouri Kansas City, Del Sol will perform new works by UMKC student composers.

Viskamol Chaiwanichisiri (Thailand/USA): (re)Spark (2024) (8') *WORLD PREMIERE
Hang Qu: The Lament of Ancient Relics (7')*WORLD PREMIERE
Ian Y. Chung: For Stars Fell Asleep Too Song (2025) (6')*WORLD PREMIERE
Edmund Song: Marionettes (8')*WORLD PREMIERE
Yingting Liu: Keep in Touch (2025) (7')*WORLD PREMIERE
John Zhu: A Dance on Strings (8')*WORLD PREMIERE

Reena Esmail (b.1983, USA): Zeher (2018) (9')
Tania León (b.1943, Cuba/USA) Esencia (2009)(6')
iii.Agua de Manantiel (6')
Ben Johnston (1926-2019, USA): String Quartet no. 4 “Amazing Grace” (1973) (12')

Nebraskans! Join us for a night of music at the Lincoln Friends of Chamber Music.

Program
Shelley Washington: Say
Reena Esmail: Zeher
Tania León: Esencia
Huang Ruo: excerpts from Angel Island
Chinary Ung: Spirlal X
Ben Johnston: String Quartet no. 4 “Amazing Grace”

Tickets & Info

We are excited to announce Del Sol Quartet as one of Chamber Music America’s inaugural Ensembles in Residence! The Quartet will be presenting a program (TBA) as part of CMA’s Friday Festival event.

More info

Admission to the evening performances, beginning at 8:00pm, is included with conference registration. Concert-only tickets are available for non-conference attendees.

Del Sol is honored to be a part of the West Coast premiere of Kendrick Scott’s multimedia project Unearthed. Combining poetry, visuals, string quartet, and a jazz ensemble, this moving work memorializes the Sugar Land 95 – the 95 unidentified Black prisoners and forced laborers found buried in the Texas town of Sugar Land in 2018.

More Info & Tickets

Carla Kihlstedt and Del Sol Quartet will perform Kihlstedt’s 26 Little Deaths, inspired by Edward Gorey’s macabre alphabet book, The Gashlycrumb Tinies. Moving between art song, pop song, and cabaret, this hour-long song cycle captures the pathos, humor, and wit of Gorey’s iconic images.

More info

Buy tickets

Del Sol will perform a concert as part of our annual ChamberFest, including a new work by guest composer Shane Cook.

Program (subject to change):
Shane Cook: New Work (2024)
Ben Johnston: String Quartet no. 4 “Amazing Grace”
Reena Esmail: Zeher
Tania León: Esencia

Learn about ChamberFest!

To celebrate National Angel Island Day

Outdoor pop-up with art, music by Del Sol members, and poets Genny Lim and Nellie Wong.

Meet at Willie McCovey Statue https://maps.app.goo.gl/YxjMo2p9Jqy31eWh9

RESERVE YOUR SEAT

December 14, 2024 @ 12pm

Program: Korean experience on Angel Island

The Del Sol String Quartet, in partnership with Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation (AIISF), will present a concert highlighting the Korean American immigrant experience in the Bay Area. The concerts will take place at the Angel Island Immigration Station Detention Barracks and is part of the first musical series Angel Island has ever hosted. Each concert of the series highlights a cultural group that immigrated to the United States through Angel Island.

On December 14, 2024, Del Sol violinist Hyeyung Sol Yoon curates a program that explores the long history of Korean immigration to San Francisco, from those seeking refuge from Japanese-occupied Korea in the early 20th century to more recent immigration taking place post-1965. The program will feature San Francisco-based Korean composer Jungyoon Wie’s “Han”, which incorporates traditional Korean lullaby and an elegy that represents the complexity of han, a feeling of collective unresolved anger, grief, and regret amongst the Korean people. The concert will also feature newly-created pieces by gamin and Hyeyung Sol Yoon inspired by the responses of Joy from Korean-American elders of the Korean Community Center of East Bay’s Jikimee Senior Leadership Program.

*Exact time of the concert is subject to change based on ferry schedule changes

The event is free with admission to the Detention Barracks Museum ($5 adult, $3 youth).

PLEASE NOTE:

This involves a fun ferry ride!

DEPARTURE:
San Francisco: 10:15AM
TIburon: 10AM & 11AM

POST-CONCERT

return to SF: 3:20PM
return to Tiburon: 1:20PM & 3:20PM

We suggest you visit AIISF’s website to plan your visit. You take a ferry from Tiburon or San Francisco. Then you bike, walk, or tram to the immigration station. The show times are arranged to accommodate the ferry schedules.

If you need extra help figuring this out, don’t let it stop you from coming. Call us at 415 374 0074 or email info@delsolquartet.com.

Peninsula Jewish Community Center “Up Close Program” includes music by Derek David, Jungyoon Wie, and more.

The 60 minute program is followed by a “Meet the Artists” reception.

More info

CANCELLED

Join us at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music on November 7 for a night of music by Michael Gilbertson, including the world premiere of his new piece for string quartet and ondes martenot, an electronic musical instrument invented in the late 1920’s.

The world premiere of Matthew Welch’s 50 minute String Quartet # 3 Terra Incognita

Program also includes the premiere of Eudimorphodon, Welch’s new bagpipe/sax duo with Dan Plonsey

From Matthew:

Terra Incognita is my monolithic treatise in harmony, counterpoint and structure. This minimalist tome was slowly composed over the course of five years. The contrapuntal lines of Observing Organisms grow directly out of the harmonies explored in Fossil Formations. My third work string quartet, this one is fashioned into two movements that are respectively slow (30 min) and fast (20 min).  Terra Incognita is dedicated to my son Mason Reid Welch-Lueck. 

"Ka-plunk Ka-plunk" A spooky historic tale from Angel Island State Park

When Fri, October 4, 9:00am – 9:45am

Join us at Angel Island State Park for a spooky retelling of a real newspaper story that happened in 1907 on the island. Learn about the "devil" of Angel Island that went ka-plunk ka-plunk in the night...

After a choose-your-own-adventure retelling of the historic tale, learn about the history behind Angel Island's quarantine station and its connections to the military and medical history of the time. With special musical guests from Del Sol Quartet.

Pre-registration is required: https://ports-ca.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_dFqqpmxZQt-TWWJw4H3k9Q

Join us in celebrating the Inaugural Cambodia Day, a music and culture festival presented by A Khmer Buddhist Foundation and Water Buffalo Pictures in partnership with Cafe Du Nord and Union Square Alliance. Taking place in San Francisco’s historic Union Square, this event unites the Khmer community to showcase Cambodia’s rich culture, arts, and music to a diverse local and international audience.

Del Sol will be performing Cambodian-American composer Chinary Ung’s piece, Spiral X: “In Memoriam” in the middle of the morning set, which will be between 10:30am and 12:45pm.

This is a free, day long event, with encouraged RSVP.

More info

RSVP here

Join us in celebrating the birthday of Asian American poet, rabble rouser, feminist activist, revolutionary leader, and now nonagenarian Nellie Wong! Festivities include readings, tributes, music, and the release of her new book of poetry, Nothing Like Freedom.

Del Sol will be performing a selection of music around 1:30pm.

In lieu of gifts, Nellie would appreciation donations towards Bay Area Freedom Socialist Party projects. Link: https://bit.ly/Nellie90donation

Hosted by Freedom Socialist Party
For more info, please call 415-864-1278 or email BayAreaFSP@socialism.com

September 14, 2024 @ 2PM

Program: amplifying the Jewish experience on Angel Island
Featuring Derek David in his String Quartet no.4, “Kaddish” and performances of Yiddish Folk Songs, with additional music by Ljova, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Jerome Kern.

The event is free with admission to the Detention Barracks Museum ($5 adult, $3 youth).

PLEASE NOTE:

This involves a fun ferry ride!

We suggest you visit AIISF’s website to plan your visit. You take a ferry from Tiburon or San Francisco. Then you bike, walk, or tram to the immigration station. The show times are arranged to accommodate the ferry schedules.

If you need extra help figuring this out, don’t let it stop you from coming. Call us at 415 374 0074 or email info@delsolquartet.com.

September 14, 2024 @ 11:30AM

Program: amplifying the Jewish experience on Angel Island
Featuring Derek David in his String Quartet no.4, “Kaddish” and performances of Yiddish Folk Songs, with additional music by Ljova, Gabriela Lena Frank, and Jerome Kern.

The event is free with admission to the Detention Barracks Museum ($5 adult, $3 youth).

PLEASE NOTE:

This involves a fun ferry ride!

We suggest you visit AIISF’s website to plan your visit. You take a ferry from Tiburon or San Francisco. Then you bike, walk, or tram to the immigration station. The show times are arranged to accommodate the ferry schedules.

If you need extra help figuring this out, don’t let it stop you from coming. Call us at 415 374 0074 or email info@delsolquartet.com.