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Apotheosis — In The Studio
A look in at Fantasy Studios as producer Wieslaw Pogorzelski (on monitor via Skype from Warsaw) and engineer Alberto Hernandez work with Zakarias Grafilo and Sandy Wilson on our upcoming recording, “Apotheosis — Mozart: The Four Final Quartets”:
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Betsy Jolas World Premiere at Tanglewood
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ASQ Poland Recap
It would be pointless to attempt to conceal that it’s more than two weeks now since the ASQ’s return from our invigorating, unforgettable and soon to be repeated (one hopes!) Polish tour. Untoward ending: UNITED AIRLINES dropped the ball in canceling our non-stop return UA 902 from Frankfurt to San Francisco with less than 12…
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On The Road in Poland
The trip to Rzeszow was challenging but fun. Our departure from Krakow’s Hotel Pod Roza was delayed because of a street marathon which route ran right in front of our hotel. The fact that the route was evidently a shortish circular one bringing the runners around every 15 minutes or so only dawned on us…
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From Gdansk to Rzeszow!
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Poland — Day One
The weekend preceding our two week European trip was about as intense as they come. Coming off a week spent in northwestern Pennsylvania in subzero weather, we returned to a week back home in San Francisco packed with preparations and distractions. These included a wonderful expansion campaign launch for one of our favorite San Francisco…
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Sandy’s Travel Blog #4: Homeward Bound
I’m sitting in the airport more than ready for the homebound trip. Portland has been as refreshingly verdant, cool and overcast as ever and has once more, however brief, provided a lovely and productive visit with some lovely folks. The sole purpose of this jog was to visit Allegro Media‘s enormous and super efficient head-offices…
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Sandy’s Travel Blog #3 — From Fort Worth to NYC to Portland!
The muggy thundery weather that greeted my on my arrival in DFW soon gave way to a gorgeous late-spring evening. By the time David Weuste and his lovely wife Emily had picked me up at my hotel and navigated the dense and hair-raising traffic from the mid-cities to downtown Fort Worth, it had set up…
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Sandy’s Travel Blog #2 — From the Klein Competition to Fort Worth
Wrapping up the Klein competition on Sunday afternoon was a nerve-wracking experience. The final round in SFSU’s Knuth Hall was attended by a capacity crowd of enthusiasts, supporters, disappointed but well-wishing semi-finalists and in many cases family members too. The sequence of performances, drawn by ballot yielded two cellists before a brief intermission and the…
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Sandy’s Travel Blog #1
The ASQ is taking a week off from our summer routine. There’ll be some sacrosanct vacation time with families coming later in July and August but for the meantime, we are taking a little time out for some “rebooting.” Paul has left to spend a week in Florida with his family and to be with…
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Ensemble Magazine Reviews Brahms & Schumann: The Piano Quintets
Ensemble Magazine has a wonderful feature of our new Brahms & Schumann: The Piano Quintets recording with Joyce Yang. Below is an English translation of the German review: The Alexander String Quartet is particularly renowned for having helped build and establish numerous young and emerging professional string quartets at San Francisco’s State University yet unfortunately,…
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Sandy Reflects on the SF Performances Britten Series
It has been fascinating to return after almost a year to Benjamin Britten’s string quartets, paired with the works of his wartime contemporaries and to measure the impact that this transcendental music has had on the ASQ. Only last winter we began our four concert survey at San Francisco’s Herbst Theater with Bob Greenberg for…
