Math & Cultural

Harmonic Series: MSRI's 2015-16 Concert Series presents

Galax Quartet

with Katherine Heater, harpsichord

Galax Quartet: Roy Whelden, viola de gamba; David Morris, cello; Elizabeth Blumenstock, violin; David Wilson, violin

with Katherine Heater, harpsichord

October 8, 2015, 5:15-6:15pm 

MSRI, 17 Gauss Way in Berkeley, CA

Free and open to the public!

About Galax Quartet

Four early string players, each an international performer, join together to revive a unusual string quartet setup from the 18th century, continuing today with the creation of new music...

About David Wilson

Baroque violinist David Wilson has performed extensively with period instrument ensembles in the United States and Europe, including Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, the Portland Baroque Orchestra, and the Los Angeles Baroque Orchestra. A co-founder of the Bloomington Early Music Festival, he also performs regularly at the Boston Early Music Festival, the Berkeley Early Music Festival, and the San Luis Obispo Mozart Festival. He has taught Baroque violin at Indiana University. He is the author of Georg Muffat on Performance Practice published by Indiana University Press. (Order here from IU Press.)

About Elizabeth Blumenstock

Elizabeth Blumenstock is a frequent soloist, concertmaster, and leader with San Francisco’s Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and American Bach Soloists, and is concertmaster of the International Handel Festival in Göttingen, Germany.  Her chamber affiliations include Musica Pacifica, Ensemble Mirable, and Galax Quartet, among others.  She is Director of the Corona del Mar Baroque Music Festival and the new Los Angeles-based ensemble Les Surprises Baroques, and teaches at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.

About Roy Wheldon

Composer and performer on the viola da gamba, Roy Whelden has been called "a key figure in the world of new music" (Early Music America). He has been profiled as a composer and gambist on Minnesota Public Radio.  He has made many recordings including the award winning Shock of the Old, and Galax - music for viola da gamba (New Albion 059) as well as Like a Passing River (New Albion 072). (These are available on iTunes and Amazon.com.) He has performed and recorded with many internationally known ensembles, including Sequentia, American Baroque and Ensemble Alcatraz.

About David Morris

David Morris has performed with Tafelmusik, Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra, American Bach Soloists, the Los Angeles, Portland and Seattle Baroque Orchestras, Musica Angelica and the Mark Morris Dance Company. He was the founder and musical director of the Bay Area baroque opera ensemble Teatro Bacchino, and has produced operas for the Berkeley Early Music Festival and the San Francisco Early Music Society series.

About Katherine Heater

Since 1996, harpsichordist, fortepianist, and organist Katherine Heater has made her home in the San Francisco Bay Area where she is a frequent performer with early music groups such as Magnificat, Mazzetto and Voices of Music. Ms. Heater received her B.A. in music from UC Berkeley and her M.M. in historical performance from Oberlin Conservatory. Thanks to fellowships from her alma mater and Philanthropic Ventures Foundation, Ms. Heater studied early keyboards at the Sweelinck Conservatorium in Amsterdam. She has taught at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Jose State University, UC Santa Cruz, San Francisco School of the Arts and The Crowden School, as well as at three of the San Francisco Early Music Society’s summer workshops.

Financial support for this concert has been received from the Zellerbach Family Foundation and from the Musical Grant Program administered by the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, supported by the Heller Foundation, the Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Foundation and San Francisco Grants for the Arts.

MSRI's 2015-16 Harmonic Series

Sept. 17, 2015: The Honey-doos, http://tinyurl.com/honey-doos

Oct. 8, 2015: Galax Quartet, http://tinyurl.com/galaxquartet

Feb. 18, 2016: Left Coast Chamber Ensemble, http://tinyurl.com/leftcoastchamber

Apr. 21, 2016: Pete Muller ensemble, coming soon!