Jan. 15: The Jasper String Quartet and Jupiter String Quartet Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley – Performing Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg, Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
The Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper Quartet
Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley
Performing Music by
Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg,
Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm
First United Methodist Church | 625 Randolph Street | Napa, CA
Tickets and Information
“an ensemble of eloquent intensity, has matured into one of the mainstays of the American chamber-music scene.” – The New Yorker
www.jasperquartet.com | www.jupiterquartet.com
Napa, CA – On Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm, the Jasper String Quartet, which The Strad describes as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling”—and the Jupiter String Quartet – internationally acclaimed winners of the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, who are known for their “compelling” performances (BBC Music Magazine) – will be presented together in concert by Chamber Music Napa Valley in First United Methodist Church (625 Randolph Street).
The Jasper and Jupiter quartets celebrate many years of deep connections that go beyond the joy of playing music together. There are siblings – J Freivogel from the Jasper is the younger brother of Jupiter members Meg and Liz Freivogel; and spouses – Rachel Henderson Freivogel and J are married in the Jasper, and Daniel McDonough and Meg are married in the Jupiter, all with a spirit of friendship and unity forged together in performance. In 2021, the two quartets celebrated the release of a collaborative album on Marquis Classics, produced by GRAMMY® Award-winner Judith Sherman, which features Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, a work the groups will perform together as part of this concert program.
The two quartets bring their combined musical prowess to four works shaped by vivid imagery, lived experiences, and emotive compositional style. The program takes listeners on a journey across four centuries.Selections include: String Quartet in C Major, Op. 33 No. 3 “The Bird” by Franz Joseph Haydn (1781) performed by the Jupiter Quartet; Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht (1899), performed by members of the Jupiter and Jasper Quartets; Reinaldo Moya’s Yara (2025), performed by the Jasper Quartet; and Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20 (1825).
”It is such a joy to get to perform together with the Jasper Quartet,” says the Jupiter Quartet. “It is always special to collaborate with another string quartet, and the concerts we get to play with the Jaspers are a special pleasure because of our deep and long-term relationship to them. This connection always lends an extra energy to the experience of cooperative music making.”
“Our longstanding Jupiter and Jasper Quartet collaboration inspires tremendous creativity within our quartets, spurred by our deep musical and familial affinity,” says the Jasper Quartet. “Performing together for Chamber Music Napa Valley presents exciting premieres on many fronts - our first joint performance for the series, our first performance with wonderful new Jupiter Quartet violinist, Mélanie Clapiès, and the West Coast premiere of one of our Jasper SQ 2025-26 commissions, Yara, by composer Reinaldo Moya. It will be a thrilling evening!”
Watch the Jupiter and Jasper Quartets performing Felix Mendelssohn’s String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20 at Rockport Chamber Music Festival
Felix Mendelssohn composed his String Octet in E-flat Major, Op. 20, an intricate masterpiece, in 1825, at the age of sixteen. The work is known for its joyous energy. Rather than treating the two quartets as separate entities, Mendelssohn weaves all kinds of deft and subtle conversations among the eight musicians, in every possible combination.
The “Bird” is one of the most popular of Haydn’s six Opus 33 string quartets. It is filled with joy and playfulness, often imitating the sprightly and singsong qualities of birds (hence the nickname). Haydn’s good-natured creativity is on full display here, throughout the vivacity of the opening and closing movements, the quirky scherzo, and the wonderfully lyrical slow movement.
Verklärte Nacht (Transfigured Night) is one of Schoenberg’s most popular works. It is inspired by a poem of the same name, written by Richard Dehmel and published in the collection Weib und Welt (1896; “Woman and World”). The work is full of extreme drama and extraordinary beauty, and reflects vividly the struggle between despair and acceptance featured in the underlying poem. The journey leads gradually to a transformation from darkness into light.
Venezuelan-American composer Reinaldo Moya (b. 1984) is a graduate of Venezuela’s El Sistema music education system and of The Juilliard School. His works have been performed by orchestras worldwide and his music often reflects deeply expressive, personal, and thought-provoking messaging tied to lived experiences, intricate stories, and complex individuals. His new string quartet Yaya is inspired by María Lionza, the figure at the center of a legendary story and cult in Venezuelan culture. The Jasper Quartet gave the world premiere performance on October 16, 2025.
About the Jasper Quartet: Celebrated as one of the preeminent American string quartets of the twenty-first century, the prizewinning Jasper String Quartet is hailed as being “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet is highly regarded for its “programming savvy” (Cleveland Classical), which strives to evocatively connect the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire through thoughtful programs that appeal to a wide variety of audiences.
A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award (2012), the Quartet’s playing has been described as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including its most recent release, Insects and Machines: Quartets of Vivian Fung, named CMA’s 2025 Album of the Year. Strings Magazine praised the Quartet on the album as “intensely dramatic throughout demonstrating both their advocacy of new music and their transcendent mastery.” The Quartet’s 2017 release, Unbound, was named by The New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.
The Quartet will release new recordings in 2026, including Lamenting Earth with tenor Nicholas Phan and pianist Myra Huang, Reinaldo Moya’s Pájaros Garabatos with soprano Maria Brea, and an album of chamber works by Richard Festinger. In celebration of its Twentieth Anniversary in 2026-27, the Quartet has commissioned new works from composers Patrick Castillo, Brittany J. Green, Reinaldo Moya and Michelle Ross.
The Jasper String Quartet is passionate about connecting with audiences beyond the concert hall and is the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University’s Center for Gifted Young Musicians and Director of the annual Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute.
The Quartet is Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, a series in Philadelphia dedicated to encouraging curiosity, community, and inclusivity through world-class chamber performances. The Jasper String Quartet is named after Jasper National Park in Alberta, Canada and is represented by Suòno Artist Management. For more information, please visit jasperquartet.com
More About Jupiter String Quartet: The Jupiter Quartet has performed in some of the world’s finest halls, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, London’s Wigmore Hall, Boston’s Jordan Hall, Mexico City's Palacio de Bellas Artes, Washington, D.C.’s Kennedy Center and Library of Congress, Austria’s Esterhazy Palace, and Seoul’s Sejong Chamber Hall. Their major music festival appearances include the Aspen Music Festival and School, Bowdoin International Music Festival, Cape Cod Chamber Music Festival, Rockport Music Festival, Caramoor International Music Festival, Music at Menlo, Tucson Winter Chamber Music Festival, the Banff Centre, the Seoul Spring Festival, and many others. In addition to their performing career, they have been artists-in-residence at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign since 2012, where they maintain private studios and direct the chamber music program.
Their chamber music honors and awards include the grand prizes in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition; the Young Concert Artists International auditions in New York City; the Cleveland Quartet Award from Chamber Music America; an Avery Fisher Career Grant; and a grant from the Fromm Foundation. From 2007-2010, they were in residence at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center’s Chamber Music Two.
The Jupiter String Quartet feels a strong connection to the core string quartet repertoire; they have presented the complete Bartok and Beethoven string quartets on numerous occasions. Also deeply committed to new music, they have commissioned string quartets from Nathan Shields, Stephen Andrew Taylor, Michi Wiancko, Syd Hodkinson, Hannah Lash, Dan Visconti, and Kati Agócs; a quintet with baritone voice by Mark Adamo; and a piano quintet by Pierre Jalbert.
The quartet's latest album is a collaboration with the Jasper String Quartet (Marquis Classics, 2021), produced by Grammy-winner Judith Sherman. This collaborative album features the world premiere recording of Dan Visconti’s Eternal Breath, Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat, Op. 20, and Osvaldo Golijov’s Last Round. The Arts Fuse acclaimed, “This joint album from the Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet is striking for its backstory but really memorable for its smart program and fine execution.” The quartet’s discography also includes numerous recordings on labels including Azica Records and Deutsche Grammophon. In fall 2024, the Jupiter Quartet will record their next album with Judith Sherman, featuring the world premiere recordings of Michi Wiancko’s To Unpathed Waters, Undreamed Shores, Stephen Taylor’s Chaconne/Labyrinth, and Kati Agócs's Imprimatur, which were all composed for the Jupiters.
The quartet chose its name because Jupiter was the most prominent planet in the night sky at the time of its formation and the astrological symbol for Jupiter resembles the number four.
For more information, visit www.jupiterquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Description: The Jupiter Quartet, described by The New Yorker as “an ensemble of eloquent intensity,” and the Jasper String Quartet, which The Strad describes as “sonically delightful and expressively compelling,” are presented together in concert by Chamber Music Napa Valley. The two award-winning ensembles will perform a program that showcases their individual and collaborative quartet chemistries with emotive and intricate works written between the late 18th century and the present day – one of the works having its world premiere performance this past October. The concert program will include: Joseph Franz Haydn’s String Quartet Op. 33, No. 3 “Bird;” Arnold Schoenberg’s Verklärte Nacht; Reinaldo Moya’s Yara for String Quartet, and Felix Mendelssohn’s Octet in E-flat major, Op. 20.
Concert details:
Who: Jupiter String Quartet and Jasper String Quartet
Presented by Chamber Music Napa Valley
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Arnold Schoenberg, Reinaldo Moya, and Felix Mendelssohn
When: Thursday, January 15, 2026 at 7:30pm
Where: First United Methodist Church, 625 Randolph Street, Napa, CA 94559
Tickets and information: http://www.chambermusicnapa.org/this.html#jupiter