Feb. 8: Telegraph Quartet Performs “From the Heart” – Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution here.
Telegraph Quartet Performing From the Heart
Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
Featuring the Music of Franz Joseph Haydn,
Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm
Constellations Music Salon | 8817 Belmart Rd. | Potomac, MD
Tickets and More Information
Telegraph Quartet’s New Album
20th Century Vantage Points Vol. 2: Edge of the Storm Out Now
Review downloads & CDs available upon request.
"precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication" – The Strad
Potomac, MD – On Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm, the Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello), a group The New York Times describes as “full of elegance and pinpoint control,” is presented in concert by Constellations Chamber Concerts (8817 Belmart Rd.).
Known for technical prowess and an appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet brings its fluid synchronicity and refined artistry to a program showcasing an array of musical styles, titled From the Heart, featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1 –– for which the Telegraph Quartet will be joined by pianist and Constellations Artistic Director Ellen Hwangbo –– and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.
“This program, From the Heart, features works from each composer that taps into the deeply heartfelt expression possible through the intimacy of the string quartet. The first, by Haydn, while overtly optimistic in both the first and third movements, plumbs deep sorrow in its second movement and transcendence in the ruminations of the unconventionally slow fourth movement. Grażyna Bacewicz finds herself coming into her voice with the Piano Quintet, a period where she is reconnecting with how music can represent emotion deeply, contrary to her previously held beliefs. We end with a deeply personal work by George Rochberg that followed the premature death of his teenage son. In order to fully express the breadth of emotion he felt was needed after this traumatic event, Rochberg found himself turning away from the calculating serialism of his earlier days, and opening up his palette to the styles of Late Beethoven and Mahler as a vessel to fully express his feelings, an act that was both brave and heretical at the time of its composition.“
The Telegraph Quartet formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. Described by the San Francisco Chronicle as “an incredibly valuable addition to the cultural landscape” and “powerfully adept… with a combination of brilliance and subtlety,” the Telegraph Quartet was awarded the prestigious 2016 Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the 2014 Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
In August 2023, the Telegraph Quartet released 20th Century Vantage Points: Divergent Paths, the first in a trilogy of recordings on Azica Records exploring the string quartets of the first half of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. Divergent Paths features two works that (to the best of the Quartet’s knowledge) have never been recorded on the same album before: Maurice Ravel’s String Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s String Quartet No. 1 in D minor, Op. 7. The Quartet’s new album, 20th Century Vantage Points: Edge of the Storm is out now on Azica Records. Read the press release online here. This second volume of the trilogy examines music from the turbulent war years of 1941-1951 and features a thoughtfully curated program of works by Grażyna Bacewicz, Benjamin Britten, and Mieczysław Weinberg.
More about Telegraph Quartet: The Quartet has performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Masters Series, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan.
Notable collaborations include projects with pianists Leon Fleisher and Simone Dinnerstein; cellists Norman Fischer and Bonnie Hampton; violinist Ian Swensen; and the St. Lawrence Quartet and Henschel Quartett. A fervent champion of 20th- and 21st-century repertoire, the Telegraph Quartet has premiered works by Osvaldo Golijov, John Harbison, Robert Sirota, and Richard Festinger.
Beyond the concert stage, the Telegraph Quartet seeks to spread its music through education and audience engagement. The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, through the Morrison Artist Series at San Francisco State University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts, National Taiwan Normal University, and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at the Interlochen Adult Chamber Music Camp, SoCal Chamber Music Workshop, and Crowden Music Center Chamber Music Workshop. In November 2020, the Telegraph Quartet launched ChamberFEAST!, a chamber music workshop in Taiwan. In fall 2020, Telegraph launched an online video project called TeleLab, in which the ensemble collectively breaks down the components of a movement from various works for quartet. In the summers of 2022 and 2024, the Telegraph Quartet traveled to Vienna to work with Schoenberg expert Henk Guittart in conjunction with the Arnold Schoenberg Center, researching all of Schoenberg's string quartets.
For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
Who: Telegraph Quartet
Presented by Constellations Chamber Concerts
What: Music by Franz Joseph Haydn, Grażyna Bacewicz, and George Rochberg
When: Sunday, February 8, 2026 at 3pm
Where: Constellations Music Salon, 8817 Belmart Rd, Potomac, MD 20854, USA
Tickets and information: constellationsmusic.org/event-details/telegraph-quartet
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group the San Francisco Chronicle describes as having “soulfulness, tonal beauty and intelligent attention to detail,” is presented in concert by Constellations Chamber Concerts. The ensemble will perform a program showcasing an array of musical styles titled, From the Heart, featuring Franz Joseph Haydn’s String Quartet in C Major, Op. 54 No. 2; Grażyna Bacewicz’s Piano Quintet No. 1 – for which they will be joined by pianist and Constellations Artistic Director Ellen Hwangbo – and George Rochberg’s String Quartet No. 3.