March 3: Telegraph Quartet Presented by New Millennium Concert Series Performing Music by Beethoven and Kenji Bunch with Music Analysis by Musicologist Derrick Katz
Photo of the Telegraph Quartet by Lisa Marie Mazzucco available in high resolution here.
The Telegraph Quartet
Presented by New Millennium Concert Series
Performing Music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Kenji Bunch
with Music Analysis by Musicologist Derrick Katz
of the University of California, Santa Barbara
Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 7pm
California State University, Sacramento
Capistrano Hall | 6000 J Street | Sacramento, CA
Tickets and Information
"precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication" – The Strad
Sacramento, CA – 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” – will be presented in concert by New Millennium Concert Series at CSUS Capistrano Hall (6000 J Street) on Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 7:pm.
Known for their technical prowess and appreciation for the history behind music, the Telegraph Quartet bring their fluid synchronicity and refined artistry to two works shaped by external influences, both musical and cultural. Ludwig van Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 is the first of his “Razumovsky” quartets, nicknamed for Prince Razumovsky, the Russian ambassador to Vienna who commissioned Beethoven to write these pieces, asking him to include a Russian theme in each of the Quartets. Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 5, Music for a Shared Space includes encrypted material as well, and includes beautiful lines from the second movement of the W.A. Mozart’s divertimenti which pulse throughout the work, culminating in a joyous, rocking final anthem. The Telegraph has recorded Bunch’s complete string quartets for release on Phenotypic Records, later this year.
For this concert, musicologist Derrick Katz of the University of California, Santa Barbara will join the Telegraph Quartet to give an in-depth musical analysis of Beethoven’s String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1, further underscoring the compositional intricacy and rich artistic expression that Beethoven built into this work.
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.
Of these magnificent quartets, the Telegraph Quartet says:
“In both of these quartets we find Bunch and Beethoven, posing themselves the unique challenge of using music that was not their own in such unique and clever ways, whether that is Beethoven's cheerful recasting of a somber Russian theme he had been required to include by his patron Prince Razumovsky or Bunch's sweet tongue-and-cheek reimagining of a Mozart Divertimento as an R&B viola improv. We are also very excited to delve into many more nitty-gritty details like this in the Beethoven with the help of Derrick Katz as a way to deepen the experience of these pieces with our audiences!”
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.
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.
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 New Millennium Concert Series
What: Music by Ludwig van Beethoven and Kenji Bunch
When: Tuesday, March 3, 2026 at 7pm
Where: California State University, Sacramento Capistrano Hall, 6000 J Street Sacramento, CA, 95819
Tickets and information: https://www.csus.edu/college/arts-letters/music/spotlight/new-millennium.html
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group “full of elegance and pinpoint control” (The New York Times), is presented in concert by the New Millenium Concert Series. The ensemble will perform a concert program featuring the expressive and thematically inspired String Quartet No. 7 in F Major, Op. 59 No. 1 by Beethoven and Kenji Bunch’s String Quartet No. 5. Musiclogist Derrick Katz of UC Santa Barbara will join the quartet to give an in-depth analysis of Beethoven’s string quartet.