Telegraph Quartet presents Second Viennese School of Music Festival at University of Michigan and in San Francisco - Free Concert Nov 6 in SF
Available in high resolution at: www.jensenartists.com/artists-profiles/telegraph-quartet
The Telegraph Quartet Presents Second Viennese Focus Festival
October 27-November 2: University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
November 6-7: San Francisco, CA
Culminating in Side-by-Side Performance with University of Michigan Students:
Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 7:30pm
Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA 94114
Free Reservations & Information
“precise tuning, textural variety and impassioned communication” – The Strad
Ann Arbor, MI & San Francisco, 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,” formed in 2013 with an equal passion for standard and contemporary chamber music repertoire. The ensemble is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance, and as part of their residency will present a two-part festival focused on the musical period that has long fascinated the group – the Second Viennese School, from early 20th century Vienna.
The Telegraph Quartet’s Second Viennese Focus Festival begins with a weeklong intensive from October 27-November 2, 2025 centered on the music of composers Arnold Schönberg and Anton Webern at the The University of Michigan, culminating in performances by the Telegraph Quartet and their students on November 1 and 2, 2025 at the University. Then, the group will travel with five selected students to San Francisco, where the Telegraph was formerly based at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, to present two side-by-side performances on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 7:30pm at Noe Valley Ministry and Friday, November 7, 2025 at Maybeck Studio in Berkeley, CA.
While the Maybeck Studio performance has limited capacity, the concert at Noe Valley Ministry (1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA) on Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 7:30pm is free and open to the public, with advance reservations. The program features tumultuously personal chamber music from the early 20th century – Webern’s Fünf Sätze for String Quartet, Op. 5 performed by a Telegraph Quartet member alongside the University of Michigan students, Bartók’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17 performed by the Telegraph, and Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht for String Sextet, Op. 4 performed by the Telegraph Quartet members with their students. All three of these masterworks express the unrest of the time period, as well as the personal unrest of the composers in their search for a new style of expression. Both Webern and Bartók’s early string quartets deal with dark material, from the former's mourning of his mother's passing to the latter's experiences of civilian life during World War I. Inspired by the then scandalous poetry of Richard Dehmel, Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht or Transfigured Night begins in despair and dread only to be utterly transformed by empathy and hope.
The University of Michigan students joining the Telegraph Quartet for these Bay Area performances are Frances Norton, Spencer Quarles, Adam Zeithamel, Katarina Elise, and Anna Sykes.
"We are thrilled to be working alongside and showcasing the hard work and creativity of these five students from the University of Michigan!” says the Telegraph Quartet. “We have been working with them throughout this semester to explore what for many is a new vocabulary of expression, something that at first might feel foreign and yet is full of expressivity. It's our joy to be able to share the fruits of this labor with our deeply supportive audiences in the Bay Area and bring these two communities together!"
About the Telegraph Quartet: The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) 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 is a previous recipient of the prestigious Walter W. Naumburg Chamber Music Award and the Grand Prize at the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition.
The Quartet is currently the Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Michigan. They have performed in concert halls, music festivals, and academic institutions across the United States and abroad, including New York City’s Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and Town Hall, San Francisco’s Herbst Theatre, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music’s Chamber Music Tuesdays, Philharmonie de Paris, and at festivals including the Chautauqua Institute, Music in the Vineyards in Napa Valley, Interlochen Arts Festival, Kneisel Hall Chamber Music Festival, and the Emilia Romagna Festival. Prior to their residency at the University of Michigan, the Telegraph was the Quartet-in-Residence at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music between 2017-2024.
The Telegraph Quartet is releasing a three-album series of recordings titled 20th Century Vantage Points, on Azica Records. Through this series, the Telegraph Quartet intends to explore string quartets of the 20th century – an era of music that the group has felt especially called to perform since its formation. The first volume, Divergent Paths (2022), features Maurice Ravel’s Quartet in F Major and Arnold Schoenberg’s Quartet No. 1. In August 2025, Telegraph released the second volume in the series, Edge of the Storm, featuring Grażyna Bacewicz’s Quartet No. 4, Benjamin Britten’s Quartet No. 1, and Mieczysław Weinberg’s Quartet No. 6. The series follows the quartet’s debut album, Into The Light (Centaur, 2018), which features a gripping set of works by Leon Kirchner, Anton Webern, and Benjamin Britten. In 2026, the Telegraph will release an album of the complete string quartets by composer Kenji Bunch on Phenotypic Records.
The Quartet has given master classes at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music Collegiate and Pre-College Divisions, the University of Maryland, Rice University's Shepherd School of Music, UT Austin's Butler School of Music, Brown University, and abroad at the Taipei National University of the Arts and in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico. Telegraph has also served as artists-in-residence at Center Stage Strings at the University of Michigan, 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. For more information, visit www.telegraphquartet.com.
For Calendar Editors:
Concert details:
What: Second Viennese Focus Festival presented by the Telegraph Quartet
Who: Telegraph Quartet and Students from the University of Michigan
When: Thursday, November 6, 2025 at 7:30pm
Where: Noe Valley Ministry, 1021 Sanchez Street, San Francisco, CA 94114 (November 6)
Tickets and information: www.ticketsource.com/telegraph-quartet/telegraph-quartet-uofm-on-tour/e-mqdjqk
Description: The award-winning Telegraph Quartet, a group “full of elegance and pinpoint control” (The New York Times), brings its Second Viennese Focus Festival to the Bay Area, performing alongside their students from the University of Michigan in a program featuring tumultuously personal chamber music from the early 20th century – Webern’s Fünf Sätze for String Quartet, Op. 5, Bartók’s String Quartet No. 2, Op. 17, and Schönberg’s Verklärte Nacht for String Sextet, Op. 4. All three of these masterworks express the unrest of the time period, as well as the personal unrest of the composers in their search for a new style of expression. Both Webern and Bartók’s early string quartets deal with dark material, from the former's mourning of his mother's passing to the latter's experiences of civilian life during World War I. Inspired by the then scandalous poetry of Richard Dehmel, Schönberg's Verklärte Nacht or Transfigured Night begins in despair and dread only to be utterly transformed by empathy and hope. This concert is the culmination of the Telegraph’s two-part festival focused on music from the Second Viennese School, which runs October 27-November 2, 2025 at The University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance in Ann Arbor, MI and November 6-7, 2025 in San Francisco and Berkeley, CA.