Based in San Francisco, the Del Sol String Quartet is asserting itself as a leader in Bay Area new-music performance. This ensemble commissions new music from composers and showcases those and other new works in relevant, responsive and deeply passionate performances. Spark listens to the Del Sol String Quartet rehearse and is there when the quartet debuts the work of three composers — New Zealand native Jack Body, Iranian-American composer Reza Vali and Los Angeles-based Eric Lindsay.

Body’s piece, entitled “Epicycle,” does exactly that: It cycles through a pattern of pitches that are at times played simultaneously and at other times played as distinctly separate notes. The work was originally performed by the Kronos Quartet. “I loved his piece from the minute we picked it up, despite how difficult it is to play,” says ensemble member Hannah Addario-Berry.

Vali, a professor of music at Carnegie Mellon University, helped the Del Sol String Quartet tackle the Persian scale patterns used in his piece. One of the main principles in Middle Eastern music is its use of quartertones, which Western music does not commonly employ. A quartertone is a note that is between the half-step interval, or halftone, the smallest distance between two pitches in Western music. Also, as Vali states, Persian music is not rhythmically in sync in the same way that Western music is. They play the same music, but with a slight time difference.

“Del Sol is at the point where they’re ready to be discovered. They’ve worked very hard and developed a unity that is sensational. They’re exciting — not only the music they choose, but also their performances are electric,” praises Charles Amirkhanian, the executive director of Other Minds, a new-music festival and community.

The members of the Del Sol String Quartet are Kate Stenberg and Rick Shinozaki, violinists, Charlton Lee, violist, and Hannah Addario-Berry, cellist. The quartet began in 1992 at the renowned Banff Centre for the Arts in Canada, after which it was awarded a residency at San Francisco State University in association with the Alexander String Quartet. They tour internationally and are committed to performing outreach work in schools and at other community sites. In January 2006, the quartet was awarded First Prize for Adventurous Programming (Mixed Repertory) from Chamber Music America/ASCAP.

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