PACO Academy Chamber Concert with Fry Street Quartet, Presented by the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra

Pay What You Can Tickets ($10 per ticket is recommended, but any amount is appreciated. Minimum is $1.

https://www.pacomusic.org/events/2025-26/academy-chamber-concert-2-march-1-2026

Get ready for an extraordinary musical week at PACO! We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the acclaimed Fry Street Quartet will embark on a captivating one-week chamber music residency with the Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (PACO), running from February 23rd to March 1st. This unique collaboration promises an immersive experience, featuring insightful side-by-side presentations, a free and public masterclass, all culminating with the Fry Street performing on our PACO Academy Chamber Concert. Don’t miss this incredible opportunity to witness world-class artistry and educational engagement right here in Palo Alto as we show the world how to play with others!

The Fry Street Quartet will perform Arboreal for String Quartet by Laura Kaminsky. Arboreal is a 2024 Fry Street Quartet commission work. PACO Academy will present works by Haydn, Mozart, Mendelssohn, Brahms, Boccherini, Emilie Mayer, and Samuel Coleridge-Taylor.

About the Fry Street Quartet:

Praised as “a triumph of ensemble playing” by The New York Times and celebrated for a “blend of technical precision and scorching spontaneity” (The Strad), the Fry Street Quartet is a dynamic ensemble at the forefront of 21st-century chamber music. Performing works from the classical canon alongside bold new compositions, the FSQ is equally at home with Beethoven and Bartók as with Aida Shirazi, Gabriela Lena Frank, or Clarice Assad. Winners of the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music Competition, the quartet has captivated audiences from Carnegie Hall to London, Sarajevo, Jerusalem, and across the United States.

The Fry Street Quartet’s musical voice is deeply informed by a commitment to place, ecological listening, and long-form artistic inquiry. Their pioneering performance project Rising Tide: The Crossroads Project—a transdisciplinary collaboration with physicist Dr. Robert Davies—was performed over 60 times across the U.S. and internationally. This fusion of science, music, and storytelling has been featured by The New York Times, NPR’s All Things Considered, Yale Climate Connections, and Reuters. The quartet’s multi-year commitment to sustainability continues through a vibrant commissioning portfolio, featuring composers whose work speaks to the ecological and cultural moment.

The 2025–2026 season includes the world premiere of Living Memory | Sundarbans, a new work by composer and saxophonist Aakash Mittal; the video release of Gabriela Lena Frank’s A Psalm of Disquiet; and a new documentary. In Fall 2025, the quartet debuts LEK: Listening at the Edge of Erasure, exploring both the wonder and the fragility of the endangered sage grouse through the ensemble’s music-making at the intersection of art, science, and place. In Spring 2026, the FSQ is featured performing original music by Laura Kaminsky in an episode about poet May Swensen on the PBS series Poetry in America.

The Fry Street Quartet’s recent and upcoming commissions include Laura Kaminsky’s Arboreal, Aida Shirazi’s They Need to Remember for treble voice and quartet, Akshaya Tucker’s Night Fire for tenor and quartet, Hitomi Oba’s Landing Steps, Grounded Landings, and Nicolás Lell Benavides’ LEK, a work for string quartet and electronics incorporating the recorded mating calls of sage grouse and sharp-tailed grouse. Earlier commissions include Rising Tide by Kaminsky and Emergence by Libby Larsen—both composed for The Crossroads Project—as well as Clarice Assad’s Canções da América, released on video in 2023 by Chicago’s Guarneri Hall.

Known for programming that pairs iconic repertoire with exploratory new works, the FSQ has performed complete cycles of Bartók’s quartets for both the NOVA Chamber Music Series and Utah State University’s Caine College of the Arts. In 2027–2028, the quartet will present all five of Beethoven’s late quartets in a season-long cycle of Beethoven’s late chamber works. They have premiered and performed Laura Kaminsky’s acclaimed opera As One with Sasha Cooke and Kelly Markgraf at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, as well as with Hawaii Opera Theatre, Lyric Opera of Kansas City, and Chautauqua Opera.

The Fry Street Quartet has performed at prestigious venues and series such as Carnegie Hall, The New School, and Rockefeller University in New York; Guarneri Hall and the Jewel Box Series in Chicago; Chamber Music Columbus; the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach; The Theosophical Society in London; and international halls in Austria and China. They continue to serve as Artistic Partners and Quartet-in-Residence for Salt Lake City’s NOVA series.

Their discography includes The Crossroads Project (Navona Records), As One (Albany Records), and Canções da América (Guarneri Hall). Upcoming releases include A Psalm of Disquiet, LEK, and Arboreal.

The FSQ performs on a rare collection of fine Italian instruments on loan from a private foundation, including violins by J.B. Guadagnini and Pietro Giacomo Rogeri, a viola by Giovanni Battista Rogeri, and a cello by Andrea Guarneri.

As Quartet-in-Residence at Utah State University’s Caine School of the Arts, where they hold the Dan C. and Manon Caine Russell Endowed String Quartet Residency, the Fry Street Quartet continues to cultivate deep roots—musical, ecological, and communal—in the place they call home.

Learn more about the Fry Street Quartet at their website

https://frystreetquartet.com/

About PACO Academy:

The PACO Chamber Academy is an intensive, yearlong chamber music program open to all PACO students—from Superstrings to Senior Orchestra—designed for those seeking a deeper, more structured chamber music experience.

Led by PACO Chamber Director Eugene Sor, students are placed into ensembles that stay together for the entire season. Each group receives a minimum of 20 professional coachings and performs in concerts, masterclasses, festivals, and competitions. Rehearsals are held at designated times and locations.

Launched as a pilot in 2023–24 with two chamber groups, the program emphasized musical growth through mentorship and ensemble cohesion. This year, we continue to expand our offered curriculum by welcoming in the acclaimed Fry Street Quartet for a week-long residency.

Competitively priced and rich in individualized instruction, the PACO Academy brings chamber music to life while staying true to our motto: play well with others.

About Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra:

“This amazing group of musicians is one of the finest and most talented I have heard.” -Itzhak Perlman

The Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra (PACO) is an award-winning youth orchestra for regional string musicians of high school age and younger. PACO's five ensembles, SuperStrings, Preparatory, Debut, Sinfonia, and Senior PACO, each have approximately 25-30 members who rehearse weekly and perform throughout the year, presenting an extraordinary level of music-making and commitment to their art.

At PACO, we believe that making music and lifelong friends are best achieved in an atmosphere of cooperation and teamwork. Our focus on small orchestras and chamber music makes that possible, and we minimize internal competition to foster creativity and collaboration for our young musicians. PACO students get many opportunities to work with each other across orchestra levels, knitting our musical family together and providing teaching and learning opportunities for all. Teamwork, compassion, empathy, and imagination are hallmarks of our community. More than just learning how to play the notes, our students learn the real meaning and value of playing well with others.

Our emphasis on chamber music uniquely sets PACO apart from other youth programs. It lies at the core of our educational success, allowing a highly personalized commitment to both our students and our community.

Members of the Debut, Sinfonia, and Senior PACO orchestras attend PACO camp, our annual chamber music workshop in August, where advanced ensemble training takes place under the watchful eyes (and ears) of a nationally renowned faculty.

Presto PACO is a shorter, local version of PACO Camp. This 5-day workshop for young string players ages 8-13 is open to members of our Superstrings and Preparatory orchestras, and other community musicians by audition.

PACO was founded in 1966 by local violinist, teacher, and conductor William Whitson, who served as the orchestra's music director for 36 years. During that time, Mr. Whitson established PACO as one of the nation's premier youth ensembles. From 2002 to 2023, violist Benjamin Simon continued the tradition of excellence while bringing fresh energy and exciting direction to PACO's programs. Appointed Music Director in 2023, cellist Scott Krijnen has taken the baton from Mr. Simon, leading the 5-orchestra organization and collaborating with guest conductors, fellows, and faculty, while continuing to bring excellence in music performance and education through chamber music and chamber orchestras.

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