For more than two decades, the quartet has given lectures/performances by invitation from presenters including the San Francisco Symphony Adventures in Music series, San Francisco Libraries, Music at Kohl Mansion, Young Audiences of the Bay Area, American Composers Forum and San Francisco Performances, the City’s largest independent concert presenter. To date, Del Sol has performed over 300 concerts for more than 30,000 young people.
Recordings
Del Sol has released nine full-length CDs since 2002, that reflect the ensemble’s fascination with the intersection of place and culture, garnering praise from New York Times, Gramophone, The Strad, Chamber Music, BBC Music Magazine, San Francisco Chronicle and others. Its latest CD, “Dark Queen Mantra" features a world premiere recording of Terry Riley's new piece "Dark Queen Mantra" for electric guitar and string quartet, with guitarist Gyan Riley. Other albums include:
Scrapyard Exotica : World premiere recordings of music by Ken Ueno, Mohammed Fairouz, and Mason Bates
Peter Sculthorpe Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu
Complete String Quartets of Robert Erickson
Split EP : Del Sol with ZOFO, 4 hands piano duo
ZIA features fascinating contemporary works with influences from Peru, Turkey, Spain, Iran and Uzbekistan.
"Zia" takes its name from the Zia Indians’ ancient symbol for the sacred sun, with arms radiating outward in four directions – north, south, east and west - which captures the adventurous spirit and global perspective of this recording. Released by GRAMMY® Award-winning Sono Luminus Records in February 2013, ZIA showcases fascinating contemporary works with influences from Peru, Turkey, Spain, Iran and Uzbekistan. The five composers represented on the album – Gabriela Lena Frank, Lou Harrison, Reza Vali, Jose Evangelista and Elena Kats-Chernin – all trained in the Western European tradition, reach back to ancient and traditional folk music sources and cultures in creating vibrant new music for string quartet. Producers Marina A. Ledin & Victor Ledin received a 2014 GRAMMY® nomination for Producer of the Year – Classical for their work on ZIA and other albums.
First Life, a world premiere recording of the complete string quartets of American composer Marc Blitzstein
Ring of Fire: Music of the Pacific Rim, a compilation of works by eight composers from around the Pacific Rim
The Complete Works for String Quartet by American composer George Antheil
This recording is the definitive recording of the composer and has sparked a revival of interest in his chamber works
Tear, featuring works by 20th century masters alongside recent works by young composers from the Americas.
The quartet demonstrates a particular interest in string quartet writing in just intonation, particularly in the work of American composer Ben Johnston, along with composers such as Michael Harrison, Theresa Wong and Mathew Rosenblum. They are currently the only string quartet touring multiple quartets by Ben Johnston, which are notoriously difficult, and were the first group to premiere Johnston's music at the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C in 2016. In 2019, the quartet launched the "," San Francisco's first music festival dedicated to works of just intonation. They were highlighted performers at the Pittsburgh "Beyond 2020: Microtonal Music Festival".
