Quartet San Francisco

Performing in Tango!, November 20, 2010

*The Plano Sympony will not perform in "Tango!"

Non-traditional in their delivery, QSF redefines the sound of chamber music. "When the music says swing, we swing. When the music says groove, we groove."

Grammy nominees for their last two releases (2006 and 2007)and International Tango competition winners (New York , 2004), Quartet San Francisco expresses itself in its agility and standout virtuosic playing. Quartet San Francisco is Jeremy Cohen and Alisa Rose , violinists, Keith Lawrence, violist, and Michelle Djokic, cellist. As crossover specialists they excel in multiple styles — from jazz to tango, pop to funk, blues to bluegrass, gypsy swing to big band and beyond .

Since its concert debut in 2001, Quartet San Francisco has offered its exclusive and ground-breaking literature to local, national and international audiences in a variety of venues that include tango and concert halls, jazz festivals, museums, and classrooms. In 2002 the quartet began its on-stage collaborations with tango dancers. In the 2004-06 academic years the quartet was in residence at Mills College in Oakland , CA .

Their Latin and tango CD, "Látigo" (2006), was honored with Grammy nominations for Best Classical Crossover and Best Engineered, Classical. The quartet members are current Classical Crossover nominees for "Whirled Chamber Music" (2007), "…what could easily be the most cheerful and brilliantly-executed release of 2007" (Judith Schlesinger, All About Jazz, 22 October 2007).

Jeremy Cohen, violin -- Jeremy Cohen's electrifying jazz violin performances have earned him nationwide accolades. Classically-trained and a student of Itzhak Perlman and Anne Crowden, Cohen's eclectic style reflects his respect for a wide range of violinists from Perlman and Fritz Kreisler to Joe Venuti and Eddie South. Cohen has performed as soloist with numerous orchestras including the Virginia Symphony, the California Symphony and the Reno Philharmonic. His recording credits include motion picture and television soundtracks including "The Dukes of Hazzard" and Jane Fonda’s "Dollmaker," and as concertmaster on recordings with Linda Ronstadt, Ray Charles, Aaron Neville, Howard Keel and Cleo Laine. He appeared on Carlos Santana’s Grammy-winning CD "Supernatural" and the original "Star Wars" compilation CD with John Williams.

Alisa Rose, violin -- Alisa is from Verona, Wisconsin where she started playing the violin at the age of three and won her first fiddle competition at age five. Involved in many different musical genres, Alisa is a member of the Picasso Quartet, the Real Vocal String Quartet, Homespun Rowdy, 49 Special, and A.J. Roach and the Strange Pilgrims. She has performed many times at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass and has also appeared at the Strawberry Music Festival, Olympic Music Festival, Carter Fold Festival, Blue Highways Festival in Utrecht, Netherlands, Cleveland's Reinberger Chamber Hall, Carnegie Hall, and on PBS' "Songs of the Mountains."

Keith Lawrence, viola -- A native of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania , Keith Lawrence began playing viola at age 11. His study of viola continued at the Creative and Performing Arts Middle and High Schools in Pittsburgh, the Interlochen Arts Academy, and The Winchester Thurston School. After graduating from North Allegheny Senior High School in 1999, Lawrence enrolled as a viola performance major at the Oberlin Conservatory under the tutelage of Peter Slowik and Roger Chase where he received his undergraduate degree in 2003. Lawrence completed his graduate studies at the DePaul University School of Music as a student of Rami Solomonow in 2007.

Michelle Djokic, cello -- In 1985 Ms. Djokic made her Carnegie Hall debut as soloist with the New Jersey Symphony. She has appeared as soloist with orchestras throughout the United States, Canada and Europe to great critical acclaim. As a child she captured the Philadelphia Orchestra Young Artist Competition first prize giving her a debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the age of 13. Other prizes include the Prince Bernard Award for Excellence in the 1989 Scheveningen International Cello Competition, the coveted People's Prize in the 1980 Pablo Casals International Cello Competition in Budapest, Hungary, first prize in the Chicago Civic Orchestra Competition, as well as first prize in the young artists competitions of the New Jersey Symphony, the North Carolina Symphony, the Juilliard School Concerto Competition and the Aspen Festival Concerto Competition.