Members of Del Sol String Quartet are Benjamin Kreith, Samuel Weiser, Kathryn Bates and Charlton Lee. Courtesy photo

COUNTY NEWS

Take a late lunch to enjoy 30 minutes of music with Del Sol String Quartet at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 21 in the lower rotunda of Mesa Public Library. The Quartet play pieces from THE JOY PROJECT, an endeavor to share very short commissions  from classical and non-classical composers, that were written to bring joy. Del Sol is a string quartet that thrives outside the concert hall. Los Alamos Libraries is fortunate to offer this  program in partnership with the Santa Fe Opera. 

Del Sol began as a thought on the night shift at Fermilab. Charlton Lee, in his pre-viola days,  loved the cutting edge of physics research – always looking for the next discovery and pushing  boundaries. But he missed the way music connected people, building communities by  communicating in ways physics never would. What if he could bring that scientific passion for  exploration to a string quartet? 

Twenty-six years later, Del Sol String Quartet brings the quartet tradition out of Europe and into  the rest of the world, a musical voice from Asia and beyond. While originally from New  Mexico, Del Sol found its home in San Francisco, fascinated by the feedback loop between  social change, technology, and artistic innovation. Their current lineup, marked by the arrival of  violinist Sam Weiser, alongside mainstays Kathryn Bates, and Ben Kreith, looks to bring a fresh  energy, freedom, and precision to our diverse repertoire. 

Del Sol has commissioned and premiered pieces by composer heroes like Ben Johnston, Gabriela  Lena Frank, Frederic Rzewski, Chinary Ung and Terry Riley.