ASTRAEUS Chamber Music Collective & Organic Decline: Nature in Decay
$15; tickets available at the door, cash/Venmo accepted
- Mia Nardi-Huffman, violin
- Samuel Nelson, violin
- Kat Lawhead, viola
- Paul Swensen, cello
- Sameer Bhatia
Ralph Vaughan Williams — The Lark Ascending (arr. Martin Gerigk)
Bryce Dessner — Alarms
Traditional — Unst Boat Song (arr. Danish String Quartet)
The ASTRAEUS Collective presents their East Coast debut performance "Nature in Decay," which examines the impact of fast fashion on our environment.
The Collective will present four string quartets, one for each element of nature, while Brooklyn-based artist Organic Decline (Sameer Bhatia) live-paints on vintage clothing.
About ASTRAEUS Collective
ASTRAEUS' mission is to bring exciting chamber works of the past and present to new audiences in the New York Metropolitan area. Founded in 2018 in San Francisco, the group was founded by violinists Mia Nardi-Huffman and Samuel Nelson, violist Daphne Gooch, and cellist Jorge Maresch, who met as students at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. As of 2023, the group has expanded to include a roster of talented chamber musicians, and moved locations to Brooklyn, NY!
ASTRAEUS has performed in a multitude of conventional and unconventional spaces, which have included everything from decommissioned cotton mills, Stanford University, and Herbst Theater, to orchid greenhouses, cocktail bars and more. ASTRAEUS has performed at SF Music Day at the War Memorial Veterans Building and held a Commissioning Initiative, in which they sponsored the commission of a new string quartet. For the 2019-2020 season, ASTRAEUS sought to specifically sponsor the commission of a work by an LGBTQ+ composer, and worked with Initiative winner Derek Tywoniuk on the premiere of his string quartet ‘never (always) not’.
ASTRAEUS had a partnership with CSU East Bay's Music Department from 2020-2022, where they worked closely with student composers to develop new quartets, culminating in an end-of-year performance. In 2022, ASTRAEUS was proud to work together with staff and students at Stanford University for a performance of several works by the composer Bongani Ndodana-Breen, in dedication to Amy Biehl. They have also offered donation-based concerts at Pacifica’s Shelldance Orchid Gardens benefitting local and national charities, and intimate house concerts as part of the ASTRAEUS Salon Series.
https://www.astraeussq.comAbout Mia Nardi-Huffman, violin
Violinist Mia Nardi-Huffman has gained recognition as a versatile and dynamic performer on both coasts of the United States. She has performed across North America and Europe, in venues that include Carnegie Hall, SF JAZZ Center, Herbst Theatre, The National Arts Club, Shoreline Amphitheatre, and Courmayeur, Italy.
Mia is the first violinist of the Astraeus String Quartet, with whom she performs exciting works of the past and present in innovative spaces. Mia regularly performs with other music ensembles on both coasts, including Ninth Planet, Opera San Jose, Ensemble for These Times, Opera Paralelle, Island City Opera, and the San Jose Chamber Orchestra.
In the realm of crossover music, Mia has performed alongside Evanescence and Lindsey Stirling, Brad Mehldau and Joshua Redman at SFJAZZ, Gamelan X, and more. Mia has also worked extensively as a studio musician, recording with artists such as The Singer and The Songwriter, Streetlight Manifesto, Marcus McCauley, and Portrait Maker.
Passionate about the creation and performance of new music, Mia has premiered over 200 works of contemporary classical music. Mia has held residencies with the composition departments at CSU East Bay, the San Francisco Conservatory of Music's Pre-College Division, and Diablo Valley College. Her performances are often in conjunction with movement or performance art, most notably AXIS Dance company's piece "Radical Impact," performances at the SF Movement Arts Festival, and collaborations with the Juxtapositions Chamber Ensemble and Cellista.
Mia has been extremely fortunate to study with renowned violin pedagogues Shirley Givens, Bettina Mussumeli, Akiko Silver, and Yuval Waldman, as well as chamber music studies with Mark Sokol, Mack McCray, and Jennifer Culp. Mia earned both her BM (2014) and her MM (2016) from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, where she was concertmaster of the Conservatory Orchestra and the recipient of the Sergei Barsukov Violin Scholarship.
A dedicated violin teacher, Mia maintains a private studio in East Williamsburg, Brooklyn, as well as on Zoom to students worldwide, and is a Teaching Artist for Midori & Friends. In the summers, Mia is a violin faculty member at The Chamber Music Institute in Vermont. Mia was also a Teaching Artist for the Oakland Symphony’s MUSE program from 2021-2022. When not performing or teaching, she is often found taking care of her many houseplants, making bagels, and spending time with her cat Stella Bean.
https://www.mianardihuffman.com