BRAVO Series: Auburn Symphony String Quartet
$20 ($17 student)
- Emilie Choi, violin
- Alina To, violin
- Richard Neff, viola
- Paige Stockley, cello
Auburn Symphony String Quartet presents an evening of beautiful music in the inspiring, intimate venue of the Postmark Center for the Arts. This is part of the City of Auburn BRAVO series.
Chamber concerts are a good way to dip into instrumental music toward the end of your week. It’s less formal and allows the audience (you) to see and hear the ensemble up close since there are fewer musicians and they perform in a smaller space. This is an excellent opportunity to watch closely how the instruments are played and see the dynamics of a small group in performance.
About Emilie Choi, violin
Violinist Emilie Choi is an avid chamber and orchestral musician based in Seattle. She currently holds the Assistant Concertmaster position at the Pacific Northwest Ballet and Concertmaster positions with the Auburn Symphony Orchestra and Seattle Collaborative Orchestra. Emilie has appeared as concertmaster with several orchestras in Washington. She has soloed with the Hong Kong Symphonia and the Northwest Symphony Orchestra. Other professional work includes performances with Seattle Opera, Paramount Theatre, and the Canton Symphony Orchestra in Ohio.
About Alina To, violin
About Richard Neff, viola
Originally from Atlanta, Richard Neff began playing the viola through his local public school program and went on to earn degrees from Georgia State University and Northwestern University, where he studied with Tania Maxwell Clements and Roland Vamos. He has performed with many ensembles over the years and can regularly be seen performing with the Seattle Symphony, Seattle Opera, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and the Bellingham Festival of Music. Much of his teaching philosophy is influenced by Roland Vamos, Simon Fischer, Mimi Zweig, and Ivan Galamian.
About Paige Stockley, cello
Cellist Paige Stockley, faculty at Cornish College of the Arts, is is the founder of the St. Helens String Quartet, which received two 4Culture grants for commissioning new works and a recording residency at Jack Straw. The quartet is releasing its first CD of new works , entitled American Dreams, and performs at Benaroya Recital Hall, Lopez Community Center, and Cornish College of the Arts.
Paige holds a master's degree from the Manhattan School of Music. Her early training was at the University of Washington, where she studied with cellist Toby Saks while earning a double major in Political Science and English. She has also played in orchestras around the world: from Connecticut to Spain, Mexico City, Prague and Krakow, spending a year at the European Mozart Academy playing under the baton of Sandor Vegh and studying with Steven Isserlis. Her main teachers have included Ardyth Alton, Michael Haber and Valentin Hirsu. She served as the cellist on a West Coast tour with singer Rickie Lee Jones and was principle cellist on the European Mozart Academy tour of Mozart's Zaide arranged by Luciano Berio.
Performing frequently with the Pacific Northwest Ballet Orchestra and the Auburn and Tacoma Symphonies, Paige also records television and film soundtracks with Seattle Music. She coordinates the Seattle Chamber Music Festival’s "chamber music in the public schools" program each spring, and is the artistic director of Second Sundays in Snohomish.
Her 140-year-old French cello, made in 1879 by Francois Hypolite Caussin, is perfectly complemented by a French bow made in 1880 by the great master Voirin. Paige’s worldwide, cello-related travels have influenced her non-musical interests as well, deeply informing her interests in design and cooking. She lives in a 100-year-old house near Seattle’s Lake Union, with her husband Steve and daughter Daisy.
https://www.sthelensquartet.com/about