Our Next Concert: Beo String Quartet

Our Next Concert: Beo String Quartet

October 20, 2024
Faye Spanos Concert Hall, University of the Pacific (directions)
2:30 PM

Remember, students and children always get free admission to FOCM concerts. Be sure to check-in at the student ticket table on concert day.



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Beo String Quartet group pose with instruments

Beo in a nutshell: With 65 world premieres to its credit and 150 concert works played throughout the United States, South America, and Europe, the iconoclastic Beo String Quartet does what it loves best: playing classical repertoire, contemporary, rock, and experimental music. From the Latin “to make happy,” Beo started out as a lark. Two Mexican-American brothers, Jason Neukom and Sean Neukom, decided to record a song entitled “Happy, Happy,” composed by Sean, but for that they would need two more players. And so in 2015 the Beo String Quartet was formed. Touring the world, composing, performing, recording, teaching, and having fun, Beo has since then founded Beo Publishing, built a recording studio, and started its own recording label, NeuKraft Records.

The eclectic and highly polished quartet, founded in 2015, has created a niche for itself as a daring, genre-defying ensemble. Rigorously trained in the classical tradition, violinists Jason Neukom and Andrew Giordano, violist Sean Neukom, and cellist Ryan Ash also know their way around contemporary expression, including the use of electronics, live sound processing, and spatial audio manipulation. Their performances of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, or Shostakovich have been compared to those of the best among 21 st century international string quartets.

All holders of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the Juilliard School, the members of Strata are dedicated to every level of music education, from the mentoring of graduate students and young professionals, to the initial sparking of musical passion in very young children, to the guiding of audiences in what to listen for.

Join us for a wonderful concert!

Scheduled Program

Read Michael Spencer’s program notes

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Beo String Quartet performs “People” by Sean Neukom:
 

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Announcing Our 2024-25 Season

Announcing Our 2024-25 Season

Chamber Music continues for a 68th season!

Since its founding in 1956, Friends of Chamber Music has brought world-class classical musicians to Stockton to the delight of audiences from around the Central Valley.  From presenting established artists to highlighting up-and-coming musical talents, the range of concert programming we’ve offered over the years has made a positive impact on the state of the arts in our community.  We firmly believe that our 68th season continues that work, and we’re excited to share the lineup of the new season with you!

Season Tickets Now Available – Click Here!


Beo String Quartet

October 20, 2024

Beo String Quartet group pose with instruments

Beo in a nutshell: With 65 world premieres to its credit and 150 concert works played throughout the United States, South America, and Europe, the iconoclastic Beo String Quartet does what it loves best: playing classical repertoire, contemporary, rock, and experimental music. From the Latin “to make happy,” Beo started out as a lark. Two Mexican-American brothers, Jason Neukom and Sean Neukom, decided to record a song entitled “Happy, Happy,” composed by Sean, but for that they would need two more players. And so in 2015 the Beo String Quartet was formed. Touring the world, composing, performing, recording, teaching, and having fun, Beo has since then founded Beo Publishing, built a recording studio, and started its own recording label, NeuKraft Records.

The eclectic and highly polished quartet, founded in 2015, has created a niche for itself as a daring, genre-defying ensemble. Rigorously trained in the classical tradition, violinists Jason Neukom and Andrew Giordano, violist Sean Neukom, and cellist Ryan Ash also know their way around contemporary expression, including the use of electronics, live sound processing, and spatial audio manipulation. Their performances of Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Mendelssohn, or Shostakovich have been compared to those of the best among 21 st century international string quartets.

Learn More…


Hub New Music

November 3, 2024

Hub New Music members in front of a colorful background

Called “contemporary chamber trailblazers” by the Boston Globe, Hub New Music is a “prime mover of piping hot 21st century repertoire” (Washington Post). Founded in 2013, Hub has commissioned dozens of new works for its distinctive ensemble of flute, clarinet, violin, and cello. Hub’s “nimble quartet of winds and strings” (NPR) actively collaborates with today’s most celebrated composers on projects that traverse today’s rich musical landscape.

Recent and upcoming performances include concerts presented by the Kennedy Center, Seattle Symphony, Morgan Library, Suntory Hall (Tokyo), the Williams Center for the Arts, Cynthia Woods Mitchell Center, King’s Place (London), Soka Performing Arts Center, Arizona Friends of Chamber Music, and the Celebrity Series of Boston.

Learn More…


Carion Wind Quintet

February 9, 2025

Carion Wind Quintet members

The prize-winning Danish-Latvian ensemble brings truly unique and innovative chamber music experience to audiences. CARION fascinates with it’s carefully choreographed and dramatized performances of classical and modern works, making music on stage visible, thus adding a new dimension to traditional concert events.

No chairs. No music stands, nothing. The way Carion fill the stage with musical and emotional content is something remarkable –

Allgemeine Zeitung

CARION’S fresh approach to chamber music has brought acclaimed performances in Europe’s most prestigious festivals like Rheingau Festival, Kissinger Sommer, Beethovenfest Bonn, Bergen Festival, Tonhalle MAAG as well as has earned standing ovations from audiences of the USA, South America and the the Far East. CARION has released 6 highly critically acclaimed CDs – including stellar reviews from Gramophone and BBC magazine, awards from Danish radio and best classical album of 2015 on iTunes. But nothing compares to their trend setting music videos on Youtube that continue generating views counted in millions, the landmark performance of Ligeti’s Six Bagatelles being used as an example and a reference recording to music students worldwide.

Learn More…


Pro Arte Quartet

March 2, 2025

Pro Arte Quartet members stand by a railing

Resident quartet of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and the longest-running continuously active chamber ensemble in the world. Founded by conservatory students in Brussels in 1912, it became one of the most celebrated ensembles in Europe in the first half of the twentieth century and was named Court Quartet to the Queen of Belgium. Its world reputation blossomed in 1919 when the quartet began the first of many tours that enticed notable composers such as Milhaud, Honegger, Martin, and Casella to write new works for the ensemble. As the first and only quartet ever to reach its centennial anniversary (2012), the Pro Arte’s 100th birthday was the occasion for a grand multi-year celebration.

Pro Arte Quartet was scheduled to open our last season but had to cancel at the last minute due to illness.  We’re grateful they’ve agreed to come back for this season!

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Italian Saxophone Quartet

April 13, 2025

Returning to FOCM for the first time since 2013, Italian Saxophone Quartet continues to delight audiences around the world.

With its 40 year history, the Italian Saxophone Quartet is one of the longest-lived groups currently active on the world stage. Shortly after their founding, the ISQ won a number of important chamber music competitions, including the unanimous First Prize at the prestigious Premio Ancona. Since then, they have been giving exciting and eclectic performances to adoring crowds from New York to Moscow, Athens to Tokyo.

Over 40 compositions written by eminent contemporary composers have been dedicated to the ISQ. The ISQ has performed the world and/or European premieres of many eminent composers such as Arvo Pärt, Philip Glass, Luciano Berio, Salvatore Sciarrino, Franco Donatoni, Henri Pousseur, and the American composer Joe Harnell.

Learn More…


Season Tickets Now Available – Click Here!