Matinee Family Concert
Matinee Family Concert – Free!
Mill City String Quartet
Saturday, November 14 – 2:00 p.m.
St. Cloud Public Library, 1300 West St. Germain Street, St. Cloud
BOUNDLESS – Music Across Borders
This program celebrates the ways music transcends borders, reminding us that art has the power to connect people across cultures, histories, and generations. Their program will include works by Caroline Shaw, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, Annie Gosfield, Philip Glass, and Aleksandra Vrebalov.
Sponsors: St. Cloud Public Library; Mary Lou and Jerry Lenz
What does it mean to belong to a place or to carry a place within you?
Boundless explores music that transcends borders of geography, culture, and imagination. Caroline Shaw’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Entr’acte opens the program by reimagining the classical string quartet with unexpected turns that invite listeners into a world both familiar and surprising. Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Fantasie-Stücke follows with lyrical warmth and expressive depth, revealing the distinctive voice of a composer whose music bridges cultures and traditions. The journey continues with Aleksandra Vrebalov’s Pannonia Boundless, inspired by the shared folk traditions of Central and Eastern Europe. Political boundaries dissolve as music reveals the deep cultural connections that unite neighboring peoples. The program concludes with Gabriela Ortiz’s Aroma Foliado, a vibrant work inspired by the colors, fragrances, and rhythms of Mexico, bringing the concert to an energetic and joyful close.
Together, these works celebrate the ways music transcends borders, reminding us that art has the power to connect people across cultures, histories, and generations.
Established in 2007, Mill City String Quartet (MCSQ) is an internationally prize-winning chamber ensemble based in the Twin Cities of Minnesota, USA. MCSQ recently won First Prize in the Fanny Mendelssohn International Competition, Professional Chamber Music category (2024), First Prize and Second Prize in the Charleston International Music Competition (Classical Music Competition 2025 and Winter Competition 2024) and First Prize in the International Schubert Competition Vienna, Professional Chamber Music category (2025). This vivacious string quartet cultivates transformative concerts that promote underrepresented composers and celebrate the classical music genre. Mill City String Quartet has been chosen six times as Minnesota Public Radio Class Notes artists, allowing them to reach thousands of school children through performances and master classes. Recent opportunities for the quartet include performing the National Anthem for the Minnesota Twins at Target Field, full concert performances in Iowa, Florida, and Oregon as well as being educational artists-in-residence with The Schubert Club and Oregon’s Britt Festival. MCSQ firmly believes in offering outreach concerts to their community and has performed at MCF-Shakopee, Minnesota’s all-women’s correctional facility as well as The Glenn, a retirement community in Minnetonka. The quartet is a frequent guest on regional chamber music series, including Hamline Music and Art Series, Schubert Club Courtroom Concerts, Saint Paul Conservatory of Music’s Lunchtime Series, St. Cloud Chamber Music Society, Westminster Presbyterian Performing Arts Series, Waseca Arts Center Series, Thursday Musical, Rochester Music Guild, Sioux City Chamber Music, Waverly Chamber Music Series, and Music on the Hill in Mankato. Current MCSQ members are Huldah Niles (Artistic Director and Violin), Erika Hoogeveen (Violin), Coca Bochonko (Viola), and Rebeccah Parker Downs (Cello). millcityquartet.com