Del Sol String Quartet performs 2 p.m. Wednesday in the lower rotunda of Mesa Public Library. Courtesy photo

COUNTY News:

Take a late lunch to enjoy 30 minutes of music with Del Sol String Quartet, 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 21, in the lower rotunda of Mesa Public Library.

The Quartet will be playing 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 its 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.