Temescal String Quartet

Chamber Music Concert

The Temescal String Quartet with pianist Carl Blake will perform a chamber music concert at

the Piedmont Center for the Arts on Saturday, August 17 at 7:30 p.m. They will perform

Dvorak’s Quintet for Piano and Strings in A Major, the Beethoven String Quartet No. 4 in C

Minor, and Schubert’s String Quartet Movement in C Minor.

Temescal String Quartet is an active Oakland-based classical music ensemble consisting of

four women who are frequent performers in various professional musical organizations in the

Bay Area. The group consists of violinists Barbara Riccardi and Katie Button, violist Jonna

Hervig, and cellist Nancy Bien.

Carl Blake is a Bay Area classical pianist who has performed recitals to international acclaim in

Carnegie Recital Hall in New York, Wigmore Hall in London, and the Hermitage Museum in St.

Petersburg, Russia. He is a two-time recipient of Fulbright Scholar Awards and toured as

Artistic Ambassador for U.S. State Department to Brazil, Peru, Mexico, Dominican Republic,

Honduras, Barbados and Jamaica.

Of the quartet and Blake, music critic Joseph Gold wrote in a review in June 2018 in the

Piedmont Post: “The five players seem to have a considerable following, for the audience was

large. The quintet performed with an ideal melding of ensemble. Ego was never an issue, and

all were of a single purpose. As they played, the listeners were drawn in, and by doing so we

encountered the glory of the music as if we were members of a transcendental partnership.

They solved all problems of balance. The strings spoke as an ensemble and for themselves. Dr.

Blake was ever so sensitive. He has a velvet touch and an artist’s soul. It takes really special

talent to express the innermost feelings of introspect and warmth of emotion.”

The suggested donation at the door is $15-$20 per person. Children and students are admitted

free. Refreshments will be served following the concert.