The 9th annual Play It Forward Chamber Residency

This year, March 18th –28th, the Bellingham Festival of Music is bringing Quartet Integra to perform for, inspire and teach our local Whatcom County music students. The Quartet formed in 2015 at the Gakuen School of Music in Japan and are currently in the Chamber Ensemble-In-Residence Program at the Colburn School in Los Angeles. They study there with Martin Beaver and Clive Greensmith, previous members of the now retired Tokyo String Quartet, and Tatjana Masurenko. The group has already amassed a string of international awards, including 2nd place in the 2022 ARD Chamber Competition in Munich, Germany, where they were also received the prestigious Audience Award. Earlier they were awarded 1st place in the 2021 Bartok World Competition and 1st place in the 2019 Akiyoshidai Music Competition, where they also were awarded the both the Beethoven and Grand Prix Awards. The quartet includes members Kyoka Misawa and Rintaro Kikuno on violin, Itsuki Yamamoto on viola and Anri Tsukiji on cello.

After a week of performances, outreach and master classes in our schools, you will have an opportunity to see them in concert at:

Sehome High School
March 24th at 7pm.

This is a free concert for all students with a $15 suggested donation for all others.

So bring your aspiring string students, children and grandchildren or just come yourself to hear this already award winning ensemble.

Special thanks to the BSO for their assistance in school scheduling and the very generous Roth Family Foundation for helping to make this program possible.