Sundays @ Four

The Meráki Quartet was formed by four 14-year-old students in the fall of 2016 through Crowden's Youth Chamber Music Program. Four months following its inception, the quartet participated in the Jane Galante Competition at the Yehudi Menuhin Chamber Music Seminar in San Francisco and earned second prize. They have since won Bronze in the 2019 Fischoff Junior Strings/Piano Competition, appeared on NPR’s From the Top with Christopher O'Riley, performed at the Rex Salon and Herbst Theater with the Alexander String Quartet, opened for the St. Lawrence String Quartet, and played at Berkeley City Hall for Mayor Tom Bates. The Meráki Quartet is dedicated to supporting young contemporary composers; through their association with Crowden, they have premiered a commissioned piece by Preben Antonsen and have also performed works by Crowden alumni Theodore Haber and Matthew Cmiel. The quartet receives regular mentoring from cellists Bonnie Hampton and Eugene Sor. The group derives its name from the Greek “μεράκι,” meaning “soulfully artistic.”

Jun Yong Liu, Sofia Matthews, and Isabelle Nichols graduated from The Crowden School in 2016. Anna Renton has studied violin at Crowden since the age of three!