String Quartet Concert Featuring the Austin Chamber Players

Join us for a special string quartet performance by some of Austin's finest musicians. The program will showcase music by composers with May birthdays, and we’ll celebrate May 4th with selections by John Williams. Don't miss this blend of classical charm and cinematic grandeur!

Patrice Calixte, violin

Canadian violinist Patrice Calixte did most of his studies with Claude Richard at Université de Montréal, where he obtained Undergraduate and Master’s degrees in music performance. He has worked with many orchestras in Canada, including the Orchestre Symphonique de Montréal, Orchestre Symphonique de Québec, Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony Orchestra, and the Calgary Philharmonic Orchestra. He then moved to Austin where he completed his Artist Diploma at the University of Texas with Daniel Ching as his mentor. He currently serves as Associate Concertmaster of both the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Austin Opera as well as the first violin of the Austin-based Artisan Quartet. Patrice performs on a violin made in 1910 in Florence by Valentino di Zorzi, kindly on loan from Lorraine and John Wang.

Mariama Alcântara, violin

Acclaimed by Gramophone UK Magazine as “unmissable” and “impactful”, violinist Mariama Alcântara leads a multifaceted career as a performer and educator. Her album ‘Brazilian Landscapes: Music for Solo Violin from Brazil’, released by the Italian-Japanese label Da Vinci Classics, has earned international recognition for her artistry. Mariama is a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and the Austin Opera. An avid chamber musician, she is the second violinist of the Artisan Quartet, the Quartet-in-Residence of the Texas Bach Festival and the Mason Chamber Music Festival. She is a faculty member at Austin Chamber Music Center and has served on the faculty of the Texas Lutheran University, El Sistema Colorado and Colorado Youth Symphony Orchestra. A 2019 recipient of the prestigious Dorothy Delay Starling Foundation Fellowship, Mariama earned a Doctorate of Musical Arts from the University of Colorado Boulder as a student and teaching assistant of Professor Harumi Rhodes and Ed Dusinberre of the Takács Quartet.

Alexander Smith, viola

Alexander Smith is currently a member of the Austin Symphony Orchestra and has previously worked with the Kansas City Symphony and the Chicago Chamber Orchestra. As a soloist, he has been featured in performances of works by Rolla, Walton, Hindemith, Dale, and Krieger. He has appeared in chamber music with Shmuel Ashkenasi, Glenn Dicterow, Martin Chalifour, and David Radzynski. A recent doctoral graduate of the University of Texas at Austin, he served for three years as the Teaching Assistant to Professor Roger Myers. Alexander received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees in viola performance from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music as a student of Stephen Wyrczynski, Nokuthula Ngwenyama, and Yuval Gotlibovich.

Anna Park, cello

Anna Park is the Assistant Principal cellist of the Austin Symphony. As an orchestral musician, she has performed with numerous ensembles including the Houston Symphony, San Antonio Symphony, Austin Opera, and the Artosphere Festival Orchestra. She has also performed and recorded at ACL Live with artists such as Father John Misty, Cassandra Wilson, Christopher Cross, and Rodrigo y Gabriela. As a chamber musician, Anna enjoys collaborating and performing with fellow musicians in various community settings. Whether performing in schools, libraries, recreation centers, or traditional concert venues, her commitment to engaging with diverse audiences underscores her dedication to making music accessible and enjoyable for all. Off stage, Anna is focused on inspiring the next generation of young musicians. She maintains an active private studio and has previously coached chamber music and sectionals for Austin Chamber Music Center, CHAMPS (chamber music in the public schools), and Chicago and Austin Youth Orchestras. Anna studied with Alan Stepansky at Peabody Conservatory and with Hans Jørgen Jensen at Northwestern University.