Reviews
Performance Reviews
"Bay Area new-music luminaries..." Kosman - SF Chronicle (Stenberg|Cahill Duo with William Winant 2018)
”Given the virtuosity and interpretive range this concert required, it’s difficult to believe that the Stenberg|Cahill Duo was formed in 2016: These two musicians sound as though they have been collaborating with one another much longer. Contemporary music fans are fortunate to have this simultaneously authoritative and approachable pair, which is committed to promoting and expanding experimental new music.” Balik - SF Classical Voice (2018)
“…perhaps none of the music made as elegant and incisive an impression as the opening selection, Sculthorpe’s violin-piano duo … played with crisp directness.” (with pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann) Kosman - San Francisco Chronicle
“First violinist Kate Stenberg’s throaty lyricism was sensuous and affecting” Langert- San Francisco Classical Voice
"It is a musical legacy — one that's all the more unique because it was mostly unplanned — with which the relatively new Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA), which opened in January 2016 in downtown Berkeley, must contend. And the eclectic performance programming attached to Way Bay, a far-ranging exhibition of nearly 200 artworks by regional artists or about the Bay Area, though not the structure's first dalliance with sound (recall Kate Stenberg's stirring realization of work by the late Lou Harrison last year), will collectively test the space's mettle as a music venue." Lefebvre - East Bay Express (2018)
"Hearing Stenberg’s recorded violin unerringly match her tangy timbre, sonorous in the low range … was a special delight ... stunning.” Serinus - SF Classical Voice
“impassioned and expressive” J. Balik - SFCV (2018)
"Stenberg’s careful pacing captured the singing phrases of Crawford’s musical language wonderfully … capping off a superb performance.” Wilkes - SFCV
"Lisa Moore and Kate Stenberg Soar - Alone and Together" Fiore - SFCV
"…a full brigades charge, sweeping though many of the evening’s harmonic underpinnings... Insightful musicianship by both pianist and violinist.” (with pianist Eva-Maria Zimmermann) Bartlett - Pacifica Tribune
CD Reviews (violin/piano duo with Eva-Maria Zimmermann)
Scenes From a New Music Séance 2012
“On this beautifully produced CD, the excellent duo offers a sampling …The disc begins with a winningly ghostly tone…Then it’s into a variety of mid 20th century Americana winding up with the brilliant high comedy of Amy X Neuberg. The duo plays all of them with tenderness and high spirits.” Kosman - San Francisco Chronicle
"This is a great find, an album of modern music with much to offer … The duo is not only first-rate technically but get under the skin of the music … (and) grabs the listener’s attention from start to finish.” Bayley - Fanfare Magazine
“Stenberg and Zimmerman give their all to each of the composers represented …” Smoliar - San Francisco Examiner
CD Reviews (with Del Sol String Quartet)
Scrapyard Exotica 2015
“I could be wrong, but I’m guessing it’s been a while since you’ve rocked out to a string quartet recording. See if your foot can stay still once you put on this funky disc of rhythmically infectious (if often warped) music." - New York Times
Sculthorpe: The Complete String Quartets with Didjeridu 2014
“The wistful and elegiac music sometimes skirts the border of sentimentality, but the tonal beauty of the four string instruments, anchored by the otherworldly burr of the didgeridoo, create a hypnotic sound world well worth exploring.” Fonseca-Wollheim - New York Times
Robert Erickson - Complete String Quartets 2014
“... visceral rhythmic excitement … What could be a dry piece is lifted off the page by the passionate advocacy of the Del Sol Quartet, who bring accuracy and tonal refinement to the music … 5 stars” Cotton - BBC Music magazine
“This is a highly welcome set of music from a too-little known composer, with excellent performances by the Del Sol Quartet." Avant Music News
Zia 2013
“Del Sol’s playing is lush and sonically balance, with a rhythmic propulsion that remains quick off the mark.” Smith - Gramophone Magazine
“… robust, finely blended ensemble playing, rhythmic alertness and a fearless willingness to take on a wide range of contemporary repertoire.” Kosman - San Francisco Chronicle
First Life: Marc Blitzstein 2009
“Excellent performance of the Del Sol Quartet.” Eisler - Strings Magazine
“The Del Sol Quartet does excellent work in keeping the meandering lines a cohesive whole; getting the balance right between long, romantic lines and a chugging propulsive beat.” Laurson - Classical WETA
Ring of Fire 2008
“The San Francisco based Del Sol Quartet are master’s of all musical things they survey on this disc, playing with a combination of ferocious attack, riveting interplay and silken splendour.” Rosenberg - Gramophone Magazine
George Antheil: The Complete Works for String Quartet 2005
“The Del Sol Quartet proves they can dish out Antheil’s melancholic episodes with the necessary half-baked slant….The quartet does a valiant job contending with the tried and true classical gestures and the composer’s off-kilter idiosyncrasies, navigating through all the postholes unscathed.” RN - New Music Box)“It is clear that Antheil’s music speaks to them, and they seem to understand it thoroughly….this quartet is able to “hear” his visionary voice very clearly and now we can too.” Fine - American Record Guide
Tear 2002
“…one of the most riveting performances of Ruth Crawford Seegar’s music I have ever heard…The Quartet sell(s) it all, making a strong case for the breadth and depth, and yes, joy, of music of the here and now!” FJO - New Music Box