Real Vocal String Quartet Showcases New EP in Concert at the Freight Tonight

In preparation for the recording of its third studio album, Real Vocal String Quartet is pleased to announce its return to the Freight & Salvage in Berkeley, a concert featuring five original songs that will comprise its new "American" EP to be released in early 2016. RVSQ's members include violinists/vocalists Irene Sazerand Alisa Rose, violist/vocalist Matthias McIntire and cellist/vocalist Jessica Ivry. The concert is tonight, June 11 at 8pm. Tickets range between $13 and $25, and may be purchased online through Ticketfly.

For more than a decade, the Bay Area-based RVSQ has pushed the envelope of string quartet and vocal quartet performance. From Eastern European folk dances and Brazilian choros to original chamber music and pop music ballads, RVSQ has shared its insatiable curiosity for world music with audiences around the US and beyond. Among the band's highlights are a performance with Canadian indie-pop singer Feist on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno, and a tour to Europe and the Caucasus as the U.S. Department of State's musical ambassadors for its American Music Abroad program.

In its concert next month at the Freight, RVSQ will perform all of the songs to be featured on its upcoming EP including three songs by Rose, and one each by Sazer and McIntire. "We're calling this our American album," says violinist Rose. "All of the songs in this collection hark back to American musical traditions including bluegrass, jazz, gospel, folk and old-time fiddle."

"We're also proud to record an album with five original tunes," adds RVSQ founder Sazer. "Original composition has always been a part of what we do, and all of the songs we are recording this time are new including our take on 'Cluck Old Hen,' an old-time song, and 'Kyiylyp Turam / Horse on the Mountain,' a Kyrgyz folk song that we've combined with an original American fiddle tune."

The original songs RVSQ will perform at the Freight are Rose's "Slacker Ridge," which takes its name from a trail in the Marin Headlands; McIntire's "California Residents Blissful Despite Impending Earthquake;" Sazer's "I Keep You Safe;" and "Cindy Rose Waltz" and "So it Goes" by Rose.

RVSQ's program for June 11 will also include a preview of two original songs from its ongoing Sister Cities: Audible Cultural Connections project, a collaboration with living poets from eight of San Francisco's sister cities including Seoul, Amman, Barcelona and Abidjan. Thanks in part to a Composing Residency at the Montalvo Art Center and a grant from the San Francisco Friends of Chamber Music, the works from this project will be recorded as a song cycle in 2017.

General admission tickets for RVSQ's concert at the Freight are $23 in advance and $25 at the door. Discounts are available for youth, seniors and members of the Freight. To purchase tickets call (510) 644-2020, Monday through Friday from 12:30pm - 7pm. Or online visit ticketfly.com. For more information about RVSQ visit rvsq.com.

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