Quartet San Francisco to perform Thursday, sponsored by the School of Music

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The music of show tune master Richard Rogers, jazz musician Dave Brubeck and former Beatle Paul McCartney will be featured in a performance Thursday.

Sponsored by the Central Michigan University School of Music, Quartet San Francisco will hold a concert at 8 p.m. Thursday in the Music Building’s Staples Family Concert Hall.

Quartet San Francisco was founded in 2001 by violinist and composer Jeremy Cohen. It currently consists of Cohen, violinists Alisa Rose and Keith Lawrence, and cellist Michelle Kwon. While many members have changed through the years, the group’s pursuit of non-traditional styles of string performance including influences such as jazz, bluegrass, and Latino has remained the same.

“When the music says swing, we swing. When the music says groove, we groove,” according to a statement on their website.

The group won the 2004 International Tango Competition and has received five Grammy nominations for their albums “Latigo,” “Whirled Chamber Music” and “QSF Plays Brubeck.”

The ability to play well in multiple styles is what makes Quartet San Francisco so attractive, said John Jacobson, director of music events.

“The ability to cross genres is an impressive achievement,” Jacobson said. “Playing material from composers across the span of over 23 centuries is not easy.”

Associate cello professor James Fiste said he hopes exposure to the group’s use of new styles for string instruments will help increase the audience’s understanding of what string instruments are capable of.

“Strings sound great playing Mozart and Beethoven, but are equally at home in other musical styles,” Fiste said.

Tickets cost $3 for students and senior citizens and $5 for all others. They will be available at the Events Center, online and at the door.