(acoustic guitar music) (man laughing) (upbeat music) - [Announcer] Tonight, The Spokane String Quartet break from their home at the Fox Theater and perform in the intimacy of our studio, with works by Mendelssohn and Frank Bridge.

It's a performance you don't want to miss.

(upbeat music) (orchestral music) - The Spokane String Quartet is a group that formed in the '70s.

They worked very hard for very little money for many years, but it's interesting because a lot of people assume we are part of the Spokane Symphony and that is not true.

We have a separate board.

We have separate fundraising and it's just a group for people who really want to have live chamber music in Spokane.

- I play the viola and it's the alto, or in-between instrument between the violins and the cello.

I found the violin a little too high and squeaky.

(laughing) So that's, I'm really happy with the viola.

I didn't want to go into music when I played the violin.

I didn't particularly like it that much, but when I started viola, then I really, really enjoyed playing it.

And that's when I decided to go into music.

- Actually, I think the cello gets the best of both worlds because bassline, that supporting bassline is often in the cello and that's a great place to be if you enjoy that kind of thing.

But the cello also has a great high register and you'll see, we get a lot of solos, or solos in tandem with the first violins will be in octaves with them.

(orchestral music) - This is a piece that none of us knew, Mandy says she was driving.

They were camping last summer in Wyoming and they were driving along, listening to the radio and this piece came on.

And she's got two little boys in the car and who knows how much noise they were making.

But she said, "Everybody shut up."

(chuckling) "I have to listen to this piece."

So she listened to it, found out what it was, and then sent us a text and said, "we're doing this piece."

(laughing) - We all have a solo.

So it features each instrument, every player and it's lyrical and it's romantic.

So we just chose the best movement just to feature one.

- well Yeah, - Yeah - I think Mateusz, Mateusz always enjoys a challenge.

(laughing) And he said, "We have to play this piece again and we're gonna play it faster."

(laughing) So that was sort of the goal.

(orchestral music) (violin music) (upbeat music)