Schubert: String Quintet in C major, D. 956

The National Philharmonic String Quintet and the Eliot Society present Schubert’s String Quintet in C major. Join us for an evening of chamber music with one of Schubert’s most tuneful creations.
Join us for a pre-concert lecture at 6:30 PM, with the performance to follow at 7:00 PM.
Purchase your tickets by March 31st to get early bird pricing. The ticket price will increase to $25/$15 in April.
The Musicians
Colin Sorgi (violin) is the Concertmaster of the National Philharmonic and is the orchestra’s Director of Chamber Music Programs. He has also appeared as guest concertmaster with the Lucerne Festival Academy Orchestra (Lucerne, Switzerland), Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Annapolis and York Symphonies and as Principal Second Violin with the Canadian National Arts Centre Orchestra. Born and raised in San Antonio, Texas, Colin holds degrees from both the Peabody Conservatory and Indiana University studying with renowned musicians Herbert Greenberg and Jaime Laredo. He also studied extensively with Pinchas Zuckerman.
Sara Matayoshi (violin) has earned recognition for her artistry as a solo, chamber, and orchestral musician, since making her solo debut with the Midwest Young Artist Orchestra in 2002.  A former core member of the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra (2011-2016), Sara has also been a member of the Chicago Civic, Madison, and Atlantic Symphony Orchestras. She has been a performer at various music festivals including Britt, Des Moines Metro Opera, Spoleto U.S.A, Banff Centre Orchestra and Masterclass, Lyricafest, and Garth Newel Music. She was the former violist of the Oak Ridge String Quartet and violinist with the Juventas New Music Ensemble and SKY piano trio. Currently, in addition to playing with the National Philharmonic, Sara is the violinist of the Iris Piano Trio, piano trio in residence at the Charles E Smith Life Communities.  She spends at least 21 hours a week at CESLC rehearsing and performing with her trio, working with residents one-on-one, and teaching group classes.  Sara can also be found performing as a substitute musician with the National Symphony. 
Julius Wirth (viola) enjoys an exciting and varied performance career. Presently Principal violist of both the National Philharmonic and the Harrisburg Symphony, he also served as principal violist of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra for nearly 20 years. His chamber music experiences have taken him to Italy,Germany, Austria, China, and many places across the United States. He holds a bachelor of music degree from the Eastman School of Music where he studied viola with Francis Tursi, Marcus Thompson and Jeffery Irvine and chamber music with the Cleveland Quartet and Abram Loft of the New Arts  Quartet.  He continued his studies at the Peabody Conservatory where he earned a Master of Music degree under the tutelage of Karen Tuttle. He enjoys a faculty position with the  American Institute of Music Studies in Graz Austria during the summer and keeps a private studio in Maryland. He is also currently working on a recording project that  includes two previously unknown and unrecorded sonatas for viola and piano. 
Lori Barnet (cello) is a graduate of Bennington College.  Her primary teachers include Robert Newkirk, George Finkel and Barbara Stein Mallow on cello, Phoebe Carrai on baroque cello, and Josef Gingold, Artur Balsam, Joseph Fuchs and Jacob Glick on chamber music.  She is principal cellist of the National Philharmonic, Wolf Trap Opera Orchestra, and Chamber Orchestra First Editions in Philadelphia.  She has appeared as soloist with the Augusta (GA) Symphony, Alexandria and Mclean Symphonies, Orchestra 2001, National Philharmonic, Washington Chamber Symphony and several university ensembles.  She was principal cellist of Penn Contemporary Players (Philadelphia) and the Contemporary Music Forum (DC), each for 20 years, and of Orchestra 2001 (Philadelphia) where she held the Dell Venarde Principal Cello Chair.  She has been a faculty member at The George Washington University since 1991 where she teaches cello, coaches chamber music, and appears regularly with the University’s faculty performance ensemble, the Columbian Consort.
Grace An (cello) recently completed a four year fellowship with the New World Symphony under the baton of Michael Tilson Thomas. Since then, she has become a member of the Sarasota Opera Orchestra, and has performed as guest sub principal with the Auckland Philharmonia, as well as the Dallas Symphony, Sarasota Orchestra, Florida Orchestra, and San Antonio Symphony.  Performances have taken her across the world on the renowned stages of Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Kennedy Center, the Sydney Opera House, and Tokyo’s Suntory Hall, as well as a recent chamber music tour of Europe with Lincoln Center Stage. Ms. An has appeared as a soloist with the Stanford Symphony Orchestra, South Coast Symphony, and the New World Symphony, in performances described as “sizzling with raw excitement and tonal beauty.” (South Florida Classical Review) She has collaborated in chamber music performances with distinguished artists such as the St. Lawrence String Quartet and eighth blackbird. In a recent performance of the Brahms C minor Piano Quartet with Emanuel Ax, Ms. An’s playing was hailed by the Miami Herald as “luminous and lustrous.” Ms. An began her musical training at the Colburn School of Performing Arts in Los Angeles, and completed degrees at Stanford University, Eastman School of Music, and Manhattan School of Music. Her teachers include Alan Stepansky, Alan Harris, Stephen Harrison, and Richard Naill. Ms. An performs on a rare French cello by Nicolas Darche, dated 1841.