Esmé Quartet Robert GreenbergHost · Lecturer
Saturday Mornings
Saturday, December 12, 2026 10:00am
Herbst TheatreVenue Information
$90/$80/$70
About This Performance
The Esmé Quartet has enjoyed a tremendously successful debut as San Francisco Performances Artists-in-Residence, bringing exciting new energy to the popular Saturday morning series with music historian Dr. Robert Greenberg. Reviewing the Esmé’s Schubert series debut last season, SF Classical Voice said, “All in all, it was a terrific performance that made you look forward to more Schubert and whatever other works the Esmé brings to San Francisco.”
Saturday Mornings combine full performances of works complemented by fun, factual commentary. Audience members find them the perfect way to kick off the weekend with music and fellow music-lovers—a San Francisco Performances tradition for more than 30 years!
Program
From Old World to New
DARIUS MILHAUD: String Quartet No. 1, Op. 5
IGOR STRAVINSKY: Three Pieces for String Quartet
Artist Information
Performer Biographies
Praised for their warm sound and powerful stage presence, the Esmé Quartet was formed in 2016 in Cologne, Germany by four Korean musicians who had been friends since their youth. They shared common interests and passions in music, the arts, and life. The Quartet takes it name “Esmé” from the old French word for “beloved.”
Robert Greenberg received a BA in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University, followed by a Ph.D. in music composition from the University of California, Berkeley. He has composed over fifty works for a wide variety of instrumental and vocal ensembles, and his works have been performed in New York, San Francisco, Chicago, Los Angeles and the Netherlands, where his Child’s Play for String Quartet was performed at the Concertgebouw. Greenberg has performed, taught, and lectured extensively across North America and Europe. He is celebrating his 25th anniversary as Music Historian-in-Residence with San Francisco Performances, and he has served on the faculties of the UC Berkeley and the San Francisco Conservatory of Music.