Summer RADiance / Live at the Grey Eagle

Celebrate the laid-back mountain lifestyle this summer with a chamber music takeover at this iconic River Arts District venue. Bring your friends, grab a drink and bites from the on-site taqueria and enjoy a liberated listening experience with works from Dvořák, Smith, Wiancko and Mendelssohn, among others.

The Jasper and Opal String Quartets collaborate on an exciting and eclectic program at The Grey Eagle, Asheville’s longest-running all-ages venue located in the historic River Arts District. This program is presented in collaboration with the Chamber Music Society of the Carolinas.

The Opal String Quartet, born in Asheville in 2006, is the only local ensemble of its kind, performing masterworks of the string quartet repertoire and collaborating with living composers to premiere new works. Known for its polished precision, fiery intensity, and richness of tone, Opal is dedicated to bringing the art of chamber music to the people by performing in all kinds of venues, from schools, bars, and art galleries, to street corners and concert halls.

Opal has performed throughout WNC, appearing on several chamber music series and making frequent collaborations with local chamber ensembles Pan Harmonia and AmiciMusic. Quartet members include Mariya Potapova and Karen Pommerich on violin, Kara Poorbaugh on viola, and Franklin Keel on cello, all of whom perform extensively throughout the region, most often with the Asheville, Greenville, and Charlotte Symphonies. In 2014, the quartet recorded an album with the world music trio Free Planet Radio, titled “Global Symphony Project”, through a classical commissioning grant from Chamber Music America. Opal has been featured several times on WCQS, and serves as Artists-in-Residence for the educational outreach programs of the Asheville Chamber Music Series and the Asheville Symphony Guild.

Celebrating its eighteenth season in 2024, the Jasper String Quartet is hailed as “flawless in ensemble and intonation, expressively assured and beautifully balanced” (Gramophone). The Quartet’s  “programming savvy” (clevelandclassical.com) evocatively connects the music of underrepresented and living composers to the canonical repertoire in thought-provoking programs.

A recipient of Chamber Music America’s prestigious Cleveland Quartet Award, the Quartet’s playing is “sonically delightful and expressively compelling” (The Strad). The ensemble has released eight albums, including Unbound, named by the New York Times as one of the year’s 25 Best Classical Recordings.

The Jasper String Quartet is the Founder and Artistic Director of Jasper Chamber Concerts, the Director of the Saint Paul Chamber Music Institute, and the Professional Quartet-in-Residence at Temple University's Center for Gifted Young Musicians.