Doug Machiz (MM ’11) is co-founder and manager of the San Francisco-based Friction Quartet. Friction is garnering attention and praise from throughout the bay area, and developing a national reputation for exhilarating performance of contemporary music. The Quartet recently signed with Ariel Artists, a Boston based management firm. In their first two years, they have commissioned 25 new works for string quartet, give 22 world premiere performances and have received rave reviews from SF Examiner, SF Chronicle, Shambhala Times, and “I Care if You Listen” and “The Loose Filter Project” blogs. Friction collaborated with composer Danny Clay and a third grade class to perform a graphic score made up of drawings by the students. The video of the performance synced with the drawings, entitled 27 Overtures, is a hit on YouTube. Friction was the resident string quartet for Garrett-Moulton Productions’ “A Show of Hands” which was called “the greatest dance bargain offered in this town since the San Francisco Ballet performed in Stern Grove last summer” (SF Chronicle). Brave New Music, a new chamber music series in Healdsburg, CA, recently presented Friction Quartet in their inaugural concert. In December, Friction will perform and give composer readings at UC Riverside, CSU Long Beach and CSU Monterey Bay, and make their New York City debut in January 2014 at The Firehouse Space. Kronos Quartet has invited Friction Quartet to perform with them at Z Space in February 2014.

More about Doug and the Friction Quartet…