The Tosca String Quartet formed in 1996 as part of Tosca Tango Orchestra, a seven-piece ensemble that captivated Austin's live music scene in the late 1990's. The tango nuevo orchestra performed new compositions by talented composer and bandleader Glover Gill, along with a few Piazzolla covers, and released four albums (La Furia del Tango, Tia Pamelita, Amado, and La Cuidad del Tango) in as many years. In 2000, the group gained an international following with soundtrack and on-screen work in the arthouse hit film Waking Life, and an appearance by invitation at the 5th World Tango Summit in Argentina. In 2001, Gill's focus shifted to Guardia Vieja and more traditional tango, and the quartet continues to perform with him and his group, Glovertango, whenever possible.
In 1999, the Tosca String Quartet began playing shows of its own, performing newly composed music by Austin composers - many of whom they knew from local rock and punk bands - in alternative performance spaces, mainly bars. This collaboration led to the successful Golden Hornet Project, The Barbwire Music Project, and ongoing relationships with several local composers including Terry Bozzio, of Frank Zappa and Missing Persons fame.
Although the members of the quartet are classically trained, they also rock. They're the core of the Tosca Strings, who toured with David Byrne from 2001 to 2005 and were featured on his Grown Backwards album. The group also appears on the Dixie Chicks' Grammy-winning album Home, and has recorded and/or performed with artists such as Spoon, Voxtrot, Ray LaMontagne, Susana Baca, Blondie Chaplin, Bob Schneider and Ray Benson.
A favorite ongoing project is Erik and the She-Wolves, in which the Tosca girls - along with female bassist Jessica Valls and drummer Karen Biller - back up the insanely talented fiddler and guitarist Erik Hokkanen. The group is fluent in musical styles as diverse as bluegrass, fiddle, surf, western and gypsy swing, and all the music is composed and/or arranged by Hokannen himself. It's a high-energy show that must be seen to be believed.
In 2006 the quartet is back in Austin, rehearsing and working on upcoming shows with Erik and the She-Wolves, Glovertango, and some other surprises. In March, the girls performed the 5 winning quartets from the UT-Gamma Composition Competition, which solicited scores from graduate schools of music throughout the US. They are already developing some of the composer relationships they established through that process. The quartet is also excited to be working with composer Rob Deemer and dancer/choreographer David Justin in the American Repertory Ensemble, which will be performing in Austin, Salzburg, Amsterdam and Edinburgh this summer.
