The University of Arizona Graduate String Quartet is made up of master’s and doctoral students selected from a national search. The ensemble contributes to the Fred Fox School of Music outreach and educational initiatives.
Emmy Tisdel, violin
Emmy Tisdel is a doctoral student at the Fred Fox School of Music and a student of Tim Kantor. She is a member of the Cabrini Quartet at the University of Arizona and is a University of Arizona Fellow. Emmy graduated from Oberlin Conservatory with a bachelor’s degree in music, from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University with a Master of Music, and from Schulich School of Music at McGill University with an Artists’ Diploma and a Graduate Diploma in Music Performance. She is the co-founder of Ensemble Urbain, a conductorless chamber orchestra based in Montreal; she is a faculty member for the SA’ Oaxaca strings international music festival, which provides free chamber music tutoring to students based in Mexico; and a member of Austin Camerata, an interdisciplinary festival based in Austin, Texas. Former teachers include Jinjoo Cho, Kenneth Goldsmith, David Bowlin, Samantha George, and Katie Brooks.
Ziqian Ye, violin
Ziqian Ye (ZQ) is a current doctoral student at University of Arizona Fred Fox School of Music studying with Professor Timothy Kantor. As a member of Cabrini Graduate string quartet, ZQ is passionate about quartet music and get coached by famous quartets including Calidore Quartet and Emerson Quartet. ZQ received his bachelor’s degree and Master’s degree majored in Violin performance at University of Delaware under Professor Xiang Gao. As a violinist, ZQ is winner of a couple international competitions and gave performances and recitals in major concert halls including Shanghai Oriental Art Center and Carnegie Hall.
Ana Tovo Loureiro, viola
After working as a freelancer violinist in her native town of Porto Alegre, Brazil, Ana became a violist in a serendipitous way. When offered an assistantship in viola performance at Central Michigan University under Dr. Alicia Valoti, she took the chance and switched to viola. Subsequently, she earned an Artist Diploma under Katrin Meidell at the Schwob School of Music at Columbus State University. Ana is currently working on her DMA under Dr. Molly Gebrian at the Fred Fox School of Music at the University of Arizona.
Lichi Acosta, cello
Lichi Acosta is a graduate teaching assistant at the Fred Fox School of Music. He is a member of the Cabrini Quartet, the graduate string quartet at the Fred Fox School of Music, where he studies with Dr. Theodore Buchholz. Lichi has performed all around Argentina, Brazil and the US. His experience includes solo concertos, chamber music and orchestra, working with prestigious musicians like Marin Alsop, Daniel Barenboim, Giancarlo Guerrero and members of the James Ehnes String quartet and the Cavani String quartet among others. Lichi holds a bachelor’s degree from the McDuffie Center for Strings, where he studied with Hans Jørgen Jensen, Richard Aaron, Julie Albers and Leo Singer. Music is not the only discipline Lichi enjoys, but he has great affinity for the arts and sciences, winner of many national and international math competitions and two-year member of the Argentinian Math Olympic team. Lichi enjoys cooking, playing chess and finding new projects to put his mind into.
