Lenten Concert Series concludes with KAIA String Quartet March 29
The third and final concert in First Congregational Church’s 2026 Lenten Series will present the KAIA String Quartet on Sunday, March 29.
The program, “A Latin American Celebration from North to South,” will feature recent compositions by Latino composers including Efraín Amaya, Laura Chávez-Blanco, Amos Gillespie, Arturo Márquez, Sonia Morales-Matos, and Astor Piazzolla.
The quartet features Victoria Moreira, first violin; Naomi Culp, second violin; James Kang, viola; and Hope DeCelle, cello.
The concert will be at 4 p.m. at the church, 256 E. Chicago St. in downtown Elgin.
Tickets for the concert are $10 and can be purchased online at fcc-elgin.square.site/ or at the door.
Celebrated by Downbeat magazine for its ability to “beautifully blur the lines between jazz, classical, Latin and world music” KAIA’s album collaboration with Fareed Haque was chosen by Chicago Tribune’s Howard Reich as one of the top 10 classical recordings of 2018.
Their album, “Sureño,” explores the music and relationship of Argentinian composers Astor Piazzolla and José Bragato. The latest recording project released in 2020 includes a collaboration with jazz pianist Ryan Cohan in his work “Originations.”
KAIA together with Cohan and his chamber ensemble were featured performing this piece at 2019 Chicago’s Jazz Fest main stage.
The quartet plays an active role in Chicago’s music scene and has performed at the Chicago Latino Music Festival, the Ear Taxi Festival, and Chamber Music on the Fox.
In 2017, KAIA was the first ensemble in residence at Chicago’s classical radio station, WFMT. During this residency they explored the world of Latin classical music with audiences through daily radio segments, performances and broadcasts around the city and the production of KAIA Kids, a series of children’s education videos.
KAIA is deeply devoted to music education. They are teaching artists for Ravinia’s Reach*Teach*Play program and for Classical Music Chicago’s Young Peoples’ Concerts program.
KAIA founded DePaul University’s Community Music Division chamber program where they inspire the next generation of performers. During the 2023-24 season, the KAIA String Quartet was invited to teach and perform at Michigan State University and Carthage College as artists-in-residence.
In the summer of 2023, KAIA was on the New England Music Camp’s Chamber Music Intensive faculty as the resident quartet and will be returning in the summer of 2024. Since 2018, KAIA has been the ensemble-in-residence for the Elgin Youth Symphony Orchestra’s Summer Chamber Music Camp. The quartet traveled to Tijuana, Mexico to present and perform in schools through the sponsorship of the Mainly Mozart Festival annually between 2013 and 2017.