Photo by Bridgette Tuttle The Spokane String Quartet (l-r) Mateusz Wolski, Tracy Dunlop, Jeanette Wee-Yang and Helen Byrne, earned a standing ovation after their Sunday afternoon concert at the Becker Auditorium.

The quartet; Mateusz Wolski, first violin, Tracy Dunlop, second violin, Jeanette Wee-Yang, viola, and Helen Byrne, cello, played an eclectic set featuring Mozart's Quartet in C Major, Zhou Long's Song of Ch'in, and Edvard Grieg's String Quartet in G Major, and brought those in attendance to their feet at the finale.

The quartet, all members of the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, was formed in 1979 with the aim of bringing live, professional chamber music performances to audiences in the Inland Northwest, but in the ensuing years, the quality of their performances had them traveling and playing at venues including Carnegie Hall to concert halls in Austria, Germany, England and Scotland. They also perform a regular concert series in the Martin Woldson Theater at the Fox in Spokane.

The four musicians brought a wealth of experience with them. Woski has served as concertmaster for the Spokane Symphony since 2007, and was formerly concertmaster of the Annopolis Symphony. He attended the Manhattan School of Music, earning bachelor's and master's degrees in music under the concertmaster of the New York Philharmonic.

Dunlop arrived in Spokane in 1994 as principal second violin and became assistant concertmaster in 1999. She teaches at Gonzaga University and is concertmaster of the Spokane Opera. Wee-Yang is the assistant principal violist in the Spokane Symphony, and was principal violist of the Sudbury Symphony in Ontario and assistant violist of the Milwaukee Ballet Orchestra. She currently teaches viola at Whitworth University.

Byrne is assistant principal cellist with the Spokane Symphony. A native of Spokane, she earned a degree in cello performance at Northwestern University and has been with the Spokane Symphony since 1982.

There are two more performances left in the Bonners Ferry Friends of the Arts performance season, "The Music Man!," the all-American musical featuring a live orchestra at 5 p.m. Sunday, March 27, in the Becker Auditorium at the Bonners Ferry High School, and Men of Worth, Scotsman Donnie McDonald and Irishman James Keigher, who combine traditional and contemporary musical styles with a touch of unique humor at 7 p.m. Saturday, May 7, also at Becker Auditorium.

Tickets for both shows are available at Mountain Mike's, (208) 267-3748, or at the door. You can find out more at the Bonners Ferry Friends of the Arts Website, http://www.friendsoftheartsbf.org.