STANFORD, CA - New York-based violinist Owen Dalby has been named as the new second violinist with the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ). He will join the group in June, 2015. Mr. Dalby, a graduate of Yale University, is an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician. As a native of Berkeley, California, his relocation will be as much a homecoming as a new beginning. “I’ve always considered string quartet playing as the pinnacle of what I could possibly do with my musical career,” Dalby explains, “so for me, this is the opportunity of a lifetime.”

“Owen has an incredibly generous spirit and shares our passion not only for the quartet repertoire but for all that goes into bringing music to life,” says founding member and first violinist Geoff Nuttall. “We are thrilled that he has agreed to join the SLSQ family!”

Departing violinist Mark Fewer has been appointed William Dawson Scholar at the Schulich School of Music at McGill University in Montreal, Canada. In their brief tenure together, Mark Fewer and his St. Lawrence String Quartet colleagues received critical and audience acclaim for their dynamic ensemble-playing. Geoff Nuttall adds: “Mark is a longtime friend, a terrific violinist, and one of the world's great pedagogues. McGill is truly lucky to have him!”

Owen Dalby will first take the stage with the group this coming June, at the Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, where his SLSQ colleague, Geoff Nuttall, also serves as the Festival’s Chamber Music Series Director.