Collaborating String Quintet
The Sapphira Ensemble began as a quartet of players from the Minnesota Sinfonia and the Minnesota Opera Orchestra. This virtuosic new quartet presented a recital in 2026 as part of the Violins of Hope project in the Twin Cities, performing works by Bosmans, Ullman and Mendelssohn. Shortly after this project, they launched a meaningful collaboration with Bethel University's Summer Piano Academy, preparing a recital with concerto competition winners. Members of the Sapphira Ensemble, Angela Waterman Hanson, violin, Brittany Henry Quinn, violin, Alastair Brown, viola, Ruth Marshall, cello, and Mark Kausch, bass, perform frequently as freelancers in the Twin Cities, performing with many area orchestras and chamber ensembles, including the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Minnesota Opera Orchestra, the Twin Cities Chorale, Vocalessence, and Stringenius, among others. These educator performers are members of the music faculty at Bethel University, University of Northwestern St. Paul, Hamline University, Augsburg University, Normandale Community College and Winona State University. The Sapphira Ensemble looks forward to continuing their collaboration with exceptional piano students and faculty at Bethel University's Summer Piano Academy in 2027.
