The Live Quartet
here. gone. is a contemporary song cycle for String Quartet and Voice. Written and performed by vocalist, songwriter, composer, and Berklee professor, Steven Santoro. Steven brings you this unique collection of songs as a journey through life, love, and loss
Originally recorded with the famed Turtle Island Quartet, now Steven's bringing here. gone. to the stage with his own quartet.
here. gone. is brimming with complexity yet welcoming to the popular ear
Check out the promo video and the other media to dive into here. gone. And be sure to keep checking the events page to see when here. gone. will be live near you!
Chris Devine - Violin
Chris is a musician and entertainer of diverse talents, performing on electric and acoustic violin, mandolin, guitar, flute, saxophone, keyboard and vocals, and as an actor and comic. Chris is a longtime member of the classical crossover duo Devine/Nix and its trio,The Pioneer Consort. He plays a musical clown in The Bobby Darling Show, toured for years in Blackmore's Night alongside legendary guitarist Ritchie Blackmore of Deep Purple, and currently fronts a Jethro Tull tribute show, "Minstrels In The Gallery”. www.chrisdevine.com
Sarah Briggs - Violin
Violinist Sarah Briggs has performed on stages from Carnegie Hall, Chicago Symphony, Red Rocks Amphitheater and Austin City Limits, to ski slopes in Park City, Vail and Brattleboro. She held orchestral postions with the Charlotte, Colorado and Utah symphonies, toured Poland, Germany and Japan, sat principal second with Central City Opera, and was a fellow at the Tanglewood festival. Locally she has played jazz and classical music in the Hamden and Hampshire county jails, and concert halls in Springfield and Worcester. She is in her 15th year teaching violin at Amherst College and calls Northampton home.
www.tundiproductions.org/sarah-briggs
Charlotte Malin - Viola
Charlotte is a charismatic, international musician, spanning classical violin, viola, songwriting, and improvised live-looping, her work also embodies, holistic wellness and creative empowerment. She hosts Liberated Classical concerts, plays in a string quartet with violinist Midori, was Principal Viola of the Hudson Valley Phil and member of the Hartford and Albany Symphony orchestras. She holds degrees in violin and viola from NE Conservatory and Northwestern. Principal teachers were Kim Kashkashian and Almita Vamos. Serving as the viola instructor at Amherst College, she curates The Hidden Temple, a community of arts and spirituality. www.charlottemalin.com
Greg Snedeker - Cello
Greg, a professional cellist, jazz pianist, composer, recording engineer and producer, holds degrees from Boston U, UMass and the Hartt School. Dr Snedeker was on full time faculty at UMass/Amherst and The Hartt School for 11 years. His studio, Riverview Productions, specializes in pristine acoustic recordings. His compostions have been performed by Yusef Lateef, UMass ensembles, Central Washington U. ensembles, Denver Air Force Big Band and more. His collaboration with Hilary Noble, Anishana: Corners Of The Sky, was featured on All About Jazz in 2020.
Song Synopses
SOMEWHERE IN THE SILENT SPACE - Instrumental
STRANGE DESIGN - A celebration of flaws, beauty, and the dangerous thrill of being human, alive and mortal.
LUCKY YOU’RE MINE - A simple upbeat love song that can’t help but express that one of us will die before the other.
A GHOST IN THE HOUSE - A ghost lingers around its earthly home. Sitting at the bedside of its former lover, this spirit laments being slowly erased from the world of the living.
BOOM BADA BOOM - The Grim Reaper sings this blues about eternal patience as the key to his dominance over humanity.
DON’T LOSE YOUR HEART - A reminder that living is full of pain and mistakes. But we are just like those who came before us and those who will live after us.
GAY DANCE PARTY 1981 - The boys are dancing at the disco when a Billy Holiday-inspired drag queen crashes the party with news of a “Gay cancer”.
WHEN IT SNOWS - Winter is symbolic of death but also has the magic of life.
STAR OF THE VIDEO GAME - A messed up kid muses about being the next infamous school shooter, believing he will become immortalized in a violent PlayStation game.
SHE MISSES HIM - A couple is married in the 1950's. They suffer in their traditional roles. He dies first. She, though deeply injured by his ways, finds she still misses him.
THE LONELY WANDERER - 200 years ago a young man had his heart torn out by a cult in their sacrificial ceremony. Then he awoke to the disappointment of being forever immortal.
A GRAND VACATION - While pondering world history on an Italian vacation, the narrator concludes that humans have always had a great knack for enslaving, cheating, and killing each other.
FEASIBILITY STUDY - An entrepreneurial alien is on Earth to conduct a study of the human race's remaining years, all in an effort to scavenge what's left of the planet's raw materials.
TODAY - Nothing is here to stay. But in the moment we can give something of ourselves. Love.
SHIPWRECK 1849 - (Not Included on the album) The wind takes us back to 1849 on its violent journey to sink the ship Henry David Thoreau wrote about in, “Cape Cod”. Then guiltily explains that this is just part of its nature.
THE SONG I COULDN’T WRITE - The songwriter of this piece tries to come to terms with his own mortality but can’t find the final lyric.
