Mount Wilson Observatory “Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome” with New Hollywood String Quartet

For Immediate Release: 

Mount Wilson Observatory Presents
New Hollywood String Quartet
The Seventh Offering in MWO’s 8th Season of
Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome
Held Inside the Historic Dome of the 100-Inch Telescope
Sunday, September 21, 2025
Performances at 3:00 and 5:00pm

LOS ANGELES, CA – August 27, 2025 – Mount Wilson Observatory (MWO)—Southern California’s esteemed home to several of the most groundbreaking astronomical discoveries in history—is pleased to present the seventh Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome of its 2025 season, inside the magnificent vaulted dome of MWO’s historic 100-inch telescope. On Sunday, September 21, 2025, the audience is invited to experience the New Hollywood String Quartet, featuring Tereza Stanislav, Rafael Rishik (violins), Robert Brophy (viola), and Andrew Shulman (cello), for an all Schubert program including the Quartettsatz, followed by the String Quintet, D956, with cellist Cécilia Tsan who will join the quartet for the performance.

As in previous seasons, Artistic Director Cécilia Tsan (Principal Cellist, Long Beach Symphony and Los Angeles Master Chorale) curates the series. Each concert date of the season features the same program presented twice—first at 3:00pm and again at 5:00pm. There will be an artist reception at 4:00pm between each concert’s hour-long session. Tickets cost $60 each and are available for purchase online in advance (highly recommended) or at the door, given availability. For more information on this concert, please visit www.mtwilson.edu/events/concert092125. For more on the entire Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome series, please visit www.mtwilson.edu/concerts.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
New Hollywood String Quartet
“The New Hollywood String Quartet takes its inspiration from the famed Hollywood String Quartet, composed of studio musicians in the 1940s and ’50s. It had the reputation as America’s finest string quartet for its superbly silky sound and capacity for vivid drama…. That’s still true with the New Hollywood, formed in 2001, four decades after the original Hollywood Quartet disbanded.” — Mark Swed, 2024, Los Angeles Times.

The New Hollywood String Quartet had its debut concert in Los Angeles on January 9, 2001 and has been performing to critical acclaim ever since. Inspired by the great Hollywood String Quartet from over a half century ago, the current members of the quartet are likewise premiere performers of their generation. Individually, and together as one of the top string quartets in Southern California, they are well known guests at many of the most prestigious concert series in Los Angeles and its environs. 

Its members reside in Los Angeles and have recorded hundreds of film scores, are members of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, and have decades of chamber music experience between them. The  New Hollywood String Quartet was featured on the Grammy Nominated release, Passing Through, performing Gernot Wolfgang’s “String Theory” for string quartet. Their most recent recording was for Jeff Beal’s chamber work “Things Unseen” from his newest album The Paper Lined Shack.

Tereze Stanislav (violin)
Dividing her time among chamber, solo, orchestral, and recording projects, Tereza Stanislav has been hailed for the “expressive beauty and wonderful intensity” (Robert Mann) of her playing and her “sure technique and musical intelligence” (Calgary Herald).

Stanislav was the featured soloist with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in the world premiere of the Violin Concerto by Benjamin Wallfisch about which the Los Angeles Times wrote, “she gave a magisterial rendition” and “held the audience rapt.” An active and highly sought after chamber musician, she has appeared in venues including the Library of Congress, the Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, and at Carnegie Hall’s Weill Recital Hall. 

An advocate for new music, Stanislav has worked with composers including Steve Reich, Gunther Schuller, Joan Tower, Toshio Hosokawa, and Louis Andriessen. World premieres include Gunther Schuller’s Horn Quintet (2009) with Julie Landsman, Louis Andriessen’s The City of Dis (2007), Gernot Wolfgang’s Rolling Hills and Jagged Ridges (2009), and as concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, James Matheson’s Violin Sonata (2007).

Rafael Rishik (violin)
Violinist Rafael Rishik was born in New York City and started the violin at age 4. At age six he was one of the youngest students ever accepted to the Juilliard School of Music. During the next 12 years of study in New York, Rishik also attended the famed Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art. Upon graduation he continued his studies at Indiana University at Bloomington, completing his graduate studies at U.C. Santa Barbara as the first violinist of the Graduate String Quartet-in-Residence.

 “Compelling Artistry…” is how the Jerusalem Post described Rishik’s violin playing. He has participated in numerous festivals, including the Israel Chamber Music Festival, Carmel Bach Festival, Spoleto Festival of Two Worlds, The Music Academy of the West, and most recently The International Chamber Orchestra of Puerto Rico. Chamber Music has always been a big part of Rishik’s musical life. He spent several years performing with the Camerata Pacifica, and is a founding member of the New Hollywood String Quartet. 

The New Hollywood String Quartet was recently featured on Gernot Wolfgang’s Grammy-nominated album Passing Through performing his critically acclaimed string quartet “String Theory.” Rishik has played on hundreds of film scores, and continues to be actively involved with the Motion Picture Recording Industry in Los Angeles. He performs on a Joseph Rocca violin made in Turin, Italy 1863.

Robert Brophy (viola)
Robert Brophy can be seen and heard playing with the Los Angeles Philharmonic, LA Opera, and many West Coast chamber music series. He is featured with Nigel Kennedy in a quartet for Kennedy’s new release Greatest Hits on the EMI label and has performed alongside Martha Argerich, Mischa Maisky, Michel Dalberto, and Dmitri Sitkovetsky. He won the viola audition with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra in December 2011.

In Los Angeles, Brophy continues his quartet life as a member of the New Hollywood String Quartet, performing with them throughout the Southland for the last six years. This quartet recently became quartet-in-residence at South Pasadena Library’s Restoration Concert Series.

Brophy holds degrees from the Royal Northern College of Music in Manchester, England and Rice University, where he studied with James Dunham, formerly of the Cleveland Quartet. 

Andrew Shulman (cello)
Andrew Shulman, virtuoso cellist, conductor, and chamber musician is currently principal cello with the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra and Professor of Violoncello and Chamber Music at the University of Southern California. 

Born into a family of professional musicians (his father played Contrabass and his mother was an opera singer), Shulman studied cello and composition at the Royal Academy and the Royal College of Music in London. He was appointed principal cello of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic, the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, and was offered the first chair (solo principal) position with London's Philharmonia Orchestra at the age of 22 by conductor Riccardo Muti. 

Since coming to live in Los Angeles he has given many classes, among them those at the University of Southern California (USC), the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and the Corwin Awards Masterclass at the Los Angeles Music Center, as well as being a regular guest at festivals worldwide, including Aspen, Aldeburgh, Bath, Edinburgh, Kuhmo, La Jolla Summerfest, Mainly Mozart, Mons, and Sonoma.

Cécilia Tsan (cello / artistic director)
Praised by the Los Angeles Times for her "uncompromising musical character and towering technique,” French-born cellist Cécilia Tsan graduated from the Paris Conservatory summa cum laude and is a prizewinner at the Barcelona, Florence, and Paris International Competitions.

An international soloist and chamber musician, she has recorded several albums and hundreds of movie soundtracks in Hollywood. She serves as Principal Cello with the Long Beach Symphony Orchestra and the Los Angeles Master Chorale Orchestra. She is also the Artistic Director of the music series Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome at Mount Wilson Observatory.

Recent performances include John Williams’ Memoirs of a Geisha, Dvorák and Elgar Cello Concertos, and the Brahms Double Concerto. Cécilia has served as Principal Cello for the Oscars, the Emmys, the Grammys, American Idol, and Dancing with the Stars. In April 2019, she was invited by the LA Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, and Peter Sellars to be the narrator for Stravinsky’s Perséphone at Disney Hall.

In August 2024, Warner Classics released a 2-CD set dedicated to the music of John Williams, John Williams Reimagined, featuring Sara Andon (flute), Cécilia Tsan (cello), and Simone Pedroni (piano), produced by Robert Townson. A vast array of Williams' scores is arranged for flute, cello, and piano by Pedroni. The release was preceded and followed by international concert tours featuring the trio.

THE REMAINING CONCERTS IN THE 2024 SEASON:
October 5
Musical Friends
Luanne Homzy (violin), Jonah Sirota (viola), Jonathan Flaksman (cello), Geoff Osika (bass), Gigi Brady (oboe), and Sergio Coelho (clarinet). A winds & strings celebration. This program curated by Jonah Sirota will include works by Hans Gal, Britten, and Prokofiev.

October 19
Mariachi Lindas Mexicanas
Carte Blanche to Los Angeles’ all-female Mariachi Band

ABOUT MOUNT WILSON OBSERVATORY
Since its founding in 1904 by astronomer and visionary George Ellery Hale, the research conducted at Mount Wilson Observatory has revolutionized our understanding of the Universe. Perched on top of Mount Wilson, a 5,710-foot peak in the San Gabriel Mountains near Pasadena, California, the Observatory boasts a rich history and significant contributions to science and the heritage of Los Angeles. The Observatory’s 100-inch Telescope—the world's largest telescope from 1917 to 1949—forever changed our understanding of the scale and nature of our Universe and deeply expanded human knowledge. This world-heritage class instrument, used by many of the greatest astronomers of the Twentieth Century, launched a revolution in astronomy that continues through today.

Mount Wilson Institute has independently operated and maintained the Mount Wilson Observatory since 1989 under a long-term agreement with the Carnegie Institution of Washington. The Observatory and grounds are open to the public to visit, and during the spring and summer months the Institute produces programs including observing sessions through the historic telescopes (the largest on the planet made available to the public), lectures, concerts, art exhibits, educational programs, and more. Many of these cultural offerings are presented inside the singular vaulted dome of the 100-inch Telescope.

All proceeds from ticketed events go to support Mount Wilson Institute in its mission to preserve, protect, and promote the Observatory and its scientific accomplishments.

Complete information on all the scientific, educational, and cultural activities at Mount Wilson Observatory can be found on their website www.mtwilson.edu.

THE VENUE
The 100-inch telescope is the instrument with which astronomer Edwin Hubble discovered our place in an expanding universe and deeply expanded human knowledge. The dome for the telescope—designed by seminal Chicago architect Daniel Burnham—is a 20th century temple to science whose acoustics rival the great cathedrals of Europe, a truly unique setting for this ambitious music series.

VISITING MWO
The gate to Mount Wilson’s campus opens at 10:00am daily and closes at 5:00pm from early April through November. Entrance to the grounds is free. Visitors can hike, gaze at the telescope domes and towers that dot the landscape, and take a look at historic Mount Wilson photos and letters in the Museum.

The Cosmic Cafe, located above the main parking lot at the Observatory entrance, is open on weekends in the spring, summer, and fall. In addition to traditional menu items such as hot dogs, drinks, and snacks, the Café offers wraps, salads, and sweet treats from Little Flower.  

LOCATION
Mount Wilson Observatory
Mount Wilson Circle Road & Mount Wilson Toll Road
Mount Wilson, CA 91023

On MWO’s website, the “Map” page shows various SoCal routes to the 2 and 210 Freeways which feed into Angeles Crest Highway leading to Red Box Road, which then leads to Mount Wilson Circle Road.

PLEASE NOTE: Do not rely on directions given by phone apps, they can be incorrect. We recommend downloading and printing this PDF map with directions.

PARKING
A U.S. Forest Service Adventure Pass is required to park at the Observatory. A $5 day pass or a $30 dollar annual pass may be purchased at the Cosmic Cafe on weekends between 10:00am and 5:00pm. During the week, passes are available at locations around Los Angeles. The most convenient location before heading up is at the Shell station in La Canada Flintridge at the bottom of the Angeles Crest Highway. Click here to go to the U.S. Forest Service website for more information about Passes and other locations to buy them.

NOT ADA-COMPLIANT
Please be advised that access to the 100-inch dome is via an open-air, 53-step staircase inside the building. There is no ADA-compliant access.

LINKS:

• Mount Wilson Observatory - www.mtwilson.edu
• Sunday Afternoon Concerts in the Dome - www.mtwilson.edu/concerts
• September 21 Tickets - www.mtwilson.edu/events/concert092125
• MWO Facebook - www.facebook.com/WilsonObs
• MWO Twitter - https://twitter.com/MtWilsonObs 
• MWO Instagram - www.instagram.com/mtwilsonobservatory
• MWO Images including artist and concert photos - https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1ayaN3JNIKNbcPYqnxp_ILe9HHvENJGSa?usp=sharing

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For more information, photos, interviews, or press passes—about any of MWO's movie, concert, or lecture series—please contact Green Galactic’s Lynn Tejada at lynn@greengalactic.com or 213-840-1201.

For Mount Wilson Observatory, please contact Sarah Emery Bunn at semerybunn@mtwilson.edu or 626-214-8030.