Quarteto Nuevo merges western classical, eastern European folk, Latin and jazz with an organic feel that packs a wallop! Their diverse programs can be tailored to fit anywhere, from an intimate chamber music venue to a large outdoor festival. The ensemble’s razor-sharp precision is enhanced by jazzy interludes, lightly rumbling percussion motifs and mesmerizing rhythms. They effectively meld the music of ancient worlds and faraway places with a contemporary groove that enchants audiences of all ages.

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Winners of the Beverly Hills National Auditions, and recipients of South Arts’ Jazz Roads Touring and Jazz Roads Creative Residency Grants, Quarteto Nuevo’s master musicians create emotionally charged soundscapes with instruments and sensibilities that represent very different world cultures. Their unique instrumentation – soprano saxophone (Damon Zick), cello (Jacob Szekely), guitar (Kenton Youngstrom) and Brazilian percussion (Felipe Fraga) – richly colors their wide-ranging repertoire, from Heitor Villa-Lobos' "Bachianas Brasileiras" and Chick Corea’s “Children's Song No. 6" to Traditional Macedonian “Gajdarsko” and original works “Hector, Desmond and Titus,” “Rain Song” and “Dizer O Que.”

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This past season Quarteto Nuevo was the recipient of a Jazz Road Creative Residency grant from South Arts that supported the creation of their new Jazz Road Suite. The resulting ten-movement suite explores the connection of jazz to geographical and cultural locations. The ensemble premiered the new works in each state they toured, and the complete suite was recorded live in concert at ASU's Kerr Center in Scottsdale, AZ. This season Quarteto Nuevo will be in residence at CSU Fullerton as part of their New Music Festival working with student composers and premiering new works.

Damon Zick is a saxophonist, woodwind performer, composer, and educator based in Burbank, California, moving fluidly between jazz, classical music, and whatever else captures his curiosity. He has lived across the U.S., from Seattle (where he was born and raised) to upstate New York (Eastman School of Music) to Miami Beach (New World Symphony) and now Southern California.

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A busy freelance musician in Los Angeles, Damon performs with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl, plays in the pit for Broadway productions at venues such as the Pantages Theatre and Pasadena Playhouse, and records in many of the city’s top studios. He also appears on Los Angeles Opera’s Grammy-winning recording of Kurt Weill’s Rise and Fall of the City of Mahagonny.

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His jazz quintet, Damon Zick and Friends, has toured throughout the U.S. and released two albums of original music: We Are Large (Evander Music) and The Outing. He also tours with Quarteto Nuevo and the Encore Saxophone Quartet, and has shared the stage with artists including Bob Mintzer, Vinny Golia, Joe Henderson, Joe LaBarbera, Jack Sheldon, John Tesh, Adam Benjamin, Larry Koonse, and Nate Wood.

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Damon serves on the faculty at Cal State Fullerton, where he enjoys mentoring the next generation of musicians. He regularly presents clinics and master classes at colleges and universities nationwide and has been featured at festivals such as the Reno Jazz Festival, Bakersfield Jazz Festival, and UW–Eau Claire Jazz Festival.

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Outside of music, he’s usually planning his next family trip, reading, or searching out great food—finding inspiration on the road, on the page, and on the plate.

Guitarist, composer, arranger, producer, educator Kenton Youngstrom has spent a lifetime saying “yes” to musical adventures that most people wouldn’t even think to put on the same résumé. Over the years, he has appeared as a soloist with ensembles including the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra, Los Angeles Opera, and Jacksonville Symphony, performing under legendary conductors such as John Williams and Esa-Pekka Salonen. Not a bad way to spend a few decades.

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A musical explorer with a serious case of genre wanderlust, Youngstrom has toured internationally with Quarteto Nuevo and the Falla Guitar Trio, performed with jazz legends like Dave Brubeck and Hubert Laws, led a jazz big band at the Cannes Film Festival, played rock gigs from California to Florida, and even rode on a prize-winning Rose Parade float while playing guitar and singing Mexican folk music to cheering spectators. Somewhere along the way he apparently decided that specializing in just one thing sounded far too easy.

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His creative output is equally eclectic. He has produced award-winning recordings, composed film scores and orchestral works, created inventive arrangements, and written original music featured on Quarteto Nuevo albums. His solo recording project, Voices of the Collection, features 55 pieces performed on 55 extraordinary guitars, essentially the musical equivalent of being handed the keys to the world's coolest guitar garage.

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When he’s not performing, composing, arranging, producing, rehearsing, teaching, or trying to remember which continent he’s on, you’ll often find him backpacking deep in the Sierra Nevada. A longtime faculty member at the Colburn Community School of Performing Arts, Youngstrom brings curiosity, good humor, and a spirit of adventure to everything he does. Whether he’s carrying a guitar, a music score, or a backpack, he’s usually headed somewhere interesting.

Born in Brooklyn and raised in a musical family, Jacob Szekely followed a traditional classical path through Interlochen Arts Academy, the Cleveland Institute of Music, and graduate studies at USC—before becoming one of the leading voices in creative and contemporary cello performance.

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Strings Magazine called him “one of the leaders in the Creative String Community,” while Grammy-winning cellist Eugene Friesen praised him as “the first time a cellist has made the case as a leader in modern jazz.” His recordings have earned acclaim from The Strad, LA Weekly, Yo-Yo Ma, and Rush bassist Geddy Lee, who described his work as a “quantum leap forward” for the instrument.

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As a performer and session cellist, Jacob has appeared on hundreds of film, television, and video game scores, including Battlestar Galactica, The Walking Dead, Marvel’s Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D., World of Warcraft, and Joker 2, and has performed or recorded with artists ranging from Mary J. Blige and Jay-Z to Rush, Avril Lavigne, Brett Young and Luis Miguel.

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Jacob is also the founder of String Project Los Angeles, the Los Angeles Creative String Festival, String^TEK, The Improvisor’s Guide to the Cello, and ThePickupTest.com, a global resource for amplified string players. In other words, he has spent a lot of time building things that did not exist yet, mostly because he got tired of wishing somebody else had already built them.​

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When he’s not performing, teaching, composing, recording, testing pickups, or trying to explain preamps to cellists, Jacob is usually at home with his wife Diana and their two wildly energetic boys. He also occasionally leads his son’s Cub Scout den, which has confirmed his belief that improvisation is useful in far more situations beyond jazz.

If you spend enough time around Felipe Fraga, you’ll quickly discover that he approaches music the same way he approaches travel: with curiosity, energy, and a willingness to go wherever the next adventure leads. A percussionist, educator, producer, traveler, soccer fan, and devoted seeker of memorable breakfasts, Felipe has built a career by following rhythm across cultures, continents, and musical styles.

That journey has taken him from his hometown of Curitiba, Brazil—where his first drum set was assembled from empty motor oil cans collected from the gas station next door—to stages and studios around the world.

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After studying at the Fine Arts and Music School of Paraná (EMBAP), Felipe moved to Chicago, where he quickly became one of the city’s busiest percussionists, performing at events including the Chicago World Music Festival, The Oprah Winfrey Show, and Robert Irving III’s Sketches of Brazil at Millennium Park.

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Since arriving in Southern California, Felipe has performed with Ricky Martin and Aloe Blacc, recorded for artists including Janelle Monáe and Stanley Clarke, contributed to Disney projects, and was personally selected by composer John Powell to perform and sing on the Rio 2 soundtrack.​

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Whether he's producing a recording, teaching a student, exploring a new country, or cheering on Athletico Paranaense from afar, Felipe brings the same sense of joy, connection, and rhythmic vitality to everything he does.