About
Vida Strings is not your typical string quartet: beyond the traditional concert stage, Vida Strings combine international performing careers, music education, arts management, and creative/expressive art therapy with music care incl. medicine & research to provide you with unique music experiences.
Based in the Triangle Area, NC, Vida Strings was established in Fall 2018 by Lindi Wang (violinist), Erika Atchley (violinist), Jacobus Hermsen (violist), and Joyu Lee (cellist as well as a Board-Certified Music Therapist).
From the start, Vida Strings has created an extensive network to share its expertise including Music Care, Concerts, and Research:
Vida Strings has recently collaborated with the UNC-Chapel Hill Neuroscience Department (Frohlich Lab). This research combined music and neuroscience to better understand how multiple brains synchronize and communicate. More about the research and the Frohlich Lab can be found here.
Music Care workshops about Guided Imagery and Music incl. adaptations for live string quartet music have been presented to Queens University - Music Therapy Department, and at the Guided Imagery and Music Seminar at Wildacres Retreat hosted by Appalachian State University. If you are interested in learning more about our workshops and/or would like to host us, please see our contact page for more information!
Vida Strings performed the Festival Finale at the Flourish Mental Health Festival at NC State University, in which we incorporated therapeutic interventions to encourage mental health awareness and burn-out prevention. Community outreach concerts have included Carol Woods Retirement Community, Sunrise Assisted Living Home, Independence Village of Ole Raleigh, and Martin Middle School Raleigh. Other exciting projects (current and past) include collaborations with WCPE Concerts for a Cause, the Carolina Contemporary Composers {C3}, North Carolina Governor's School West, and Women's Voices Chorus.
Currently, Vida Strings is the quartet-in-residence with Opera Carolina in Charlotte, NC. Productions include Verdi's "Macbeth", Puccini's "La Boheme", and Tappin's "I Dream". More information can be found here.
Triangle Strings and Grace Lutheran Church Raleigh generously provide Vida Strings with a rehearsal space and a musical home.
Vida originates from 'Vita' in Latin, and means life. Vida Strings hope to enrich your life with the healing power of music. Experience Vida Strings to develop your self-care tool box, enjoy live string quartet music, and discover innovative research combining music & medicine.
MUSIC CARE
Vida Strings see the body & mind as an intertwined system. We focus on how mental health impacts physical health, how physical health impacts mental health, and how music can be used to positively alter both.
Vida Strings offers a variety of Music Care such as guided imagery, meditation, and mindfulness to help you increase self-awareness, explore emotional and physiological responses, and to develop your self-care tool box. Goals and objectives may include improvement of stress-management, resilience, comfort, confidence, and relaxation.
CONCERTS
As a classically trained string quartet, Vida Strings also perform regular Concerts, where you will get a chance to hear the greatest string quartets, and learn more about the extensive string quartet repertoire. We believe that classical music is for everyone therefore audience engagement will be part of your concert experience.
RESEARCH
Studies indicate how music affects the brain and the body in a measurable way. Through Research with medical professionals integrating music with medicine, we assist in providing evidence-based, scientific data on the whole-body experience.
