Medusa Quartet

Highway 19 Concerts presents the Western string quartet reimagined by four expert folk musicians from Toronto.

Medusa is Georgia Hathaway on violin, Lea Kirstein on cello and viola, Marta Sołek on Polish fiddle, Greek lira and cello, and Saskia Tomkins on nyckelharpa and violin. For these four seasoned players, whose collective experience as side players in successful bands spans decades, Medusa is a refuge for natural creation.

Medusa’s dynamic arrangement style cross-pollinates the sounds of Middle Eastern, Scandinavian, Celtic, Appalachian, and Eastern European music, as well as original tunes, to create something previously unheard.

Audiences call them enthralling, unexpected, unique, mesmerizing, and delightful. “Medusa brings the richness of musical culture, spoken through strings, to modern audiences…”

One of the most misunderstood figures in ancient mythology, Medusa was wrongfully punished and cast out for being the victim of a violent act, but is remembered solely for her frightful ugliness and lithifying gaze. Through their personal narratives of alienation due to racism, sexism, immigration, queerness, and disability, Medusa the band aims to retell this story by bringing back what has been cast out. Marta Solek and Saskia Tomkins resurrect the Suka, the Płosk fidel, and the Nyckelharpa – near-forgotten traditional folk fiddles with disreputable connotations that were rejected for centuries in their home countries of Poland and Sweden. Instead of a snake-haired Gorgon, they see Medusa as a symbol of vision, power, and inclusivity, and a source of inspiration for anyone who has been denied their true self.

General admission tickets are available for $20 to be affordable to anyone who wishes to attend, or $30 help sustain this concert series. The choice is yours. Teen tickets are only $5 and tickets for kids are free when accompanied by a paying adult.

Tickets: $30/$20 Adult, $5 Teen (ages 13-19), Child under 13 free with an accompanying adult (+applicable taxes and fees)