Vertex Quartet
Christina Barry, violin; Lydia Metzger, violin; Jenna Gensler, viola & Melissa Lank, cello
Sunday, May 5, 2024 - 3:00 pm
St. Albert United Church
Vertex Quartet is an Edmonton-based string quartet comprised of Christina Barry (violin), Lydia Metzger (violin), Melissa Lank (cello) and Jenna Gensler (viola). The quartet was formed in 2016 with the mission to expose people of all ages and backgrounds to familiar, rare, and new music.
Vertex Quartet regularly performs sponsored concerts, events, and studio recordings in the Edmonton area, and often collaborates with other musicians and bands. Lately, Vertex Quartet recorded instrumental tracks for an upcoming album for Indie band Rare Americans, and collaborated with jazz band Good Information on a music series that was performed live at the Edmonton International Jazz Festival. They will be performing alongside the Vaughan String Quartet in December 2023, and at the St. Albert Chamber Music Society in May 2024.
An alumni of the National Youth Orchestra of Canada and the University of Western Ontario, Christina Barry’s musical endeavours have ranged from being a fiddler for the River Junction Country Band to touring with the Ontario Festival Symphony Orchestra in China, to performing unaccompanied Bach in the French countryside. Christina currently performs as a tenured violinist with the Saskatoon Symphony Orchestra, a casual violinist for the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra, and manages a large home music studio. She enjoys regularly performing with the Vertex Quartet. Christina lives in St. Albert with her Boston Terrier, Bella.
Lydia Metzger is an American violinist and music educator who is currently based in St. Albert, Alberta, Canada. She holds a Bachelors and Master of Music in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. While in Southern Wisconsin, Lydia taught piano and violin lessons at several schools and performed regularly with orchestras in the area. She also gave various solo and chamber recitals across Minnesota and Wisconsin.
Lydia moved with her husband to Alberta in the summer of 2018 and is currently a faculty member at the Society for Talent Education Suzuki School. In the Edmonton area, Lydia performs and tours with the Edmonton Pops Orchestra as concertmaster. She is happy to be playing with the Vertex Quartet regularly and she freelances as a pianist as well.
Jenna Gensler hails from Brantford, Ontario. She received her A.R.C.T. diploma from the Royal Conservatory of Music of Toronto in Violin Performance in 2010. She decided to pursue a career in Chemical Engineering, and received her B.A.Sc. in 2015 from the University of Waterloo. Concurrently with her studies, Jenna performed with the University of Waterloo Symphony, the Cambridge Symphony Orchestra (Massachusetts), and several other chamber music groups.
Jenna moved across the country to Edmonton, Alberta, in 2015 to begin working for the Dow Chemical Company. Here she began to play the viola and was quickly recruited to play with the Edmonton Philharmonic, the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, the University of Alberta Symphony, and many other local music groups. Jenna is the violist, general manager and one of the founding members of the Vertex Quartet.
Melissa Lank is an Edmonton cellist going into her third year of study at the University of Alberta. Under the teaching and mentorship of Rafael Hoekman, she has enjoyed several performing opportunities with orchestras such as the Edmonton POPS, the River City Orchestra, the Edmonton Youth Orchestra, and the University Symphony Orchestra. She is a recent winner of her class at the Alberta Provincial Music Festival and went on to compete in the Canada West Festival in July. She is excited to be a part of the Vertex Quartet. When Melissa is not practising, she enjoys reading, going on bike rides, and her work as a lifeguard.
