A vital force in the Minneapolis music scene with reach far beyond it, the Laurels String Quartet has supported stars including Father John Misty, Semisonic, and Ondara but have never stepped out as headliners themselves. This March, that changes! The Laurels will host a five-week residency at Berlin, joined by a rotating cast of exceptional artists from their creative orbit.

The Laurels String Quartet is excited to collaborate for the first time with dynamic hip-hop writer and performer Alexei Moon Casselle, as well as friend and powerhouse Chastity Brown, in a rich and deeply expressive evening of music.

Doors for the first set will open at 5:30 p.m., while doors for the second set will open at 7:45 p.m.

Laurels String Quartet:
Josh Misner - Violin
Devan Moran - Violin
Erica Burton - Viola
Jacqueline Ultan - Cello

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After a chance meeting over a decade ago, the Laurels String Quartet quickly became a staple of the Minneapolis music scene. Their collective instinct for tuning into the emotional frequency of a song has amassed the group collaborators near and far. Artists such as Belle & Sebastian, Father John Misty, Lucius, jeremy messersmith, Macklemore, Dan Wilson, Jason Mraz, Rogue Valley, Motion City Soundtrack, the New Standards, and Ondara have sought their company on stage and in the studio. The quartet has appeared on Late Night with David Letterman, PBS, The Current, and NPR and has performed on stages across the country, from the celebrated outdoor festival Rock The Garden at the Walker Art Center to the Barclays Center arena in Brooklyn, NY.

Alexei Moon Casselle, aka Crescent Moon, is a longtime presence in the Twin Cities underground, working at the intersections of spoken word, hip-hop, and experimental collaboration. He has been involved with projects including Oddjobs, Kill The Vultures, Roma di Luna, and Mixed Blood Majority, and he has toured extensively alongside Atmosphere and Eyedea & Abilities. His performances are voice-forward and narrative-driven, shaped by restraint, intensity, and years of live work. In 2024, he released Eulogy, a collaborative album with producer Andrew Broder, exploring grief, memory, and mortality. This March, Casselle joins the Laurels as a featured artist during their month-long residency at Berlin, where language and strings converge in a shared, unstable space.

Based in Minnesota, but with roots in Tennessee, Chastity Brown grew up surrounded by country and soul music. In the full gospel church of her childhood, she played saxophone and drums and found her singing voice and a passion for music. Her first show was in Knoxville, TN, and then it was on to Minneapolis. Since then, she has been featured on NPR’s “Favorite Sessions,” CMT, American Songwriter, the London Times, Paste magazine, and others. Brown has toured the United States and abroad, appearing on the U.K.’s Later…with Jools Holland.