Dallas String Quartet, also referred to as DSQ or DSQ Electric, is a #2 Billboard–charting American Classical Crossover ensemble founded in 2007 by composer and violist Ion Zanca. A fusion of contemporary classical and pop music, DSQ is referred to as “Bach meets Bon Jovi” and is compared to artists like Lindsey Stirling, Vitamin String Quartet, Brooklyn Duo, and 2Cellos. They use both traditional and electric strings performing as a quartet with the full accompaniment of drums and guitar. The group is known for their eclectic renditions of everything from Guns N’ Roses Sweet Child O’ Mine to Taylor Swift’s Anti-Hero to their collaboration, You Are The Reason, with The Piano Guys.

DSQ has performed for Presidents Obama and Bush, with superstars like Ed Sheeran, Luke Combs, and Ashley McBryde, at the Academy of Country Music Awards (ACM Awards), for NBA and NFL organizations, and their cover of Katy Perry’s Firework was featured on the most recent season of American Idol. In 2021, Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton sought out DSQ as the entertainment for their wedding and in October 2022, their album Love Always debuted at #2 on the Billboard Chart (in both Classical Crossover Albums and Classical Albums). DSQ is also featured on the 2023 GRAMMY-nominated album, The Passenger by Cheryl B. Engelhardt.

The core group is composed of violist Ion Zanca, violinists Valory Hight and Melissa Priller, and bassist Young Heo.

Keep up with Dallas String Quartet on their website, Spotify, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and YouTube.

Ion Zanca

is the principal and founder of Dallas String Quartet. Since moving to the U.S. from Romania in 2002, DSQ has become a household name to many. In October 2022, Zanca charted at #2 on the Classical Album and Classical Crossover Album Billboard Charts with DSQ's latest album, Love Always. Under Zanca’s tutelage, the group has played for multiple sitting U.S. presidents, the NFL, the NBA, performed at the wedding of music legends Gwen Stefani and Blake Shelton, released a collaboration with The Piano Guys, charted on Billboard, and acquired over 50 million streams on Spotify. As of November 2021, the group has more than 600 million streams on Pandora, 6.2 million views on YouTube, and had over 5.8 million listeners on Spotify. They are often compared to The Piano Guys, Vitamin String Quartet, and Lindsey Stirling. They have also appeared on numerous national media outlets such as ESPN, NBC, and CW 33.

Zanca himself has earned a reputation nationwide as a prolific performer, composer, and producer. His talents as a versatile violist have been celebrated on the classical stage as well as on the jazz and contemporary music scene. Hailing from a long lineage of musicians, he is a voting member of The Recording Academy and holds a graduate degree in music performance from Southern Methodist University where he studied with former principal of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Ellen Rose. He currently resides in Dallas with his wife, Estera, and his son Julian.

Melissa Priller

is a professional violinist experienced in many playing styles with a passion for performing and a virtuosic flare that electrifies stages across the country. Playing classical and electric violin, she joined DSQ in 2013 and has recorded a number of albums and singles with the group. Priller is featured on DSQ's #2 Billboard charting album Love Always (2022), as well as DSQ's albums A Very Merry Christmas With Dallas String Quartet (2019), DSQ Live in Concert (2018), and DSQ (2016). In addition, Priller is featured in many of DSQ's music videos.

Classically trained, Priller began her violin studies in Chicago where she played in an elite youth violin ensemble, gaining international touring experience, and playing for the likes of Pope Benedict XVI in Rome and Prince William Lobkowicz in Prague. At the same time, she began a career in modeling, walking runway for numerous fashion shows and landing features in various print ads.

Priller attended Southern Methodist University on scholarship. She earned her Bachelor of Music in violin performance and a minor in arts entrepreneurship in 2016.

Priller has performed for presidents, NBA and NFL teams, opened for artists such as Kenny G, performed celebrity weddings, and soloed with the Irving Symphony. She currently lives in Dallas where she maintains an active performance schedule with DSQ.

Valory Hight

is a Virginia-native violinist who has forged a reputation as an exceptionally versatile musician. Although classically trained, she has collaborated with artists of many different genres including the Dallas String Quartet, grammy-winning gospel artist Kirk Franklin, and contemporary Christian-singer Lauren Daigle. At age 25, Hight has performed on stages such as Carnegie Hall and David Geffen Hall in New York City, the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C., the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville, and Rudolfinum in Prague.

Deeply passionate about collaboration, she has had the pleasure of performing with such prominent musicians as Paul Neubauer, Peter Wiley, Peter Serkin, Dawn Upshaw, the Escher Quartet, Aaron Boyd, Chad Hoopes, the Viano Quartet, and members from the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, among others.

An advocate of community engagement and music education, Hight currently tours with pianist and composer, Eric Genuis, who has a non-profit called Concerts for Hope where they play in prisons, schools, nursing homes, and homeless shelters across the country. She is also a devoted teacher and is on faculty at Zhen Music and Arts Institute and Rockwall School of Music in Dallas. She also served as a chamber music coach and private lesson teacher at the Annie Moses Summer Music Festival and Credo Chamber Music Festival.

Hight received her bachelor's degree in 2019 from Bard College and Conservatory where she studied with Shmuel Ashkenasi and Weigang Li. She earned a master’s degree in May 2021 from Southern Methodist University where she studied with Emanuel Borok and Aaron Boyd. Currently, she is in the performer’s diploma program as a recipient of the Meadow’s Artistic Scholarship at Southern Methodist University studying with Alexander Sitkovetsky.

Young Heo

is a professional jazz bassist based in Dallas. He had the opportunity to play in a professional setting with Ellis Marsalis, Adonis Rose, Delfaeyo Marsalis, Stefan Karlsson, and Bernard Wright, and recorded over 20 albums including One O’clock Lab Band 2013.

Originally from Seoul, South Korea, Young Heo moved to the U.S. when he was 16. Young attended University of Texas at Arlington in 2007 and started playing intensively with the UTA Jazz Orchestra and top jazz combo. By the time he finished his bachelor's degree in 2010, he had received multiple jazz scholarships and awards including Bill Snodgrass Endowed Jazz Scholarship Award.

In 2011, Young was accepted on scholarship into the graduate jazz program at the University of North Texas. At North Texas, Young performed with the school’s top ensembles including the Two O’clock Lab Band and the Grammy-nominated One O’clock Lab Band. While in the band, he had opportunities to play with such players as Peter Erskine, Bob Moses, Mike Stern, and many other jazz artists around the world. Young was awarded by UNT music faculty as the Outstanding Graduate Jazz Studies Student for 2013.

Since the graduating from UNT, Young has been very busy with performing and teaching in Dallas. Currently he teaches at Collin College, Tarrant County Community College, Greater Dallas Youth Orchestra, and Southwestern Baptist Seminary.

Joel White

is a professional guitarist in the DFW area. Originally from Houston, Texas, White began his musical studies on piano at age six and guitar at age 11. He attended the University of North Texas where he earned a degree in jazz performance. While at the University of North Texas, he studied with jazz guitar professor Davy Mooney and arranging and composition professor Rich Derosa. As a member of the Grammy-nominated One O’ Clock Lab Band, White performed with guest artists Maria Schneider, Gary Smulyan, Regina Carter, and performed at the Inaugural Jack Rudin Jazz Championship at Lincoln Center for judges Wynton Marsalis, Ron Carter, UNT Professor Almunus Tanya Darby, Jeff Hamilton, and Gary Smulyan. Two of White’s original compositions Consumed and Yet So Far are featured on the band’s recording Lab 2020. He was also a member of the UNT Jazz Singers, which received a Downbeat magazine student ensemble award in 2019.

White currently maintains a busy schedule as a performer, arranger, and private instructor, playing across Texas and nationwide with the Dallas String Quartet.

Efren Guzman Jr.

stands out among his peers for his amazing flexibility and impeccable rhythm. He is equally gifted in all musical styles: classical, pop, Broadway, Latin, Jazz, Big Band, studio recordings, etc. His finesse, elegance, and command of all kinds of percussion instruments make him truly unique in the world of music. A complete musician, his piano and composition gifts are added attributes to an already stellar career.

Guzman was born in Mexico City. He attended the National Conservatory of Music and began his early studies as a drummer with his father. He came to the U.S. as a scholarship student of Paul Guerrero (Stan Kenton's drummer) and later studied at the University of North Texas, where he distinguished himself as a drummer and percussionist under the tutelage of Prof. Ed Soph, Dr. Robert Schietroma, Mike Drake and Colaiuta, Peter Erskine, Dennis Chambers, Jack Dejonette, Alex Acuna, Tito Puente, Don Famularo, Luis Conte, and Giovanni Hidalgo. He toured the U.S. and Canada as a member of the Grammy–nominated One O'Clock Jazz Band in 1991. He has recorded with artists such as Armando Manzanero, Placido Domingo, Arturo Castro, Emmanuel, and Mexican superstar Alejandro Fernandez with whom he recorded his latest DVD. He was the drummer of Mexican pop artist Reyli Barba and performed for the Latin American Grammy Awards in Las Vegas in November 2011. He has also toured Europe and Japan as a drummer with the internationally-known Perez Prado Mambo Orchestra. Personal projects include a jazz CD and DVD recording with guitarist Alvaro Torres and he continues to be active in jazz festivals in Mexico and the U.S.

Today, Guzman performs regularly with Dallas' best jazz players, such as John Adams, Brian Piper, Grammy–nominated guitarist Russ Hewitt and the Dallas String Quartet among others. He is also drummer for the Plano and Irving Symphony orchestras and principal percussionist of the San Angelo Symphony Orchestra. During the 2013 and 2014 seasons, he has also performed as a featured soloist with the Plano Symphony Orchestra, the Dallas Pops Orchestra, featuring Grammy Award-winner Kenny G, guitarist and recording artist Michael Thompson (guitarist for Cher, Reba McEntire, Neil Diamond, Michael Jackson, and Celine Dion), the world acclaimed Canadian Brass as well as a special concert at the 2014 Comic Convention in Columbus, Ohio with The Brehms jazz ensemble as well as participating in the 2014 International Jazz Festival in Catalina Island in California. In 2015, he also performed with the internationally renowned Mariachi Vargas, Time for Three, and the legendary Doc Severinsen. His latest CD recording with jazz guitarist/composer Andy Sparandeo hit the market in 2018 and his videos Hello and Despacito with the Dallas String Quartet are available on YouTube. He was also a percussionist/drummer for singer Javier Aguilar.

Sam Garner

lives in Dallas with his wife and two-year-old son. He earned a bachelor’s in music from the University of Texas at Arlington, and his master’s in media writing and production from University of Miami. Garner frequently travels and records with multiple artists and he also helps coach and develop younger musicians at his home church. He runs the YouTube channel SamTheBeardGuy where he helps review piano products and create tutorial courses for pianists.