Quad City Arts opens its 46th Visiting Artist Series started this week with residencies by bluegrass and chamber ensembles.

Andrew Collins Trio, a bluegrass trio from Toronto, Canada, will give 14 outreach performances for schools and community sites Sept. 16-20.

The trio showcases a collision of folk, new acoustic roots, chambergrass and jazz. Collins is a prolific, robust performer – comfortable on mandolin, fiddle, guitar, mandola and mandocello –  who composes, produces, arranges, writes and teaches across multiple genres. He is also a seven-time Canadian Folk Music Award winner and a five-time JUNO Award nominee. Collins is joined by Mike Mezzatesta, whose versatility shines through on guitar, mandolin, fiddle and mandola, and James McEleney on the bass and mandocello. Their dynamic genre-hopping show is propelled by Andrew’s lead vocals and James’ harmonies. They just released a double album cleverly titled “Tongue & Groove,” fitting 11 vocal cuts (tongues) to 11 instrumentals tracks (grooves).

They will perform as the featured artist in the Friday, Sept. 20 Bucktown Revue, at Davenport’s Nighswander Junior Theatre. Tickets are $14 each and are available at Reserve Tickets.

The Julius Quartet, a string quartet hailing from Dallas, Texas, will visit 12 schools and community sites during their week of outreach work.

Hailed as a “captivating young string quartet”, the Julius Quartet is rapidly making itself known in the chamber music world. The quartet is comprised of violinists Hyun Jeong Helen Lee and David Do, violist John Batchelder, and cellist Brooke Scholl. As passionate chamber musicians, the quartet strives to not only explore the extensive quartet repertoire, but also to present their unique voice within the music.

Their closing concert on Friday, Sept. 27, at the Bettendorf Performing Arts Center, will feature a side-by-side performance with students from the Bettendorf High School Orchestra. Tickets are $10 for adults, $5 for students and children and are available at Quad City Arts | VAS or at the door.

The 2019-2020 Visiting Artist Series brings 14 artists and ensembles, including a hip-hop dance ensemble, an electronic music producer, a Mexican folk-rock group, and string quartets, to visit the Quad Cities region from September 2019 through April 2020.  For more information on these artists and details of their performances, visit www.quadcityarts.com/vas.