Bay Area fans of Vienna Teng who’ve watched the singer/songwriter’s career ever since she recorded her first album as an undergrad at Stanford University might be surprised to discover that she recently returned to music after a decade away.
From about 2012 to 2022, the Saratoga-raised Teng pursued a series of consulting gigs focusing on clean energy, eventually taking a job “working more than full time” with a nonprofit focusing on waste issues in the global South.
“It was basically my dream job, except for the part about not getting to do music,” she said in a recent phone conversation from her home in Washington, D.C. In the Bay Area, however, her hiatus wasn’t particularly evident, as she took advantage of her holiday visits back home to continue her annual December residency at the Freight. Instead of the Freight this year, she’s playing Sweetwater Music Hall in Mill Valley on Dec. 4.
“I was only able to do maybe a dozen shows a year,” she said. “I didn’t really have any creative space.”
Working her way back onto the music scene in recent years while juggling parenting responsibilities for her 5-year-old daughter, Teng, always game for interesting creative opportunities, returns to Stanford Sunday for completely atypical engagement.
Back in town for the Stanford Reunion Homecoming as part of the class of 2000, she’s collaborating with Viano Quartet, a dazzling young string ensemble recently recognized with a prestigious Avery Fisher Career Grant. The program features Viano performing Beethoven’s “Harp” Quartet alongside new arrangements of Teng songs such as “Hymn of Acxiom,” “Stray Italian Greyhound” and “We’ve Got You (Two Truths).”
The project was an accident of timing, as Teng initially reached out to Stanford Live about scheduling a concert in conjunction with the reunion.
She was thinking about performing her first album, 2001’s “Waking Hour,” which she recorded on campus. But Viano Quartet was already booked for the only available date. When Stanford Live Director of Programming and Engagement Laura Evans sounded her out about working with the string quartet Teng didn’t hesitate.
“It’s exactly the kind of terrifying thing I like to say yes to,” she said. “They’re such virtuosic artists, and they were game. They said, ‘We listen to your music,’ and thought it was a wonderful idea.”
“Vienna is someone who is easily at home in so many genres of music,” the Viano musicians added in a group quote. “She represents so well the true essence of an artist — someone who is able to connect deeply with people of many backgrounds and form bridges between communities. We are so excited to be working with her.”
The concert with Teng culminates a week-long campus residency for the Viano Quartet that kicks off the St. Lawrence Legacy Series. It’s a new initiative produced in partnership with Stanford Live honoring the nearly four-decade legacy of the St. Lawrence String Quartet. In residence at Stanford since 1998, the celebrated ensemble disbanded last year following the death of founding violinist Geoff Nuttall in 2022.
As part of the Legacy Series the Viano Quartet also performs a free Campbell Recital Hall concert Friday afternoon.
“This is the magic of Stanford,” said Stanford Live director Iris Nemani. “We knew Viano was coming, and that weekend is the alumni reunion. Laura had the great idea, I wonder if she (Teng) would play with the quartet. We’re quite nimble and like to be open for opportunities that drop in.”
In returning to a music business landscape that entirely transformed in her absence, Teng has displayed a good deal of agility herself. She realized that her work as a consultant, while dear to her heart, probably wouldn’t make good source material for songs. “I don’t want to write cringy environmentally sustainable music,” she said. “If not that, what will it look like?”
While she gave up her day job, she’s still juggling music and parenting, which hasn’t turned out to be much of muse either. “I feel bad this poor kid has not had any songs written about her or for her,” Teng said with a laugh. “No sweet lullabies about how I hope she’ll stay young forever.”
While describing her reentry as a work in progress, Teng has found a new creative realm by building a community around music and climate action on Patreon. It’s part discussion group, part livestream concert, and part book club. “We just read Bill McKibben’s ‘Here Comes the Sun,’” she said.
She’s tried out new songs, and fielded requests. Some of the covers she’s played recently include “What It Sounds Like” by K-Pop Demon Hunters, “Human” by the Killers, “Daydream Believer” by the Monkees, and “Still Crazy After All These Years” by Paul Simon.
“The thing that’s been really fun is there’s this subset of fans interested in doing things related to climate and democracy, and I’ve been building a deeper relationship with people doing incredible things,” she said. “People have become friends.”
Contact Andrew Gilbert at [email protected].
VIENNA TENG
With Viano Quartet: Presented by Stanford Live; 2:30 p.m. Oct. 9 at Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University; $16-$72.20; live.stanford.edu Solo: 8 p.m. Dec. 4 at Sweetwater Music Hall, Mill Valley; $52.02; sweetwatermusichall.org
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