Pacifica: Newly secure in Urbana-Champaign by Katherine Millett Bargaining Power: Artists in Academe More and more these days, ensembles—particularly string quartets—are being invited to join poets and painters, composers and soloists, as faculty at the nation’s colleges and universities. A survey of full-time residency agreements across the country reveals the pitfalls and possibilities of careers that mix performance with professorships.

he stars aligned auspiciously contract—a major policy change for an institution this year for string quartets that had previously relegated its resident artists to the on the faculties of the nation’s uncertainty of one-year contracts. (Under a one- schools and universi- year contract, an ensemble can be terminated with ties. At least seven full-time, minimal notice.) faculty quartets attained “The Pacifica was getting opportunities elsewhere new levels of job security and that pressured us to move in the right direction,” prestige. This upward mobil- says Ruth Watkins, Illinois-Urbana’s vice provost. ity signals opportunities for small ensembles generally, “We may have pushed through the Pacifica as the Tand has beneficial implications for artists in realms pioneering example.” A year after the quartet signed other than music. Interviews with more than twenty its new contract, the university changed its policy resident quartets and numerous college administrators for all resident artists because, according to a mem- reveal a broad range of successful contract arrange- orandum from the provost’s office posted on the ments, but also that both musicians and institutions university website, “the uncertainty of one-year often fail to protect their interests by specifying in contracts encourages potential appointees to seek writing important features of residency jobs. more stable and certain employment elsewhere.” During the 2006–07 academic year, the Ying Recent advances are exerting the power of precedent. Quartet was awarded tenure at the Eastman School The Arianna Quartet received expedited tenure at the of Music, and the Avalon Quartet began a tenure- University of Missouri-St. Louis after informing its track appointment at Northern Illinois University. administration about the Avalon’s tenure-track Tenure has long been a controversial subject for position. The Lydian’s “professor of the practice” musical ensembles (see “Tenure—Pro and Con,” page designation was pioneered by the Ciompi Quartet at 31), so it is especially remarkable for two quartets to Duke University. And the success of first-ever quartet earn it at a time when American universities are residencies, such as the Chiara Quartet’s at the debating the efficacy of tenure in general. University of Nebraska-Lincoln, may well inspire Tenure track aside, this has been a stellar year. The other universities to seek—and even compete for— Lydian Quartet’s members were promoted from ensembles of their own. “artists-in-residence” to “professors of the practice” This may be the best year for resident quartets by Brandeis University, and the Pacifica Quartet since the 1970s. made a leap in job security when the University of “In the beginning,” says Paul Katz, founding cellist Illinois at Urbana-Champaign signed a multi-year of the Cleveland Quartet and now a member of the

38 december 2007 39 dynamics while also serving the needs of the employing member because “she said it wouldn’t be a problem.” concerts on campus and to attend all student auditions, institution. Universities accustomed to hiring individuals But conversations fade in memory, and administrators the quartet must also prominently acknowledge the may be skeptical about accommodating a group. change jobs. Documenting the fruits of negotiation residency and institution in printed and promotional What if the ensemble breaks up, or what if some preserves them and informs subsequent administra- materials. members deserve tenure more than others? tors about an ensemble’s special requirements. All full-time faculty residencies are defined, somehow, by contracts—agreements between the ensemble and The Cleveland Model the school. Typically, each member of an ensemble Some ensembles form as a new venture for musicians Ying: receives an appointment letter or individual contract. who are already members of the same faculty. In such Tenured at These may be presented as “standard” contracts, but all a situation, the group may simply negotiate to add Eastman contracts are subject to negotiation. An ensemble might ensemble duties to individual job descriptions. The consider drafting its own memorandum to define its administrator who allocates teaching loads—a depart- internal commitments and procedures. Then, during faculty at New England Conservatory, “for the ment chair or a dean—typically retains authority to negotiations with the university, the memorandum Budapest and the Guarneri, and later for groups like adjust those workloads during the contract term. He may be modified and incorporated by reference into the Vermeer and Cleveland quartets, residencies were or she would, therefore, also have the power to terminate the individual contracts. well paid, and some of them included tenure. Then or change the ensemble. Inevitably, oral agreements crop up to address the system caught on to the idea, and all kinds of part-time But a group that forms before applying for a residency unforeseen details once the school year begins. There is solutions appeared. There were artist-in-residence approaches its new job nothing illegal, or less-than-legal, about oral contracts. solutions and, unfortunately, indentured servitude differently. The ensemble They are binding, in theory, and they allow flexibility solutions. Everybody’s glad to have a job, but sometimes comprises people who have in the working relationship. But when it comes to St. Lawrence: Equality at Stanford these arrangements are riddled with problems.” made commitments to each fundamental features of the job, all parties are best The overview of contract issues that follows shows other, mastered repertoire, protected by written agreements. An ensemble may that the basic provisions of the Katz-Freeman model developed a unique sound, The Written Contract believe, for example, that its rehearsal time is guaran- have been adopted, adapted—or even rejected—with and built a collective repu- The central contractual challenge for a resident ensemble teed because “we talked about that in his office,” or success. String quartets are the only configuration dis- tation. Such ensembles may is to draft an agreement that respects the group’s internal that the quartet has sole discretion to choose a new cussed here because they hold the most residencies, benefit from considering but details of their contractual arrangements are rele- provisions of the contract vant to ensembles of all types. drafted 31 years ago by Paul Katz for the Cleveland Quartet and modified during negotiations with Salaries: Equality or Disparity Ying Avalon Miró Ciompi St. Lawrence Robert Freeman, then pres- Salary arrangements differ from quartet to quartet, and EASTMAN NIU UT-AUSTIN DUKE STANFORD ident of Eastman. It served from school to school. Paul Katz advocates equality: the Cleveland Quartet for “If somebody thinks they’re a have, and somebody else Equal Rank/Salary Yes No Yes No Yes 20 years and now governs thinks they’re a have-not, it’s hard to sit down and the Ying Quartet’s rela- rehearse. Equality is a chamber music principle, so a raise Tenure track Yes Yes No; 5-year rolling No; 5-year No; 5-year tionship with the same for one has to be a raise for all. I think it’s extremely Contingent Yes Yes Yes No Yes institution. important that everybody in the group has the same The Katz-Freeman con- rank and salary, no matter when they join.” Concerts 2 campus 4 campus/4 city 4 campus/6 other 8 campus 3 campus tract grants equal rank and When violinist Donald Weilerstein left the Cleveland 50 away 30-50 away 40-60 away 50 away 100 away salaries to quartet members, Quartet in 1989, for instance, the quartet chose William Teaching Half load Half load Half load Half load One-third load Katz: Cleveland pioneer and tenure for the quartet Preucil, only 31 years old at the time, and Eastman as a whole. The ensemble hired him as a full professor with tenure. “Eastman Replacement Quartet decides 1 Not specified Quartet decides 1 Quartet +2 on Quartet decides carries half-time teaching gave him the salary Don had built over many years,” procedure School decides 2 in contract School decides 2 committee; loads. Faculty positions are contingent on quartet says Katz. “It was very generous of the institution, but subject to approval membership. The quartet chooses a replacement if one how else could we have gotten the concertmaster of member leaves, and the institution decides whether to the Atlanta Symphony? He still took a pay cut.” Associate Professor Assistant Professor Senior Lecturer Professor of Practice Lecturer Title replace if two leave at the same time. The quartet The St. Lawrence Quartet’s agreement with Stanford Present for Auditions Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes retains the right to have a significant schedule of off- is similar in this respect. The quartet insists on “equality campus concerts under private management and to across the board,” says Geoffrey Nuttall. “Anything else Publicize Institution Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes keep the fees earned from them. Required to play 2–8 would be unacceptable.” This extends even to the quartet’s

40 december 2007 41 Ciompi: Professors enure has never been a tradition at its board of regents to offer a five-year, rolling of the Practice at Duke conservatories, where quartets such contract—substantially longer than contracts n as the Juilliard (at its namesake granted to other non-tenure faculty. “The institution) and the American (at quartet wanted more security than a three-year

o Tthe Manhattan School of Music) have taught contract would provide,” says Glenn Chandler, which Eastman is a part. Each was subsequently pro- for decades without it. But the promise of chair of the music department, “and we were moted to associate professor and achieved tenure this tenure can be alluring for ensembles seeking willing to do it for them.” year. Their promotions followed the normal schedule college and university residencies. The National Association of Schools of Music, at the university, according to Jamal Rossi, then interim C “There is nothing like tenure for stability,” an accrediting agency, favors tenure for ensembles dean of Eastman. says Tony DeVroye, violist of the Avalon Quartet, under certain circumstances. Director Samuel The Avalon quartet succeeded the Vermeer at NIU. hired this year on the tenure track by Northern Hope cites NASM guidelines stating that if an According to its contract, which resembles the Vermeer’s, Illinois University. “Tenure made the job at NIU institution grants tenure, musicians should be so attractive to us. But when we first talked to eligible if they meet the school’s general quali-

one or more members of the quartet could, theoreti- d cally, be denied tenure. At NIU, any faculty member them about joining the faculty, they had talked fications, as well as specific qualifications for denied tenure has only one year to leave the university. to other schools and everyone said, ‘Are you crazy? music. “A string quartet that spends most of

The possibility therefore exists that unequal treatment n You can’t make a quartet position tenure-track.’” its time playing concerts on tour and teaches a at tenure time could force the quartet to replace a Both the University of Texas-Austin, which few times a year is unlikely to meet or be inter- member or to leave as a group. a employs the Miró Quartet, and the University of ested in meeting tenure requirements in most And although the Avalon’s members are starting out Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, home of the institutions,” says Hope. “Tenure is normally newest member, Scott St. John, who joined last year. with equal salaries, they will not necessarily receive Pacifica Quartet, opposed tenure for their resi- awarded only to individuals who are centered The Cavani Quartet, in residence at the Cleveland equal pay as time goes on. “All raises are based on dent ensembles. “The provost was very worried in and deeply engaged full-time with the full

Institute of Music since 1988, receives a lump sum o annual merit evaluations,” says Paul Bauer, director of about tenuring people who have to get along range of faculty duties at an institution.” from the institution and splits it equally. This is not NIU’s school of music. Theoretically, the players could with each other,” says Robert Freeman, dean of Consistent with NASM guidelines, the Ying specified in writing, says violinist Annie Fullard, but reach their tenure reviews with different salaries based r the College of Fine Arts at UT-Austin when Quartet earned tenure this year at the Eastman “nobody gets more because they make more phone calls.” on their individual teaching loads, perceived effective- the Miró was negotiating its residency. “He’d School of Music, part of the University of Still other groups work harmoniously when com- ness, and contributions to the university. read about the Audubon and all that.” (But the Rochester. “The Yings were hired as a quartet, pensation varies with length of service and other factors. well-publicized travails of the Audubon and one has to see that through,” says Jamal Asked about such dire scenarios, Bauer says he isn’t P Members of the Vermeer Quartet received different worried. “The Vermeer were such great artists-in-resi- Quartet, an ensemble with a 30-year history, Rossi, interim dean of Eastman at the time. “In salaries during their years as Northern Illinois dence for us,” he says, “that maybe we’ve been lulled resulted from a rift within the group and had a system that has tenure, where it’s part of the University’s resident quartet. When Mathias Tacke into a false sense of security, but we don’t think so. - nothing to do with tenure. A year after its culture, it’s the right thing to do.” joined that ensemble in 1992, he instantly became a We’re confident that once again, with the Avalon, we break-up, the three remaining members of the Established ensembles coming into universities tenured member of the NIU faculty; but his salary - have a good group of folks who will fit in well.” quartet left Virginia Polytechnic Institute and from the outside are in a different position from was lower than that of founding violinist Shmuel State University, where their non-tenured fac- groups formed by existing faculty, such as the

Ashkenasi, who had been teaching there since 1971. e ulty positions had been contingent on quartet piano quartet at the University of Texas–Austin. Members of the Ciompi negotiate individually with membership. The Audubon Quartet is now in “They came together as tenure-track performers,” the school’s administration. “We don’t know what each Avalon: The Vermeer’s successors at NIU residence at Shenandoah University.) says Chandler. “There is a certain irony in the r other makes,” says violist Jonathan Bagg. “We don’t feel Karl Kramer, chair of the music department situation, because if four individuals form a our fates are tied to each other so much we have to have at UI-Urbana-Champaign, says that even if group while they are on our faculty, we can

identical perks. We love the quartet, but we also make u quartet members sign contingent contracts, a treat them differently.” solo CDs and do different things for the university. tenured quartet member still might refuse to The Miró seems to be well satisfied with its Some quartets focus on getting all their bow strokes leave the university if the group broke up. arrangement, however. “Being a tenured faculty the same. I don’t think that’s the be-all and end-all.” n “Tenure is tied to an individual,” says Kramer. member,” says violinist Daniel Ching of the “It wouldn’t work to stipulate you lose your Miró, “would require serving on several com- Tenure as a Quartet e [faculty] job if you leave the group, because it mittees and other obligations which a touring The Yings’ group-tenure situation at Eastman appears takes malfeasance, dereliction of duty, to lose ensemble doesn’t have time for. The five-year to be unique today, although it once applied to the tenure. I would put my money on the fact if rolling contract is perfect for the quartet, and Cleveland Quartet. Under the Yings’ contract, it would T you’re in a tenured position, you couldn’t be we can’t think of a better arrangement for a not have been possible to extend tenure to some members fired only because you left the group.” group such as ours.” of the quartet and not others. “This is a highly unusual According to Arthur Austin, Edgar A. Hahn Geoffrey Nuttall of the St. Lawrence Quartet, arrangement,” says Phillip Ying, violist of the quartet Professor of Law at Case Western Reserve in residence at Stanford University, objects to and president of Chamber Music America. “We are University, a well-crafted contingency provision tenure on principle. “It’s a little dangerous,” he tenured as a group, not as individuals. It’s an all for would address this concern. “You can alter the says. “You can get complacent. They want us one, one for all mentality.” tenure system by contract,” he says, “so long as to continue our international touring career, Each member of the quartet—a sister and three you are consistent with the university’s bylaws not slip into sitting around at Stanford. And brothers—joined the faculty 10 years ago with the rank and relevant state and federal laws.” you know the saying: ‘You’re only as good as of assistant professor at the University of Rochester, of To hire the Miró, the music department at your last gig.’” —K.M. UT-Austin obtained a special dispensation from

42 december 2007 43 procedure for bringing in a new member. Surprisingly, An ensemble may request assurances that the search Faculty Positions Contingent many contracts are silent on this fundamental point. committee will consist of the remaining members of The Juilliard Quartet sees no reason to worry. “I the group. A version of this arrangement obtains at on Ensemble Membership don’t know exactly how we’d do it,” says violinist Joel Duke. “The quartet is the main body of the search The current trend in ensemble contracts is to include Smirnoff, when asked how the quartet would replace committee,” says the Ciompi’s Jonathan Bagg, “but a contingency clause stating that someone who leaves a member. “We’d do it our way, whatever that is.” other faculty are on the committee too, and the whole the ensemble forfeits his or her faculty position, even In an eerie demonstration of what can go wrong when [music] department votes. If they saw we were headed if it includes tenure. a contract is unclear about replacement procedures, to disaster, they could stop us. So far, that hasn’t By agreeing to a contingent contract, members of a Fry Street: Teaching-centered at Utah State Miami University of Ohio’s music department web happened.” quartet subordinate their individual security to the site shows a picture of three people under the heading Surprisingly, the replacement process is not spelled common good, because the salary of the departing them to be out there concertizing,” says John Richmond, “Oxford String Quartet.” The caption states, “Four out in the Avalon’s agreement with NIU. Violist Tony member becomes available to hire a replacement. The director of the school of music. “They aren’t required outstanding individuals join together in a fresh, exciting DeVroye says, “I can’t imagine they wouldn’t let us Avalon, Azmari, Cavani, Chiara, Fry Street, Lydian, to teach private students, because we already had 10 ensemble.” Despite the ensemble’s long residency, choose our own person.” Department chair Paul Bauer Miró, Pacifica, St. Lawrence, Takács, and Ying quartets string faculty who are fully committed to that. But which began in 1946, the Oxford has not been a agrees, saying, “I can assure you a replacement would all have contingent contracts. The Ciompi and the none of the string faculty had time to run a chamber quartet since 2005, when its first violinist left. The not be selected in a vacuum without the participation American quartets do not. When David Geber retired music program, so the Chiara does that.” departing violinist’s tenured slot in the music depart- of the rest of the quartet.” from the American String Quartet, for example, he The Yings perform about 50 concerts a year, but ment was filled by an ethnomusicologist. remained on the Manhattan School of Music faculty until 2004, they taught no private students. “Though and became the dean of performance. it was not part of our original job description,” says Presence at Auditions When the Avalon Quartet came to NIU, Harold Phillip, “the school was willing to accommodate our If members of a quartet direct a chamber music pro- Kafer—dean of the College of Visual and Performing desire to begin some studio teaching.” A major benefit universities gram, and especially if they teach studio lessons, their Arts—made sure the quartet’s appointments were con- The Miró Quartet maintains an international career derive from resident ensembles presence is usually required at live auditions. When tingent, because the Vermeers’ had not been. When the while teaching and coaching at the University of Texas- the Cleveland Quartet was in residence at Eastman, Vermeers announced that they would retire from their Austin. The quartet’s on-campus duties are defined as is the prestige and good will Freeman insisted on this. performance career, two members of the quartet elect- a 50/50 teaching and performance appointment, accord- “Students and their parents come half-way around ed to stay on the faculty. That was their prerogative, ing to Douglas Dempster, dean of the College of Fine they bring to the institution. the world for these auditions,” he says, “and they because their teaching contracts were not contingent Arts. In addition, he says, “the contract sets out both They carry the flag for the want to meet the teachers. I don’t care what concert on quartet membership. But their staying threatened a minimum and a maximum number of professional the quartet might have scheduled. They had to be the hiring of the Avalon. The school’s budget would not dates they may fill in a year under professional man- university all over the world. there for auditions.” cover four new salaries in addition to two continuing agement. We’re splitting the difference here between ones, so Kafer needed to raise a substantial amount of them carrying the banner of UT around the world Richard Green, chair of Miami’s music department Public Good Will money. He did, aided by a generous individual gift and being on campus enough to be of value to our hopes to work with a new dean this fall to restore the A major benefit universities derive from resident that endowed the quartet’s first-violinist position. chamber music and string programs.” quartet. Potential sources of funding, he says, are ensembles is the prestige and good will they bring to Quartets commonly keep the fees they earn from salaries soon to be freed by retiring faculty and fees the institution. Some universities encourage—and Performing and Teaching off-campus concerts. But to allow time for rehearsals that students have paid for instrumental lessons. some require—ensembles to play and touring, the school typically releases members from A group that plans to play many concerts on tour Each university has its own search process, and throughout the university, to give half the teaching hours required of their colleagues. It needs to negotiate adequate release time from campus some provisions are dictated by federal and state law, numerous, small concerts for was beyond the scope of this inquiry to determine to teaching. For their part, schools of music and univer- e.g., the position must be advertised to reach a large classes in and out of the music what degree resident quartets’ salaries are comparable sity music departments have to meet student demand and diverse pool of potential applicants; the university department, to work with to those of full-time teachers. Some institutions may for private lessons and chamber music coaching. must appoint a search committee to select candidates, student composers, and to wish to keep ensemble’s salaries proportional to the The balance between performing and teaching and committees of academic affairs and affirmative perform at fundraisers. compensation of full-time teachers. Alternatively, a varies from school to school. The Fry Street Quartet action may review the applications. In addition, the university portion of fees earned on tour might be directed to was hired by Utah State University in 2002 to be the In many cases, whether the agreement is written or benefits from national and the institution’s music scholarship fund. entire string department. The quartet has built the oral, the quartet chooses its new member and the school international publicity. department from 5 to 45 string majors, says cellist or department reserves the right to approve or disapprove “They carry the flag Anne Francis, and it runs a thriving chamber music Replacing Ensemble Members that choice. Before William Preucil joined the for the university all program. But these commitments limit the group’s Players may leave for all kinds of reasons—health, new Cleveland Quartet, he was asked to demonstrate his over the world,” says ability to tour away from campus. job offers, and personal relationships outside the quartet, teaching ability by conducting a masterclass attended Karl Kramer, music Freeman: The Chiara Quartet, on the other hand, has given no not to mention personality conflicts within. Yet a quartet by Eastman’s string faculty. After observing his work department chair, Architect of private lessons at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, relies so heavily on artistic and personal compatibility with three students of differing abilities, Eastman referring to invited him to join the faculty. the Pacifica the rolling where it has been in residence since 2004. “We expect that one might expect each contract to specify the contract 44 december 2007 45 High Fidelity, continued from page 67 Bargaining Power, continued from page 46

which was apparently a broadcast departments, a quartet needs a clear where unusually strong schools of music from the Chicago radio station WFMT; understanding of its responsibilities, flexi- are embedded within larger institutions. and in contrast to the sonic brightness, ble support from the administration, and Examples include the Eastman School of the ensemble’s interpretation seems a bit strong cooperation with the music Music within the University of Rochester, Quartet at the University of Illinois. “They’re better flaccid, nowhere more than in the scherzo department. It also helps to have a the Peabody Institute at Johns Hopkins than star athletes, and they reach a whole different kind of the Third Quartet. A more recent entry champion on the inside, a person who University, and the conservatories of of person.” comes from the Brodsky Quartet, playing can explain the realities of quartet life to Oberlin College, Lawrence University, Therefore, contracts normally specify that the quartet the Quartets Nos. 2 and 3 (Brodsky administrators and professors of other and Indiana University. The music school will conspicuously mention its affiliation with the Records). There’s much to recommend disciplines. may be administratively self-sufficient, institution on recordings, in programs, and in all here, although I was occasionally put off “Publish-or-perish” is the axiom at managing its own budget, or it may press releases and other publicity materials. by a conspicuous flattening of pitch in most traditional American universities. operate independently regarding such “If the school doesn’t ask for this,” says Katz, “the chords during more lugubrious moments. Workloads typically follow a “40-40-20 matters as faculty hiring, tenure, student quartet should offer it immediately. It just makes But on the whole this is a spirited inter- formula”—40 percent teaching, 40 percent admissions, fundraising, facilities man- good sense.” pretation, if one with a fair amount of research or creative work, and 20 percent agement, and governance. It may be a elbow room when it comes to niceties. committee work or public service. A state school or a private college. The ’s 1993 set (Teldec) quartet’s “research” is performance and By recognizing the culture of an insti- Contract Types of the three quartets plus the Souvenir de the cultivation of new music; it “publishes” tution, discussing the goals of an ensemble, In 2003, the Miró Quartet signed a five-year rolling Florence (and also Tchaikovsky’s early, by making recordings and presenting and imagining how the two might contract, negotiated by Robert Freeman when he unnumbered B-flat-major Quartet) is concerts; its “public service” includes collaborate, the stage is set for a successful became dean of the College of Fine Arts at University of Lydian: Professors of the Practice at Brandeis sometimes cited as a benchmark in this educating public schoolchildren, recruiting residency. “Get each member of the Texas-Austin. A contract “rolls” if each year, after a Duke University created the title “professor of the repertoire. The playing is indeed mag- students, and wooing donors; and “peer ensemble to talk about the ideal life,” performance review, the contract renews for its full practice” during the early 1990s to confer prestige on nificent—precise, sparkling, soulful, review” occurs when concert presenters advises Brandon Vamos, cellist of the term. If, for any reason, the Miró quartet were to be certain faculty, such as judges teaching in the law everything you could ask for—but the and summer festivals put the quartet on Pacifica Quartet. “If one person wants to terminated, i t w o u l d have the full five years to find school and former public officials giving courses at sound of the CDs makes me cringe; it’s their rosters. travel the world and play 100 concerts a a new job. The contract’s duration is substantially the public policy institute, whose qualifications derive in-your-face dry and bright, sometimes Mary Ruth Ray of the Lydian recom- year, she needs to hear that another wants longer than that granted to other non-tenure faculty from experience gained outside the academy. Duke nasal, sometimes even screeching. The mends drafting ensemble job description. to live in the country and play 30 concerts at the University of Texas, and Freeman regards it as a gave the title to each member of the Ciompi Quartet, engineer should be flayed for turning “We gave the dean a very detailed descrip- a year.” An ensemble with a common good compromise. “The Miró’s contract amounts to which has been in residence there for more than 30 the work of one of the great quartets into tion of what the 40 percent of ‘being a goal can then approach an institution tenure,” he maintains. To endow the quartet’s posi- years. The positions are non-tenured, yet each quartet something that really cannot be listened quartet’ is,” she says. “It specifies the with a compatible mission. tion, Freeman initiated a substantial fundraising cam- member, based on an annual review, is eligible for to with pleasure. number of evening, noontime, and other “Schools are clamoring for resident paign. promotion from assistant to associate to full professor. Listeners in search of recording that concerts we do at Brandeis, the type and quartets,” says Earl Carlyss, a violinist with Like the Miró, the Takács Quartet at the University Cellist Fred Raimi is a full professor of the practice of can claim an authentic “Russian style” number of classroom appearances we the Juilliard Quartet from 1966 to 1986 of Colorado-Boulder and the Pacifica Quartet at the music at Duke. should instead turn to the St. Petersburg will do as a quartet each year, perform- and currently director of the Aspen University of Illinois have rolling contracts. The When the Lydian Quartet—after 20 years as full-time String Quartet, which recorded the com- ances of graduate students’ works, etc. I Institute for Advanced Quartet Studies. renewable term of each is three years. faculty at Brandeis University—became full professors plete quartets (plus sundry of Tchaikovsky’s would recommend that quartets have “Their value to universities cannot be While traditional multi-year contracts provide less of the practice of music this year, their contract terms early quartet movements) in 1993 (Sony something like this on file at their host questioned. They’re an automatic string of a cushion than rolling contracts do, they go some did not change in some respects. But the promotion, Classical, 2 CDs). This is indeed Russian institutions, to protect themselves and faculty, and if you add a pianist, you of the way toward creating job security and are, of says violist Mary Ruth Ray, brought with it significant playing in a classic sense, big-boned, to clarify to administrators what it is have an unlimited repertoire.” course, greatly preferable to year-to-year arrangements. salary increases, enhanced status, and public recognition confident, urgent, and unapologetic, that artists do. The music world can be This year, residencies that thrive in Since 1999, the St. Lawrence Quartet has held a of the quartet’s important contributions to the university. filled with nuance and imagination. The mysterious to people who inhabit another markedly different settings rose to the five-year, non-tenure-track contract at Stanford “I know Brandeis feels a long-term commitment ensemble brings an appealing emotional sphere, and spelling out what the job is status of “role models.” They can now University, and the ensemble is evaluated in the fourth from us,” says Lydian violinist Judith Eissenberg. “We breadth to these works showing (pace as clearly as possible can help adminis- inspire new groups to forge new relation- year of each cycle. But the group is not haunted by work with members of the faculty from sociology, Mencken) that even Tchaikovsky’s most trators feel good about giving support.” ships, and even to establish first-time fears of termination, according to founding violinist Latin American Studies, Theater Arts, African- anguished outcries can be conveyed NIU’s Harold Kafer recommends using academic residencies. Each success sets a Geoffrey Nuttall. “During the review we describe American Studies, etc. On a yearly contract, there really without mawkishness. Need I add that an analogy between ensembles and “cluster precedent capable of steering another what we’ve done, recordings we’ve made. If they were is no way to build these kinds of relationships. And it, too, has gone out of print? It’s not hires.” Fairly common in the sciences, ensemble toward its place in the intel- going to get rid of us they’d give a year’s notice, but it is these kinds of connections that can affect the ultimately a tragedy, since the list of rec- cluster hires bring professors from different lectual life of a music school, college, or they have been fantastic. Our relationship is really academic and social metabolism of the university.” ommendable recordings of Tchaikovsky’s disciplines and different institutions to a university. good.” Other ensembles with multi-year, non-rolling quartets continues to grow apace, but we single campus to develop an emerging contracts include the Cavani and the Chiara quartets. should still regret when true excellence is field of knowledge. The individuals may Katherine Millett, a lawyer experienced in Non-tenured faculty may be designated “artists in University Cultures allowed to languish away from the pub- function separately, to some extent, but commercial litigation and contract law, is residence,” but titles vary. Members of the Juilliard Conservatories understand what quartets do, but uni- lic’s eyes and ears. their essential identity is as a group. Bound also a freelance writer. A former student Quartet have no titles, and those of the Chiara, Fry versities—especially when considering their first to a common purpose, they work as an of Claus Adam, she frequently plays quartets Street, and Miró quartets are known as “lecturers” or ensemble residency—may not. If the music department James M. Keller is program annotator of ensemble. as an amateur near her home in suburban “senior lecturers.” The Pacificas are designated “clinical co-exists with the business, biology, and religion the New York Philharmonic and the San A hybrid form of academic culture lies Chicago. Her website is www.katherine assistant professors.” continued on page 79 Francisco Symphony between conservatories and universities, millett.com.

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