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Career Profiles and Educational Activities of Ten Canadian String Quartets

By Gwyneth Rebecca Thomson

A Thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Musical Arts Graduate Department of Music University of Toronto

Copywrite by Gwyneth Rebecca Thomson 2019

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Gwyneth Rebecca Thomson Doctor of Musical Arts Faculty of Music University of Toronto 2019

ABSTRACT:

This paper provides a focused look at the career profiles and educational activities of ten

Canadian string quartets, concentrating on how they divide their time between performing, teaching, recording, outreach and personal projects. It examines the collaboration between string quartets and larger organisations such as orchestras or educational institutions, and explores what is contracted work and what is self-initiated by the quartets. This paper asks and answers the question, what do Canadian string quartets do besides classical music concerts, and why is it important. Ten groups, five established and five emerging, are examined through the process of interviews and surveys to delve into these issues.

This paper begins with a detailed look at the outreach and educational undertakings of many important historical Canadian quartets in the twentieth century. In addition, it introduces the ten

Canadian string quartets, providing biographical information about their performing career, notable recordings, and educational posts. Three other sections follow, the first detailing the emerging string quartets singularly, then a comparison of their pursuits. Secondly, a detailed look at the established string quartets one-by-one, and a section which contrasts them. Finally, both emerging and established are examined for connections and similarities as well as distinctions and differences.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page …………...…………….…………………………………….……….….....1

Abstract ……………………………………………………………………………….2

Table of contents …………………………………………………….…………….….3

1 Introduction …………………………….…………………..…….………………..5 1.1 Literature review …………..…………………………………………...…7 1.2 Established string quartet profiles ………………..…...…………………16 1.3 Emerging string quartet profiles ……………………..…………………..20 1.4 The climate of music education in Canada ……………...….……………25

2 Emerging String Quartets …………………………………………………….….37 2.1 Emily Carr string quartet …………………….……………………….….37 2.2 Annex string quartet ………………...……………………...……………43 2.3 Ton Beau string quartet ………………….……………………….……...49 2.4 Odin string quartet ……………………..………………………...………55 2.5 Vaughan string quartet ………………...…………………….…………...59 2.6 Emerging string quartets comparison ……….……………………….…...64

3 Established String Quartets ……………………………………………………....77 3.1 Lafayette string quartet……………………………..……………….….…77 3.2 Penderecki string quartet ………………….…………………..…….……83 3.3 Saint john string quartet …………………………..………………...…….87 3.4 Saguenay string quartet …………………………………………….….….92 3.5 St. Lawrence string quartet …………………………..……………...…….96 3.6 Established string quartets comparison …………….…………….....……105

4 Conclusions ………………………………..………………………………..…...118

5 Appendix A…………………………………………………………………...…129 5.1 Ethics consent form

6 Appendix B ………………………………………………..….…………...... …..131 6.1 Interview questions

7 Appendix C …………………………………………………………………...…133 7.1 Recruiting email text

8 Appendix E .……………………………………………….……..………………134 8.1 Emerging String Quartet Comparison Chart 8.2 Established String Quartet Comparison Chart

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9 Appendix D ………………………………………………………..…………….136 9.1 Commissioned works

10 Appendix E Interview transcripts………………...……………..…………….…142 10.1 Emily Carr……………………………………..……………………..……142 10.2 Annex……………………………………………………………………...150 10.3 Ton Beau…………………………………………………….…………….155 10.4 Odin………………………………………………………..………………162 10.5 Vaughan…….………………………………………..……………...……..167

10.6 Lafayette……………………………………………..…………………….172 10.7 Penderecki……………………………………………………………...….179 10.8 Saint John……………………………………………………..………...…185 10.9 Saguenay……...………………………………...………………...……….192 10.10 St. Lawrence………....………………………………………….………..197

11 Bibliography ………………………………..…………………………………….…205

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1 Chapter One

Introduction

Chamber music has always been my greatest musical passion, and I have had the opportunity to work with many amazing colleagues through this fantastic medium. My love of chamber music started early, with a piano trio my teacher started when I was just fourteen years old. I got a chance to work with two other students, collaborating and making musical decisions together. When I was in my last year of high school I was in the midst of deciding whether I wanted to pursue music as a career, and the opportunity of a lifetime came along. My teacher

Erica Low was, at the time, the second violinist with the Saint John String Quartet. While the first violinist David Adams was away on a trip, she asked if I would play second violin with the string quartet for a benefit concert they were arranging with a local dance troupe. I had the opportunity to work first hand with a professional ensemble, see how they ran rehearsals, how they settled musical conflicts, and how they shared their passion for the music. It was this amazing opportunity that pushed me to become a violinist, and made me appreciate the medium of string quartet.

During my master’s degree, I once again had the opportunity to focus on chamber music as well as educational outreach by working with a classical music ensemble. I attended Memorial

University in Newfoundland, and was in the second year of a new program called the Suncor

Energy Strings Fellowship. This program brought four string students to the university and provided the opportunity to work as a quartet, performing for the university concert series, playing with the Newfoundland Symphony Orchestra, and teaching for an educational outreach program which was formed by the four 2013-2015 quartet members in partnership with a past 2 master’s student Carole Bestvader. This program, named Strong Harbour Strings, was inspired by Community Music Works and the El Sistema teaching model, and offered daily after school instruction in string instruments under the tutelage of all four string quartet members. While working for this program, I was able to teach weekly lessons, both group and private, and provide concerts with the other faculty. This program continues to enrich the community through school shows, group classes, tours to remote areas of the province and one-on-one instruction.

Teaching is something I have always been passionate about, however getting the opportunity to give group classes as an ensemble was something that I had not done before. I was able to see first-hand how impactful a string quartet could be within a community and this in turn inspired me to wonder what else such an ensemble could be capable of accomplishing.

I began wondering what other quartets were doing, and noticed that in almost all the biographies I read, there is one sentence that stated something to the effect of “Education is important to us. We care about inspiring a new generation of string players and giving back to the community as an ensemble.” I wanted to know what this sentence really represented, and how much of a string quartet’s career profile is made up of these “other” pursuits. Is it one concert a year, or ten? What ages of students are these quartets working with? What needs within the community are really being filled? What exciting concert projects are being developed? What music are these ensembles utilizing? Who is organizing these projects? Are these ideas sustainable over time, and how are they funded?

Historically, string quartets in Canada have been doing this type of outreach for years.

Looking into it, I found an abundance of offhand comments mentioning string quartets who toured to remote communities, or who taught through a conservatory, gave masterclasses that were free to the public, featured Canadian compositions in their recitals, or created concerts

3 specifically designed for young audiences. This project has evolved from its original focus to take on a broader scope as I look at all the activities that fall outside of the traditional concert mold. I want to know how much outreach is actually happening, and what form it takes.

I feel that this research is both interesting and important. When researching historical string quartets, there was limited information and all data was confined to press releases, newspaper clippings and encyclopedia entries. By interviewing modern string quartets, I have had the opportunity to glean this information first-hand, and gain insight into a topic which has never been researched. I think it will be very insightful to learn more about non-traditional concerts as well as the educational activities these ensembles are passionate about.

LITERATURE REVIEW

String quartets have been providing school concerts, educational recitals, and extra-curricular music programs in Canada for much of the twentieth and all of the twenty-first centuries.

Ensembles such as the Brunswick String Quartet, the Conservatory String Quartet, the Hart

House String Quartet, the Orford String Quartet, the Purcell String Quartet, the Toronto String

Quartette and the Vághy String Quartet all toured actively throughout Canada during the twentieth century, giving both concerts and school shows in their home towns and in more remote parts of Canada.

Historically, string quartets were integral to creating interest in classical string music across Canada by giving school concerts, educational recitals, guest lectures in universities, masterclasses, and free concerts. While all of these activities can be seen as a form of reaching- out to interact with the community, not all of these endeavors are educational by nature. While the terms “outreach” and “education” overlap, they are not always synonymous, and can be

4 distinguished in the following way. Education implies the imparting of knowledge from one to another, most simply the string quartets demonstrating something that is unknown or unfamiliar to their chosen audience. Outreach is the implementation of this idea, taking something that is enriching, and bringing it to a community or populous which may not have had access before.

These early quartets filled a variety of roles, most of them entirely concert-based, and teaching and educational programming was seen as extra to their main vocation which was concertizing. However, many of the early string programs originated as the result of an impetus from travelling and touring musicians. A number of diverse groups ranging from youth orchestras, military bands, and small chamber groups, to renowned professional orchestras, soloists, and conductors endeavored to bring the spark of classical music to all communities and provinces across Canada.1 Several of Canada’s premier string quartets were an integral part of this movement, and made outreach a fundamental aspect of their regular touring and performing schedule.

The Hart House String Quartet, a Toronto-based ensemble, and arguably Canada’s most famous chamber ensemble in the first half of the twentieth century, made regular trips to more remote parts of Canada to give concerts. Before the Hart House String Quartet’s formation in

1924, ensembles had considered chamber music a part-time vocation choosing to focus on solo performing, teaching, or working with larger ensembles.2 The HHSQ was the first fully professional Canadian chamber music ensemble and by 1938 they had undertaken twelve

Canadian tours in addition to the twenty annual recitals they gave at Hart House and

1 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan. Music education in Canada: A historical account. Univ of Toronto Pr, 1991, 133.

2 Robin Elliott, “The String Quartet in Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1990), 5.

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Convocation Hall at the University of Toronto.3 “Extensive tours across the country took this premier ensemble into Canada’s small and remote communities, and provided a musical baptism for many who were unfamiliar with the string quartet genre.”4

In addition to bringing classical music to some of Canada’s smaller communities, the

Hart House String Quartet often played in more humble venues. Concert locations ranged from churches and ladies’ clubs to community centres and hotels. In 1927 Hector Charlesworth, a

Canadian writer and critic, described the quartet saying,

Canada as a whole may well take pride in the Hart House Quartet which, though Toronto is its home, has made the whole country its field and is winning enthusiastic recognition clear across the United States.5

The Hart House String Quartet felt that educating and inspiring Canadian youth was very important and they established an annual concert series for Toronto high school students and undergraduates.6 Green and Vogan state,

Although the individual players were not Canadian by birth, they made a concerted effort to contribute to music education in their adopted country. While on tour they did this by playing afternoon concerts in high schools before their evening engagements. A historical account of music education would be incomplete if it failed to recognize the unique role of this ensemble; as an emissary of music both at home and abroad.7

3 Kallmann, Helmut. "Hart House String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 12 Apr. 2013. Web. 27 May 2016. .

4 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan. Music education in Canada: A historical account. Univ of Toronto Pr, 1991, 133.

5 Hector Charlesworth, ‘Hart House Quartet Grows in Beauty,’ Saturday Night, 29 Oct. 1927, 6-7.

6 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan. Music education in Canada: A historical account. Univ of Toronto Pr, 1991, 134.

7 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan, 134.

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The Dubois String Quartet, formed in 1910 and active until cellist Jean-Baptiste Dubois’ death in 1938, is one of Canada’s most long-lasting and respected string quartets.8 They contributed greatly to chamber music in Montreal and were known for their inclusive concerts, free from their 1927/1928 season onward. By dropping the entrance fee to their concerts, the

Dubois string quartet provided access to live classical music for an entirely new demographic.9

The McGill String Quartet was founded in 1904 by Alfred De Sève, and was revitalized in 1930 and again in 1939 by Alexander Brott. Several quartets existed under the same name at different times, the first active 1925-1928, the second 1934-1940, and third 1950-1961. The last iteration, boasting a prolific broadcasting career and teaching résumé, gave many benefit concerts for the Red Cross, and was heavily involved with the McGill Chamber Music

Society/La Société de musique de chamber McGill.10

The Parlow String Quartet was formed by violin virtuoso Kathleen Parlow who, after many years abroad, returned to Canada in 1940 to work, perform, and teach at the Royal

Conservatory. The Parlow String Quartet had a special dedication towards Canadian music and audiences, premiering many works by Canadian composers as well as giving seasoned performances of the standard repertoire. They gave many concerts in Toronto, toured Ontario and Western Canada regularly, and occasionally played in Quebec and the Maritimes.11 They

8 Potvin, Gilles. "Dubois String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published March 26, 2012.

9 Robin Elliott, “The String Quartet in Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1990), 16.

10 Potvin, Gilles. "McGill String Quartet/Quatuor à cordes McGill." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published January 23, 2008.

11 Hassell, Lorna. "Parlow String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published February 8, 2006.

7 premiered John Weinzweig’s String Quartet No. 2, which was one of the first commissioned string quartets by a Canadian composer.12

The Royal Conservatory of Music (or Toronto Conservatory of Music as it was known from 1886 to 1947) inspired the formation of several quartets in the early twentieth century.

There were several iterations of the Academy String Quartet and Conservatory String Quartet.

These configurations were for the most part short lived as the musicians often had a hand in many vocations outside of chamber music. However, in all iterations of the Conservatory and

Academy string quartets, the members were involved with the Conservatory both as teachers and performers, actively enriching the Toronto music scene, and inspiring a new generation of performers.13

The Dembeck String Quartet, formed in 1947 was comprised of members from the

Toronto Symphony Orchestra. Much like its contemporary the Parlow String Quartet, the DSQ was very dedicated to commissioning and premiering Canadian works.14 Additionally, they were instrumental in cultivating new audience members, programing and performing many concerts at

Hart House specifically designed for new concert-goers and non-classical music enthusiasts.15

The work started by groups like the Hart House String Quartet and to a lesser extent, the

Academy and Conservatory quartets, Dembeck, Dubois and Parlow quartets, continued on into the mid-to-late twentieth century. In 1961, just after the Montreal and Parlow quartets disbanded,

12 Robin Elliott, “The String Quartet in Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1990), 34.

13 Pincoe, Ruth. "Academy String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published February 8, 2006.

14 Spier, Susan. "Maurice Solway." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published September 28, 2012.

15 Koh, Min-Jeong. "The Proliferation of String Quartets in Canada 1991-2014." DMA thesis, University of Toronto, 2014, 32.

8 the Canadian String Quartet was formed in Toronto. The founding first violinist, Toronto-born

Albert Pratz, was unwavering in his dedication to the creation of what he believed could be

Canada’s next Hart House String Quartet.16

The Canadian String Quartet was active for two years, contributing to Canadian culture by commissioning several important quartets, before disbanding prematurely in 1963.17 What followed however, was the formation of many new quartets, who were important not just for their contributions to performance, but also for their investment in the future of education and outreach in Canada.

“The Orford String Quartet was founded at the Jeunesses Musicales of Canada’s Orford

Arts Centre in June 1965,18 and remained an active and influential chamber ensemble until it disbanded in 1991.”19 Although not as active as other ensembles in public schools, the Orford

String Quartet gave masterclasses and concerts for many music camps and served as the Quartet- in-Residence and artistic directors at the Kelso Music Camp, held annually in Oakville Ontario.

Valerie Legge comments on their investment in music education in Ontario saying,

Music education was gaining visibility in the public eye … and on July 10, 1973 the Quartet performed for a CBC concert in conjunction with the [Kelso Music Camp], acknowledging the importance they accorded to teaching as well as performing.20

16 Koh, Min-Jeong. "The Proliferation of String Quartets in Canada 1991-2014." DMA thesis, University of Toronto, 2014, 33.

17 Min-Jeong Koh, 33.

18 Edwards, Barry J., Susan Spier, and Robin Elliott. "Orford String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 May 2016. .

19 Barry J Edwards, Susan Spier and Robin Elliott.

20 Legge, Valerie J. One Quarter of the Orford String Quartet: Marcel Saint-Cyr. Calgary: Frontlist Pub., 2009.

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In addition to their busy schedule of concert tours and premiers, the quartet visited universities and conservatories across Canada, training young ensembles. Edwards notes that,

“The group’s 26-year career made it one of Canada’s longest-lived as well as most illustrious chamber ensembles.”21

The Vághy String Quartet, founded in 1965, was formed by two Hungarian brothers,

Dezsö and Tibor Vághy. The quartet’s first Canadian appearance was at Expo 67, and they were named Quartet-in-Residence at Queen’s University the following year. They taught at the Kelso

String Camp as successors to the Orford String Quartet, and founded the Chamber Music

Institute in Kingston in 1978. Rather than make a name for themselves internationally, the quartet chose to focus on community-building, and were hired on as section leaders of the

Kingston Symphony Orchestra.22 In a 1971 documentary of the quartet, Vághy, they remark on the fruitfulness of this relationship saying,

It’s so rewarding to work with so many amateur players who are very deeply devoted and sincerely interested in music … we have an incredibly lucky situation in this case … we are not just bringing up the quality … we are playing chamber music (within the orchestra).23

Inspired by the success of the Vághy Quartet with the Kingston Symphony Orchestra,

Boris Brott recruited all four members of the Czech String Quartet to strengthen the string section of the Hamilton Philharmonic in 1969.24 In addition to their work with the Hamilton

21 Edwards, Barry J., Susan Spier, and Robin Elliott. "Orford String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 25 Mar. 2013. Web. 23 May 2016. .

22 Clifford Ford and Robin Elliott. "Vághy String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published February 8, 2006.

23 Vághy, narrated by George Whalley, Quarry Film Production, 1972, part two. Web 23 May 2016. < https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pa2mhdQMX-g>

24 Koh, Min-Jeong.”The Proliferation of String Quartets in Canada 1991-2014." DMA thesis, University of Toronto, 2014, 37.

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Philharmonic, they were named Quartet-in-Residence at McMaster University in 1969. They disbanded in 1974, and although short lived, two of its members, Zdenek Konicek and Marta

Hidy, went on to teach at the Southern Ontario Chamber Music Institute, a summer festival which inspired many young artists who went on to play in their own quartets.25

The Brunswick String Quartet, founded in 1970 at the University of New Brunswick, made many strides in music education in the Maritimes. As the university’s Quartet-in-

Residence, the four members performed and toured extensively in Atlantic Canada and the USA until their disbandment in 1989. They were heavily invested in building community and strengthening educational policy and outreach in the Maritimes.26 They both performed and taught at Blue Mountain and Courtenay Youth Music Camp as well as giving hundreds of school concerts in New Brunswick. They also travelled three times to the islands of St. Pierre and

Miquelon to give concerts for the spring blessing of the fishing fleet.27 Their level of community involvement and dedication to educating young Canadian musicians had a tremendous impact on students across the Maritimes in the late twentieth century.

Another string quartet that contributed to the spread of instrumental music as well as supporting Canadian music education was the Purcell Quartet. Founded in 1968 and active until

1991, it was formed by the four principle players of the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra.

Although its reach in terms of performance and touring was not as widespread as that of the

Orford String Quartet, the Purcell String Quartet was very invested in the next generation of

25 Koh, Min-Jeong,38.

26 "Brunswick String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

27 The Canadian Encyclopedia “Brunswick String Quartet”

11 musicians, presenting several educational concert series every year in Vancouver as well as travelling to perform throughout Canada.28

Robert Cummings, in his article about the Purcell String Quartet, highlights the group’s involvement with music education stating, “The PSQ was involved in founding the Hornby

Island Festival in 1980 and was instrumental in the advancement of several musical and educational concerns in Canada, such as the Courtenay Youth Music Camp.”29 In addition to creating the Hornby Island Festival, and the establishment of several summer music camps in

Nelson, Vanderhoef, and Victoria, they were regular collaborators with CBC music, and commissioned and championed many Canadian compositions.30

Throughout the twentieth century, string quartets have worked tirelessly to bring classical music to all areas of Canada, both in terms of location and demographic conditions. Through concerts, educational programs, chamber music festivals, summer institutes, and a variety of other endeavors, string quartets have incited new interest in string music and made accessibility to music in all parts of Canada a priority.

28 Gooch, Bryan N.S., Nancy McGregor, and Max Wyman. "Purcell String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

29 Cummings, Robert. "Purcell String Quartet." All Music. ComplexMusic, n.d. Web. 10 June 2016. .

30 Gooch, Bryan N.S., Nancy McGregor, and Max Wyman. "Purcell String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

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MODERN QUARTET PROFILES

Established: Emerging: 1. Saint John String Quartet (1985) 1. Emily Carr String Quartet (2006) 2. Lafayette String Quartet (1986) 2. Annex String Quartet (2008) 3. Penderecki String Quartet (1986) 3. Ton Beau String Quartet (2010) 4. Saguenay String Quartet (1989) 4. Vaughan String Quartet (2013) 5. St. Lawrence String Quartet (1989) 5. Odin String Quartet (2015)

These ten Canadian quartets have been chosen as they are both representative and important ensembles within the modern Canadian performance scene. Through the process of interviews I gathered information regarding their educational and outreach endeavors, encompassing personal projects, teaching, school performances, workshops, pop up concerts and masterclasses. Using the information obtained through interviews, I summarize what role these undertakings play in the overall career profile of an active and touring Canadian string quartet.

The quartets are separated into two categories: Emerging and Established. All Emerging quartets have been working together for roughly ten years or less, and are fairly recent graduates of academic programs. The Established ensembles have all been active for thirty years or more, and are fixtures within the Canadian performing arts scene as well as Internationally.

ESTABLISHED STRING QUARTET PROFILES

The Saint John String Quartet, founded in 1985, is comprised of Symphony New Brunswick’s four core section leaders, violinists David Adams and Danielle Sametz, violist Christopher

Buckley and cellist Sonja Adams. SJSQ has a very active performing schedule and gives more than 125 concerts a year in addition to their work as musicians in residence at the University of

New Brunswick. They have been mentors at many prestigious festivals both in Canada, and abroad, and have given performances around the globe.

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They boast a diverse discography, and work tirelessly to record and perform works that are “new, innovative or under-appreciated in the classical music world.”31 They have been nominated for a JUNO award, and were awarded “Best Classical Album of the Year” at the East

Coast Music Awards. They were awarded the Lieutenant Governor’s New Brunswick Youth

Orchestra Award in 2012, recognizing their leadership and contributions to music education and youth mentorship with the orchestral community in New Brunswick. In addition to working with the NBYO, the quartet is very dedicated to education and development of children through music, proudly presenting over fifty school concerts a year and reaching over 10,000 children throughout the province of New Brunswick.32

The Lafayette String Quartet began in 1986 and still maintains its original members today, violinists Anne Elliott-Goldschmid and Sharon Stanis, violist Joanna Hood, and cellist

Pamela Highbaugh Aloni. The quartet was initially based in Detroit and received coaching from two of the world’s most esteemed quartets, the Amadeus Quartet and the Alban Berg Quartet.

The Lafayette were the winners of the Grand Prize at the Fischoff National Chamber Music

Competition and prizes from the Portsmouth International String Quartet Competition and the

Chicago Discovery Competition, going on to win the Cleveland String Quartet competition in

1988. In 1991, they became Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Victoria, a position they still hold today.33

31 “Saint John String Quartet.” Saint John String Quartet | Saint John String Quartet | Biography, 2018, www.sjsq.ca/biography/.

32 “Saint John String Quartet.” Saint John String Quartet | Saint John String Quartet | Education and Outreach, 2018, www.sjsq.ca/education_and_outreach/.

33 "Lafayette String Quartet." Lafayette String Quartet. 2017. Accessed November 03, 2017. http://lafayettestringquartet.ca/bios/lafayette-string-quartet/.

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The Lafayette String Quartet is very passionate about the creation and performance of

Canadian music and have four CDs featuring the music of Murray Adaskin and have recently commissioned the piece Motion and Distance, by the Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy in addition to Murray Schafer’s noteworthy 11th string quartet. The LSQ serve as section leaders of the Galiano Ensemble and are very enthusiastic advocates for music in public schools. Each year they run the Lafayette Health Awareness Forum, which was founded in 2006. They also founded the Quartet Fest West program, which provides high level instruction in the quartet repertoire to young musicians. They are regular collaborators with the Penderecki String Quartet at their similar program Quartet Fest, and also collaborate regularly with Victoria Summer Music

Festival’s community engagement project. 34

The Penderecki String Quartet, established in 1986, has been the Quartet-in-Residence at Wilfred

Laurier University in Ontario since 1991. The current members are violinists Jerzy Kaplanek and

Jeremy Bell, violist Christine Vlajk and cellist Katie Schlaikjer. Having recently celebrated their thirtieth season, the PSQ is praised as one of Canadas most celebrated chamber ensembles.35 The

Pendereckis have toured extensively throughout North America, Europe, Asia and regularly from coast to coast in Canada.

They are dedicated educators and have been guests at universities, conservatories, and summer institutions all over the globe. They act as mentors and teachers at the annual Quartet

Fest which takes place at the Faculty of Music at Laurier University, a program which has

34 "Quartet Fest West June 8-18, 2017." Lafayette String Quartet. 2017. Accessed November 03, 2017. http://lafayettestringquartet.ca/quartet-fest-west/.

35 Koh, Min-Jeong. "The Proliferation of String Quartets in Canada 1991-2014." DMA thesis, University of Toronto, 2014, 71.

15 featured many world class string quartets.36 In addition to a dedication to education, the PSQ have premiered over one hundred new works from composers in Canada and abroad. They have a large and diverse discography and their recording of Marjan Mozetich’s Lament in the

Trampled Garden won the 2010 JUNO Award for Best Composition.37

Formed in 1989, the Saguenay String Quartet, formerly known as the Alcan Quartet, is comprised of violinists Laura Andriani and Nathalie Camus, violist Luc Beauchemin and cellist

David Ellis. The Saguenay String Quartet has been active for three decades and has performed close to one thousand concerts, over one hundred live broadcasts, and numerous tours throughout

North America, Asia and Europe. They have a number of commissioned pieces and first performances in addition to their wide array of classic repertoire.

The quartet is based in Chicoutimi, Québec, where it receives support from the Orchestre

Symphonique du Sagueay. The quartet is regularly invited to give masterclasses at universities and conservatories and is often on faculty for summer chamber music institutes. Although they are perhaps best known for their recordings of Beethoven, they are active in the premiere and recording of new works, and have several works by Canadian composers featured on their discography, including the string quartet by Glenn Gould, and works by Ernest MacMillan.38

The St. Lawrence String Quartet was founded in Toronto in 1989, and is now celebrating twenty years as the Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford University. Averaging more than one hundred concerts annually, the SLSQ tours both domestically and internationally. They actively

36 Durrell Bowman and Susan Spier. "Penderecki String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published September 20, 2012.

37 Paul, Richard. “Biography.” Penderecki String Quartet, 2012, ps4.ca/about/biography/.

38 Andriani, Laura. "The Quartet." Quatuor Alcan String Quartet. 2016. Accessed November 03, 2017. https://www.alcanquartet.com/about.

16 commission new music, and have developed strong relationships with composers such as John

Adams, Jonathan Berger, Osvaldo Golijov, and Murray Schafer. They are particularly dedicated to the music of Haydn and will release in 2019, his seminal set of six quartets

(op. 20) on LP, CD, and for download as well as online in a hi-definition video for free.39

As Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford, the SLSQ teach privately, direct the chamber music program, and perform regularly on campus. Additionally, they direct several self- initiated programs including the annual SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford, a unique program blending “advanced students destined for careers in performance with passionate accomplished adult amateur musicians”, the biannual SLSQ Emerging String

Quartet Program, and the summer Stanford Pre-Collegiate Studies Program class “Why

Music Matters” which was created in partnership with their long-time collaborator Robert

Kapilow. During the academic year they regularly partner with colleagues in other departments and faculties including medicine and law, using music as a means to connect, illuminate and cross pollinate.40

EMERGING STRING QUARTET PROFILES

The Emily Carr String Quartet was formed in 2006, and takes its name from Emily Carr (1871-

1945), a Canadian artist and writer. Located in Victoria, BC, the quartet is very involved with the local community, regularly intersecting with other ensembles and soloists. The four members,

Müge Büyükçelen-Badel and Cory Balzer on violin, Mieka Michaux on viola and Alasdair

39 “St. Lawrence String Quartet Press Kit,” St. Lawrence String Quartet (David Rowe Artists , 2018), https://www.davidroweartists.com/slsq-publicity-materials.

40 “St. Lawrence String Quartet Press Kit,” 2018.

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Money on cello are all members of the Victoria Symphony and the Aventa Ensemble in Victoria.

They have enjoyed residencies at Stanford University and the Banff Centre and have performed for many concert series including the Ankara Music Festival, Hornby Festival, Victoria Summer

Music Festival and the IAMA Canadian Music Showcase in Montreal.41

They have been featured on CBC radio’s “North by Northwest” and their first CD Hidden

Treasures was nominated for the 2012 classical recording of the year at the Western Canadian

Music Awards. The quartet is very dedicated to contemporary music and has commissioned three works from Canadian composers inspired by Emily Carr’s work, as well as premiering Stories from Klee Wyck by the local composer Tobin Stokes. The quartet has performed for Health Arts, a concert series that books artists to perform in care facilities throughout British Columbia, and has, in association with the Victoria Symphony, presented “Concerts for Kids” which works to bring string quartet music to elementary schools in and around Victoria.42

The Annex String Quartet was founded in 2008 by violist Yunior Lopez and is named after the Annex, a neighborhood in downtown Toronto adjacent to the Royal Conservatory of

Music and the University of Toronto. Its four members, violinists Stanislav Pronin, Carolyn

Blackwell, violist Yunior Lopez and cellist Peter Crosbey, have given dynamic performances across Canada and North America. The quartet began by playing in non-classical venues like bars, coffee shops and the St. Lawrence Market. In 2010 they made their debut at Carnegie Hall and have since appeared in over one hundred performances, recordings and broadcasts.43 In

41 “Events - Emily Carr String Quartet.” Facebook, 2018, www.facebook.com/pg/emilycarrsq/events/?ref=page_internal.

42 “Emily Carr String Quartet.” Emily Carr String Quartet - Full Biography, 2013, http://emilycarrstringquartet.com/full-biography.html.

43 “Biography.” Annexquartet.com, 2017, annexquartet.com/biography/.

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2012, the quartet created the “Roaring Twenties Project”, an initiative to revive the sounds of the

1920s through re-imagined and newly arranged pieces for string quartet, and these works are featured on their 2013 album, which bears the same name. Their current recording project is an album of Cuban music featuring famed Cuban Bolero singer, Anais Abreu. They are dedicated to embracing eclectic music and have incorporated a multitude of styles and sounds with influences ranging from classical, contemporary, and blues to music of the Middle East, Asia and Cuba.

The Annex Quartet is very passionate about creating new music and has premiered, presented or collaborated with composers such as Murray Schafer, Andrew Downing, Colin

Power, David Lidov, David Occhipinti, Hilario Duran, Larysa Kuzmenko, Patrick Reid and

William Wescott. They have been featured performers at the Luminato Festival, Toronto’s

Botanical Gardens Outdoor Series, Ottawa Chamber Fest, Koerner Hall, and the Toronto

Summer Music Festival.44 Additionally, the quartet is passionate about education. All four members maintain private studios at the Midtown Music School in Toronto, where they are the

Quartet-in-Residence, regularly giving masterclasses and guest performances.45

The Ton Beau String Quartet, founded at the University of Toronto in 2010, regularly features in Toronto concert halls performing classical favorites as well as new gems in the string quartet repertoire. They strive to feature and premier works by young composers, female composers, and artists from under-represented communities. They are avid educators and all four are affiliated with the Sistema Toronto Academy. They give private lessons, engage in school shows in the greater Toronto area, and give masterclasses at universities, secondary schools and through summer festivals.

44 “Biography.” Annexquartet.com, 2017, annexquartet.com/biography/.

45 “Projects.” Annexquartet.com, 2017, annexquartet.com/projects/.

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While at the University of Toronto, the quartet took a leadership role in formulating outreach opportunities for the Faculty of Music, running a successful concert series at the

University of Toronto Art Centre. They took part in Wilfrid Laurier University’s Career

Development Residency in 2011-2012, and also took part in Winter Creative Residencies at the

Banff Centre, and then in the fall of 2012 they began a long term residency at the Arts and

Letters Club of Toronto. In addition to standard classical concerts, the Ton Beau String

Quartet embraces collaboration with other artists and curators, engaging with the folk, world music and jazz genres. In 2017 they recorded their first album, The Silent Voices Project, which features 14 pieces inspired by poems written by children who died in concentration camps, from the collection I Never Saw Another Butterfly. 46 In April 2018 the quartet performed these pieces in Nashville, Tennessee, in collaboration with the “Violins of Hope" which is a collection of Holocaust related string instruments located in Tel Aviv, Israel .47

The Vaughan String Quartet, an Edmonton-based ensemble, was founded in 2013 and is one of the most active young string quartets in western Canada, recognized by the press for their

“youthful energy, seasoned experience, invigorating playing and soulful interpretations.”48 In

2014 the quartet was Artist-in-Residence at the Banff Centre, and participated in the St.

Lawrence String Quartet Chamber Music Seminar at Stanford University.

Live recordings of the Vaughan String Quartet have been featured on CBC Radio and they have had several television spots, and in 2017 the quartet released their first CD. They were

46 Eichenberg, Fritz. I Never Saw Another Butterfly. Children's Drawings and Poems from Terezin Concentration Camp, 1942-1944. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1964.

47 Alex McLeod, “About the TBSQ,” Ton Beau String Quartet, 2018, http://www.tonbeauquartet.com/about.html.

48 “About.” Vaughan String Quartet, 2018, www.vaughanquartet.com/about.html.

20 involved in Murray Schafer’s “Apocalypsis” project, recorded live in 2015 and released on CD in 2016. They have many projects they are passionate about and they regularly host benefits including a tribute concert to the victims of the Paris terrorist bombing in November 2015. The four members, Vladimir Rufino and Mattia Berrini on violin, Fabiola Amorim on viola and

Silvia Buttiglione on cello give masterclasses and coachings both as individuals and as an ensemble in Edmonton.49

Founded in 2015, the Odin String Quartet consists of four recent graduates from the

Royal Conservatory of Music's Glenn Gould School and the University of Toronto's Faculty of

Music. The quartet is comprised of violinists Alex Toskov and Tanya Charles, violist Veronica

Lee and cellist Samuel Bisson. They are influenced by music and poetry of the Romantic era, and take their name from the wise one-eyed Norse god.50 They are a young quartet and have no professional discography, but are working on recording Samuel Bisson’s new work for orchestra and string quartet entitled Epitaph which is set to be released by the end of 2019.51

They are passionate about performing and premiering Canadian music, particularly that of Samuel Bisson (the quartet’s cellist), and were one of the quartets selected to participate in

Murray Schafer’s 1980 oratorio Apocalypsis in the production that was part of the Luminato festival in Toronto in June of 2015. They have collaborated with many artists on new projects, and maintained a close relationship with the Cecilia and Afiara string quartets with whom they

49 “Vaughan String Quartet.” Facebook, 2017, www.facebook.com/pg/VaughanStringQuartet/events/?ref=page_internal.

45 “Odin String Quartet.” Alex Toskov, 2018, http://devtesting.nfshost.com/odinquartet.html.

51 Toskov, Alex. “Odin SQ Biography.” Odin SQ Biography, 6 Feb. 2018.

21 shared the stage at the Gardiner Museum in July 2015. All members have a busy teaching and performing schedule, and give regular concerts and masterclasses in Toronto schools.52

These ten quartets, the Saguenay, Lafayette, St. Lawrence, Penderecki, Saint John,

Vaughan, Emily Carr, Odin, Ton Beau and Annex, are representative of Canada’s classical string quartets, both established and emerging. Gaining data through interviews, I provide an overview of the career profile of a modern Canadian string quartet and what their professional undertakings are at each stage of their career. With this focused look, I show what portion of their overall career profile is educational, and how important it is to them at all stages of their professional career.

THE CLIMATE OF MUSIC EDUCATION IN CANADA

Although many string quartets participate in diverse activities beyond traditional classical concerts, one of the most important ways they intersect with the community is through participation in after school programs, masterclasses, private teaching and school shows. Across

Canada, both in smaller urban centres as well as large metropolitan areas, music education is delivered and categorized under three broad headings: music education, community music, and music in schools. While all of these terms overlap in a variety of different ways, they all, at their core, represent the pursuit of imparting musical knowledge, skill or experience to someone who does not already have it. Music education is present in schools and within the community, distinguished in the following ways. School music programs are a provincially-run form of music education, and look very different from classroom to classroom. Curriculum is dictated by

47 “Odin String Quartet.” Alex Toskov, 2018, http://devtesting.nfshost.com/odinquartet.html.

22 the teacher and the provincial school district which means teaching method, curriculum and content can look very different Canada-wide.

Likewise, community music can take on a variety of different forms across Canada ranging from choirs, regional bands and after school enrichment programs, to jam sessions, folk music circles or public dances. String quartets present a unique opportunity to bring these forms of music engagement together by reaching out to educate and engage within their community.

String quartets can be active in three capacities: through education, outreach and community engagement. Education, a broad term referring to the process by which knowledge or skill is developed, can have many different connotations and meanings. In its uses regarding string quartets, it can range from covering formal music lessons, chamber coachings and university lectures, to grade-school productions, masterclasses and interactive school shows.

Although the method of delivery and age or skill level of the students can vary, at the core, it is the act of imparting knowledge from one person to another.

Outreach, the act of extending aid, services, or amenities to a section of the population which may not otherwise have access to those services, goes hand-in-hand with education, but is not exactly the same. Although one of the integral aspects of outreach fulfills an educational role; that of raising awareness of existing services, one of the key aspects of outreach is the importance of mobility, meeting those in need at the locations where those in need are located.

String quartets fulfil outreach by travelling to a variety of different locations including community centres, women’s or homeless shelters, schools, retirement communities and incarcerated populations. Their portability as an ensemble ensures that virtually any space can be used, and any community no matter how remote or small can be reached.

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Finally, community engagement is, in a way, a fruitful combination of education and outreach and is most generally the process by which citizens are engaged to work and learn together as thriving members of their communities. At its core, community engagement is an exchange between an organization, in this case a string quartet, and the community in the hopes of building positive social connections. Quartets participate in community engagement by building and strengthening personal and professional connections in an effort to build deeper networks within their home geographic location, or with a group of people or musicians who share similar interests. String quartets, because of their portability, offer a unique opportunity to combine education, outreach and community engagement, fulfilling many purposes in a wide variety of spaces.

Public schools across Canada suffer from three main problems regarding the implementation of quality music education: not enough music educators; reduced educator qualifications; and declining funding. Many current Canadian researchers and educators suggest that there is a great need for supplementary music education programs in order to address the shortage of quality music instruction in most communities.

One of the principle struggles in introducing children to live classical music is a lack of access to quality music education. Public school music teachers are often non-music specialists or teachers who must fulfill several roles, with music being just one of their responsibilities.53

These educators often struggle with lesson planning, starting student instrumentalists, or forming and conducting ensembles. Secondly, there is no nationally-standardized curriculum, meaning that each province has different course materials, philosophy, and approach to music education

53 Favaro, Eric. "Changing Attitudes, Changing Practice." Looking Forward: Challenges to Canadian Music Education. Ed. Brian A. Robertson and Betty Hanley. Canada: Canadian Music Educators Association, 2000. 51. Print.

24 in the classroom. This often means that new or inexperienced music teachers can sometimes left to come up with their own lesson plans, often without the aid of the school board.54 This means that the quality of education as well as the continuity suffers.

In “Widening the Boundaries of Music Education in a Small Rural BC Town: A Case

Study”, Anita Prest discusses the infrastructure that supports a thriving and vibrant arts community, suggesting that it has to be grown and nourished.

Small communities like Keremeos, British Columbia do not necessarily have … any established pillars of support in place. I discovered that support for and participation in the arts in the Keremeos area (Village population: 1200; population within 30km. radius: 5000) was fractured and sporadic. It did exist, but it was not unified and vocal.55

In her article, Prest describes her mandate to bring both professional and amateur artists to the community. Her intent was to inspire and challenge the students to experience new and different forms of music in the hopes of fostering musical growth within the area. Prest critiques the level of continuity and quality of music education in her small community, suggesting that music education only brings benefits when members of the community take charge.56

Barbara Graham briefly discusses musical opportunity and access in her article “Sounds

Surround Us”. She says, “Despite the numerous opportunities for children to listen to music in their homes and as accompaniment to leisure activities, their musical knowledge remains bounded by and limited to the musical experiences of their homes and communities.”57 Like

54 Beynon, C. and Veblen, K. (2007). “Contemplating a future for Canadian music education.” In K. Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. with S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), From sea to sea: Perspectives on music education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationE-books/1/

55 Prest, Anita. "Widening the Boundaries of Music Education in a Small Rural BC Town: A Case Study." Pan-Canadian Symposium III: Widening the Boundaries of Music Education. Ed. Mary Kennedy and Benjamin Bolden. Victoria, BC: Faculty of Education, U of Victoria, 2011. 21. Print.

56 Prest, Anita. "Widening the Boundaries of Music Education in a Small Rural BC Town: A Case Study."

57 Graham, Barbara. "Sounds Surround Us." Looking Forward: Challenges to Canadian Music Education. Ed. Brian A. Robertson and Betty Hanley. Canada: Canadian Music Educators Association, 2000. 163. Print.

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Prest, she believes that music education in the school system is imperative for the development of young minds. She laments that despite connectivity to the Internet, with seemingly endless musical opportunities, it is still rare for children to get a chance to watch a live performance.

When it comes to orchestral programs in Canada, the list of opportunities grows even smaller. While some cities have thriving and inclusive programs like Toronto’s Musicounts

Community Music Program, New Brunswick’s El Sistema, Ottawa’s Orkidstra program or

Strong Harbour Strings in Newfoundland, there are many parts of Canada with limited access to these types of programs. Ninette Babineau discusses the lack of opportunity for string players in parts of Canada in her article “An Overview of the History and Development of String Teaching and Orchestral Training in Canada”. She states “Very few Canadian schools continue to offer string programs. Paradoxically, while school boards are cutting arts programs, cities are exploring the critical role of the arts in building creative communities. While schools discontinue their string programs, the demand for learning a stringed instrument is increasing.”58

A significant amount of current scholarship describes the level and quality of music education in the public school system and communities of Canada as needing change. Authors

Prest, Graham and Babineau agree that musical opportunity within the school system and community begins with support from local policy makers. However, as Prest points out, community music cannot thrive without community support. While they all state that there are problems with providing inclusive music education, none of them are quick to offer direct

58 Babineau, N. (2007). “An Overview of the History and Development of String Teaching and Orchestral Training in Canada to 2005.” In K Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. With S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), From Sea to Sea: Perspectives on Music Education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationebooks/1

26 solutions beyond the suggestion that the spark of musical creativity and joy has to be cultivated in the next generation, thus ensuring the growth of new music initiatives.

In the article “Elementary School Music, Reflections for the Future”, Amanda

Montgomery discusses the importance of school music education at an early age. She laments the dearth of quality music classes in the critical early years stating, “For many Canadians, elementary school music serves as the only formal music education before entering adulthood.

These early explorations stimulate the building of a personal musical framework through which children filter all musical encounters later in life.”59 The lack of a consistent and coordinated music education program country-wide, creates large gaps in what is being taught.

In the article “Specialist vs. Non-Specialist Music Teachers: Creating a Space for

Conversation”, authors Shelley Griffin and Amanda Montgomery discuss the percentage of non- specialist teachers currently teaching in Canada.60 As with many other aspects of Canadian education, geographic location plays a large part in examining the percentage of qualified music teachers both in rural and urban schools. For example, schools in Atlantic Canada have as low as

10% non-specialist music teachers. The opposite is true for most of western and northern

Canada. “Moving west from Ontario, the estimated percentage of specialists teaching elementary music declined substantially to as low as approximately 30%. This would indicate that there are

59 Montgomery, Amanda. "Elementary School Music, Reflections for the Future." Looking Forward: Challenges to Canadian Music Education. Ed. Brian A. Robertson and Betty Hanley. Canada: Canadian Music Educators Association, 2000. 127. Print.

60 Griffin, S. M. and Montgomery, A. P. (2007) “Specialist vs. Non-Specialist Music Teachers: Creating a Space for Conversation.” In K Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. With S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), From Sea to Sea: Perspectives on Music Education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationebooks/1/

27 many instances in Western Canada and Ontario where 70% of the elementary school children are receiving music instruction from a non-specialist.”61

In the article “Changing Attitudes, Changing Practice”, Eric Favaro delves into this issue, saying, “The past few decades have seen a profusion of research on the value of arts education in the schools, to such an extent that we could probably fill a library on the topic.”62 “[However] in many parts of Canada, music and other arts programs are delivered by classroom teachers with little or no training.”63 Unsurprisingly, the level of education necessary to teach music education in the public school system varies drastically across Canada. In some provinces there are as little as 12 hours of instruction in elementary music in contrast to a full year of courses required in others.64 This is a huge problem when you consider that school music classes may be a child’s only access to an education about music.

One of the biggest and most consistent problems facing school arts programs, community music outreach and local after-school music programs is funding. In an April 2013 article in the

Globe and Mail, Journalist Kate Hammer wrote, “In its annual survey of [Ontario’s] schools, advocacy group ‘People for Education’ found that 44 per cent of elementary students have a music teacher this year, compared to 49 per cent last year, and 58 per cent in 1999.”65 This study

61 Griffin, S. M. and Montgomery, A. P. “Specialist vs. Non-Specialist Music Teachers: Creating a Space for Conversation.”

62 Favaro, Eric. "Changing Attitudes, Changing Practice." Looking Forward: Challenges to Canadian Music Education. Ed. Brian A. Robertson and Betty Hanley. Canada: Canadian Music Educators Association, 2000. 42. Print.

63 Eric Favaro, "Changing Attitudes, Changing Practice." 42.

64 Griffin, S. M. and Montgomery, A. P. (2007) “Specialist vs. Non-Specialist Music Teachers: Creating a Space for Conversation.” In K Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. With S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), From Sea to Sea: Perspectives on Music Education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationebooks/1/

65 Hammer, Kate. "Music Classes Taking a Beating in Ontario Schools: Report." The Globe and Mail. N.p., 22 Apr. 2013. Web. 09 June 2016.

28 also found that one third of Ontario’s student population would never have the opportunity to work with an artist, learn an instrument or be part of a musical group.66

In her article “Community Music Making: Challenging the Stereotypes of Conventional

Music Education”, Kari Veblen asks,

Should music making be accessible to marginalized populations and to those who can’t afford to pay? Music educators who do valuable work, often without pay or recognition…sometimes find themselves working in subversive ways to bring about social change or, at the very least, recognition.67

Beynon and Veblen again express their concern in “Contemplating a Future for Canadian

Music Education,” stating,

In public schools - which provide the only universally accessible source of music education for all Canadian citizens regardless of means - funding has been cut, trained music teachers are no longer being hired, and many students often go through an entire elementary and secondary education with little or minimal music education.68

The majority of literature detailing funding and financial inclusion paints a grim picture for both urban and rural areas when it comes to public music education. Smaller budgets also mean that instruments, particularly strings and woodwinds which are more costly to buy and maintain, are discarded in favor of recorders, ukuleles and choral instruction. While choirs, bands, ukuleles and recorders are all excellent tools for teaching in a classroom setting, lack of early exposure to string instruments means that interest for future generations of string players

66 Kate Hammer. "Music Classes Taking a Beating in Ontario Schools: Report."

67 Veblen, Kari K. "Community Music Making: Chllenging the Stereotypes of Conventional Music Education." Critical Perspectives in Canadian Music Education. Ed. Carol Beynon and Kari K. Veblen. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012. 130. Print.

68 Beynon, C. and Veblen, K. (2007). “Contemplating a future for Canadian music education.” In K. Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. with S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), 9. Web. From sea to sea: Perspectives on music education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationE-books/1/

29 may diminish with time. All of these factors mean that, across Canada, many students have never had the opportunity to hear a live classical musician perform, or interact with string instruments.

This is a bleak outlook for Canadian music education because, as Montgomery points out, elementary and post-secondary school music may be a student’s only opportunity to partake in music classes. Whether it is due to a lack of teachers, both music specialists and others, an absence of funding, or a non-structured and regulated curriculum, there exist great problems with music education all over Canada. Many current researchers and teachers suggest that there is a great need for supplementary music education in order to fix the shortage of quality music education in these communities.

The idea that music education is beneficial to all children and adults is not a new one.

Music is an integral part of any community, providing a support system, engaging all ages and creating an outlet for personal and group expression. Lee Higgins comments on this saying,

“Because humans are such social creatures, the need for human connectedness and belonging is strong. Music is primarily a communal activity, and therefore plays an important role in our lives.”69 A community, whether rural or urban, can be nurtured and unified through the inclusion and betterment of music education.

Community music can take on many different forms. Society members may congregate to play traditional folk music, watch a children’s concert, participate in a choir, learn an instrument or even just listen to music together. We seem to all agree that music is good, however,

the value of music and the success of music education depend on the ends they serve: the life-wide and life-long differences they make; the ways they enrich and

69 Higgins, Lee. Community music: In theory and in practice. Oxford University Press, USA, 2012, 176.

30

transform people’s lives; the human needs they discernibly serve long after students have left school.70

As we grow more concerned with personal technology, interact less and less and become more self-serving as a society, the act of community music has never been more necessary. In the article “Contemplating a Future for Canadian Music Education,” Beynon and Veblen discuss the increasing challenges in engagement and inclusivity within our community. They state,

What we are coming to know as a Canadian identity and society is only just beginning to emerge … [and] there is no doubt that the ongoing creation, performance and attendance to vibrant, performing arts (i.e., music, visual art, dance, drama, and poetry) are essential to the generation and regeneration of society and its people’s quality of life.71

The idea of community building within a neighborhood, town, province, and country is reliant on the idea of a distinctly Canadian identity. Our diversity in arts and culture nation-wide is what makes us unique, and our province-by-province idea of musical identity means that

Canadian music culture can take on many different forms from coast to coast. Patricia St. John comments in her article “Finding and Making Meaning: Young Children as Musical

Collaborators,” that “Community is at the heart of creative collaboration.”72 Community music provides an outlet and foundation from which collaboration can emerge. It is through this interaction that we find strength as a community, and discover new opportunities for artistic partnerships as well as new relationships and societal ties.

70 Bowman, Wayne D. "Manitoba's Success Story: What Constitutes Successful Music Education in the Twenty-First Century?" Critical Perspectives in Canadian Music Education. Ed. Carol Beynon and Kari K. Veblen. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012. 49-69. Print.

71 Beynon, C. and Veblen, K. (2007). “Contemplating a future for Canadian music education.” In K. Veblen and C. Beynon (Eds. with S. Horsley, U. DeAlwiss, and A. Heywood), From sea to sea: Perspectives on music education in Canada. Retrieved from http://ir.lib.uwo.ca/musiceducationE-books/1/

72 St. John, P. A. "Finding and Making Meaning: Young Children as Musical Collaborators." Psychology of Music 34.2 (2006): 238-61. Web.

31

There are many things to be said about Canadian music education, both positive and negative. Many of the current articles and books are dichotomous in their claims regarding the state of music education in Canada. Prominent Canadian composer and music educator Murray

Schafer states in the forward to Critical Perspectives in Music Education, “In the 1970’s it seemed that a revolution was just around the corner; however it didn’t happen. Instead music education programs in Canada and the United States pioneered backward.”73 Orchestras Canada and the National Arts Centre, on the other hand, paints a cheerier picture, championing Canadian orchestras’ involvement in education, outreach and community engagement programs.74

The current climate of academic opinion is that while there are commendable programs, and a fairly widespread music education presence within the school system, there is a desperate need for improvement. Authors call for a higher percentage of music specialists in the classrooms, particularly in western Canada, and strive for the integration of string instrumental programs in addition to band and choir. Many authors believe that technology and global connection could be more skillfully utilized and, through the medium of technology, teachers and students alike could have more support.

All of these concerns lead me to believe that there is a role for Canadian string quartets in the inspiration and education within our schools and community music endeavors. String quartets provide a unique opportunity to bring a portable form of classical music to communities

73 Schafer, Murray. "Forward: Questioning Traditional Teaching and Learning in Canadian Music Education." Critical Perspectives in Canadian Music Education. Ed. Carol Beynon and Kari K. Veblen. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2012. Vii-Xiv. Print.

74 Caines, Jennifer. Orchestrascanada.org. Rep. N.p., 10 Dec. 2008. Web. 12 Apr. 2016. .

32 province to province, and could act as a positive addition to the yearly school curriculum, potentially inspiring a new generation of classical string players in Canada.

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Chapter 2

Emerging String Quartets

These five emerging string quartets, the Emily Carr, the Annex, the Ton Beau, the Odin and the

Vaughan, are all very active within their respective hometowns. They strive to find ways to engage with their community in a variety of different capacities. They all feel that these interactions with diverse stakeholders in their home city, though not always being paid, are vital to their development and presence as a quartet. By playing music at unconventional locations, the quartets strive to interact with new audiences. Additionally, most of these emerging ensembles have found that performing non-classical repertoire offers an opportunity to engage listeners who are new to the string quartet genre. Finding these ways to intersect with their hometown provides the quartets with the opportunity to feel established locally as a chamber ensemble.

EMILY CARR STRING QUARTET

The Emily Carr String Quartet, founded in 2006 and based in Victoria BC, is heavily involved within their community, both as performers and teachers. They organize and present four concerts per year in their own chamber music series, and other events through connections with the Victoria Symphony, Victoria Conservatory of Music, and other professional organizations.

They are advocates of new music, and spend a lot of their season championing new Canadian works, including four pieces to date inspired by the work of Emily Carr, the BC artist after whom they are named. “I do a lot of solo Canadian works as a violinist but the quartet is also

34 very involved with new music,”75 says Müge Büyükcelen-Badel, the first violinist in the ensemble.

From the Quartet’s perspective, we believe in supporting Canadian music. We take it on a project basis, so we come up with projects mostly promoting Emily Carr, [it is] sort of our mandate, that’s why we picked the name, not only because we liked her work, but it represents West Coast, Victoria, art, a female figure, strong personality, Canadian.76

In November 2017 the quartet premiered Klee Wyck Woman for mezzo-soprano and string quartet by the composer Jennifer Butler, with text by Janet Marie Rogers.

We have done works inspired by her [Emily Carr’s] paintings, commissioned works by Jared Miller, Jocelyn Morlock. We do a lot of commissioning, and we try to include that in our programs, in our main series. We combine it with more standard repertoire so we can reach out to new audiences. If you just put new music on a concert, people get scared.77

Another ensemble that Büyükcelen-Badel and the other three members of the quartet performs with regularly is the Aventa Ensemble. This group, which was founded in 2003, is a

Victoria-based ensemble that commissions and performs new music by both Canadian and international composers. Having given over one hundred world premieres since 2003 and presenting over twenty-five Canadian works last year alone, the Aventa Ensemble is one of

Canada’s most passionate supporters of new music, presenting and supporting new works in their concert series, tours, commissions and premiere performances.78

One concert series the Emily Carr String Quartet has been performing with for several years is “Music in the Morning.” They present two concerts through that series every year, both

75 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. “String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet.” Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 03:55-04:12.

76 Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 04:12-04:31.

77 Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 04:52-05:11.

78 Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 06:23-06:55.

35 of which are themed and titled “Music Inside Out.” Last year in December 2018 they presented

Tchaikovsky’s String Quartet No. 1 Op. 11 in D major, followed by Mozart’s String Quintet in C

Major K 515 in May of 2019. “It was … June Goldsmith who started [the series],” Büyükcelen-

Badel says.

It’s basically one work, mostly standard repertoire, and we have somebody, someone who talks about the work and composer, and we analyze the work playing samples. Then we perform it in its entirety. It’s more of an educational thing.79

Büyükcelen-Badel remarks that the “Music in the Morning” program series has been gaining a lot of momentum within the community, so much so that the venue is becoming an issue. “We average around ninety to one hundred people and it has been growing,” remarks

Büyükcelen-Badel. “We have a following of people who come to every single concert. That’s our membership, our regulars. That’s about eighty people.”80

One program they began in 2017 is a Strings Mentorship Program which pairs their string quartet with a talented young musician who joins their ranks for a concert.

The format for the Mentorship program is the same as Music in the Morning, but we are usually playing quintets rather than quartets. Just this past May [2017] we had a student join us to play Schubert’s Cello Quintet.81

The Emily Carr String Quartet is heavily involved in both planning and in performing the music featured in the “Music Inside Out” and “Strings Mentorship Program” concerts. Robert

Holliston, who is head of the keyboard department at the Conservatory, presents the lecture portion, and the quartet works directly with him to decide which samples of music best highlight

79 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 10:30-11:06.

80 Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 10:27-10:56.

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36 and exemplify what he addresses in the lectures. “We research together, then we come up with all the samples, stuff that we want to talk about, or the highlight of the work,” Büyükcelen-Badel says.

We (the quartet) don’t do the talking, we just play, but we do rehearse together with Robert and we give him the samples. At the beginning for about fifteen to twenty minutes depending on the work, he talks about the composer and general information. Then he focuses in on the work, what was the purpose, how it was composed, what’s so unique, why we chose it.82

Another initiative that the Emily Carr String Quartet is involved with is the Health Arts

Society. “It is an organization based in Vancouver, and what they do is to send out professional groups and players to old folks homes,” says Büyükcelen-Badel. “What we do is we put up a mini concert, about forty-five minutes long, and we go there and perform. Between each selection, we talk about the piece we are going to perform, and they love it.”83 The quartet mostly performs standard quartet repertoire because that tends to be what their audience wants to hear, however Büyükcelen-Badel confides that they do try to include something new on every program. The repertoire they choose for these concerts is very closely linked with their regular season, to economize the amount of rehearsal time needed, but the programs for concerts with the Health Arts Society are more likely to change to suit either the needs of the quartet or the tastes of the audience.84

For the first time in April of 2017, the Emily Carr String Quartet gave a concert for the

Canucks Autism Network. “We deliberately did a concert we called ‘Hop on a Plane’ where we

82 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 15:53-16:45.

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37 travelled around the world, playing pieces from a lot of different countries,” Büyükcelen-Badel remarks.

We still played some Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, stuff like that, but we included 3 songs that were popular arrangements, one from Frozen, one from Moana and one from Pirates of the Caribbean, but we [kept it to] short selections of two to three minute movements. It was a huge hit with the kids.85

This concert was arranged, in part, through connections with June Goldsmith and members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet, with whom the Emily Carr String Quartet has partnered extensively. This program mirrors the Azure Concert Series, which started in 2012 with concert pianist Stephen Prutsman and the St. Lawrence String Quartet in California. “The concert this past weekend was a little bit of a trial concert,” Büyükcelen-Badel says. “If it is successful, we will probably continue. The Network gave us an honorarium, although we had agreed on playing for free. They were very generous.”86

The concert idea, ‘Hop on a Plane’ is one that the Emily Carr String Quartet has used for their school shows and community outreach concerts in the past. The quartet gives concerts specifically tailored for children up to age five, as well as ones geared towards older kids.

“[Those ones are] slightly more sophisticated shows,” she says.

These kids have a better attention span, therefore our repertoire was a bit different. It was more substantial program-wise. We talked about the composer, we had flags, then at the end of the concert we had a questionnaire and information about other concerts so they were a little more involved.87

85 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 25:52-26:33.

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Most of the school shows they have given for smaller children took place several years ago. “There just aren’t enough hours in the day, [but] we are hoping to find time for it this coming year,” Büyükcelen-Badel remarks. These school concerts were typically contracted through the Victoria Symphony’s outreach program. “They connected us with the schools and we took over afterwards,” says Büyükcelen-Badel. “There were four to six per year when we were doing them, and as I said, we want to try and do some again this year, time permitting.”88

One further thing the quartet has done to engage with the community in a more intimate setting is to host house concerts. “Most of the time they are for people who come to our regular concerts,” she says. “There is no money or anything like that, everyone brings a bottle of wine and we just play.” She feels that these are often helpful if they need a chance to try out a piece before an event somewhere else. “It’s still an outreach for us, these concerts where you are meeting with new people. They end up coming to your concerts afterwards because you start a relationship.”89

In the past, the quartet has donated chamber music coachings and masterclasses to the

Victoria Conservatory of Music. Büyükcelen-Badel is a private teacher there, but the quartet is also regularly involved coaching groups and giving masterclasses. “It could be considered salaried work for me, but the other members were volunteers and donated their time.” The way it works, she said, is “I usually come with the project proposal to the string department, and of course they jumped on it. After that, it’s just a matter of working out the dates.”90

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For the Emily Carr String Quartet, there are always numerous considerations in their performing activities. “The first is education,” she says, “but there is also audience building.

There is always a recruitment, there has to be. Otherwise, you get stuck. The only way of recruiting is by doing outreach.”91 Büyükcelen-Badel feels that as a quartet they should be reaching out to make music accessible to all audiences. One of the things they constantly do to make this a reality is to discuss the new music that they program before they play it.

You can’t expect someone, even an educated musician, to understand something abstract on their first listen, without knowing what it’s about. I’m not talking about teaching extensively note by note, I mean mentioning aspects of why. When we do concerts we always mention to people that it is important to play new music, and remind them that the standards that we play today were premiered and considered new at the time of their origin.92

The Emily Carr Quartet constantly strives to build a creative and engaging presence in the community. They work hard to explore more than just the standard classical repertoire, and they devote much thought to the issue of how to present a fresh approach towards everything that they perform, standard works and new repertoire alike. They program varied repertoire in informative and convincing ways in order to maintain their core audience but also attract new listeners.

ANNEX STRING QUARTET

The Annex String Quartet, a Toronto-based ensemble that has been together since 2009, gives roughly four or five concerts a year on average. In the early years of the quartet, they were a lot more active, but several of the quartet members are currently located outside Toronto, and so

91 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 45:56-46:12.

92 Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 46:40-48:11.

40 they are cutting back on their rehearsal time and concert projects. Between 2010 and 2014 the quartet was giving fifteen to twenty concerts a summer and running their own concert series during the year. Yunior Lopez, the violist of the quartet remarks,

Our quartet has been winding down a bit in terms of touring. Part of the reason is that we are all building our own families and things like that. So we are not touring at the moment per se. We play a small number of concerts here and there every year, but it is not anywhere as intense as it used to be.93

Although their performing schedule has been reduced this year, there are still a number of things that the quartet is excited about, one of which is a recording project they undertook recently involving the commissioned arrangements of a variety of songs from Cuba, Argentina,

Panama, Uruguay, and Mexico. These works appear on their new CD entitled Latinoamericana which was released in January of 2019. “It’s a really great project and we were able to record everything in one day,” Lopez remarks.

We did two performances of it, in Toronto … [and] the record will probably come out some time in January. The group will be performing it again in Las Vegas in April. We are still trying to book the dates and figure out everybody’s schedules. That’s the one that will be up next and hopefully we will get to do some performances of it next summer.94

The Latinoamericana CD features music which is similar to a project that they are working on right now involving a well-known Cuban singer. “This project came to be back in

2013/2014 … [and] we have been sitting on it pretty much since that time period,”95 remarks

Lopez. The singer, Lopez’s aunt, is a famous vocalist known internationally for singing boleros.

Although they have been planning this project for several years, they have met with some

93 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 01:30-02:26.

94 Lopez Interview. 27:21-27:55.

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41 setbacks in regards to when a tour and recording may be produced. “Some of the pieces she didn’t want to do, she wanted to replace them [but the arrangements have already been done.]

Eventually it fell through and I had to kind of skate over that project, at least for now.”96

One of the things that the Annex String Quartet has made time for from the start of their career is pop up concerts all over the GTA. In 2009 they began a contract with Aroma Espresso

Bar, playing regularly for patrons, mostly in an effort to build an audience for their regular concert series. “Early on, we had a partnership with the Aroma Espresso bar. At the time, there were only two of them in Toronto, on our last visit there were thirty or something, but we used to play there regularly.”97

Another venue the quartet used as a platform to gain notice for their concerts was the St.

Lawrence market.

We would go every Saturday. Sometimes we got there as early as 4am to get a spot to play. We did that for maybe one or two years. I’m sure we missed a few Saturdays, but we were there very regularly. We would play gig music, but also music from upcoming concert projects and other classical music stuff.98

The quartet found that these mini concerts and non-traditional venues tended to get the attention of people who may not have heard a string quartet before and encouraged them to attend concerts. “Really, for a quartet, that was early on, it is difficult to get hired because there are a lot of quartets out there,” Lopez says.

The quartet made the decision to focus on non-Classical repertoire in an effort to distinguish themselves from other ensembles, or provide a concert program which could be

96 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 26:11-26:43.

97 Lopez Interview. 03:05-03:37.

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42 paired with more conventional music. “Presenters, especially in Toronto, started hiring us knowing that they could get an audience out.”99 Lopez remarks.

“At that point, we were already shifting away from the purely classical concerts,”100 says

Lopez. They decided to explore some other genres in the hopes of differentiating themselves from their colleagues who tended towards classical only concerts. “[It] was a competitive decision, basically, if someone was already playing some classical quartet for a concert, we could offer something else. Maybe something that was jazz, rags, Latin stuff.”101

Their concerts hosted by the Bloor Street United Church began to evolve as their projects grew more ambitious. They hired someone to do arrangements for them and started collaborating often with members of the University of Toronto Jazz Program.

We started … working with a lot of big jazz names in town, big names in the Latin and Jazz world. Because there is so much opportunity, we have just moved away from doing only Classical concerts.102

One genre of music that the quartet has spent a lot of time exploring is Big Band and

Lounge Band orchestral music which they paid to have arranged for the quartet. This project was called “The Roaring 20s,” and Lopez remarks,

It was costly [to have the songs arranged], but it was worth it. It was very popular for teaching, especially for kids who might not really be interested in Mozart or Haydn or things like that. It made it possible to try other avenues when teaching a string instrument. That genre was one we utilized often when we did outreach events.103

99 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 06:52-07:11.

100 Lopez Interview. 07:58-08:22.

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103 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 18:21-18:58.

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Several years ago, The Annex String Quartet were Quartet-in-Residence at a Toronto music school called Midtown Music. All four members taught and maintained private studios.

Lopez remarks, “little by little we started leaving for a variety of reasons, building a family, or finding other teaching engagements, life just took us away from it.”104

The Annex String Quartet has had lots of experience in educational programming through teaching at string camps and giving masterclasses, as well as giving private music lessons, but they have never worked directly with the public school system to give school shows.

Lopez remarks, “You know, we didn’t really do a whole lot of school shows, I can’t recall really doing any partnering with a public school here in Toronto.”105 I asked, if there was something in particular that had deterred them from working directly with the school system, or if there was a particular reason they had never branched out in that direction? He answered,

That’s a great question. It’s hard for me to answer. I think at the time, we were so focused on performing, travelling, and developing music for ourselves, that we didn’t really explore that form of outreach.106

Despite participating in events that encourage intersection with the community, or giving performing and teaching time free of charge, the Annex Quartet never pursued the opportunity to connect with the school system, or develop educational concerts.

One of the teaching engagements they had as a quartet was with the Regina Summer

Strings Camp. “It’s still running,” remarks Lopez, “it’s run by our second violinist now.”107 The festival acted as a platform to teach masterclasses, give seminars, coach chamber ensembles, and

104 Lopez Interview. 14:02-14:33.

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107 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 19:36-21:37.

44 give private lessons. The Annex String Quartet also used it as a place to perform and premier music for the kids and the surrounding community. “We pretty much use the Quartet as a tool to explore other musical possibilities.”108 Often the group would use the model of a string quartet as a metaphor for teamwork and compromise within a group.

Another residency the quartet had for several summers in a row was with the Stratford

Summer Music Festival. Says Lopez, “Stratford, was actually an official residency, [and] we played there on a yearly basis for around four or five years.”109 They endeavoured to bring new styles and genres of music to that festival as well as the Regina Summer Strings Camp. While the

Annex String Quartet is less active at the moment than they have been in the past, all four members are still working together on tours and special projects, and it will be performing once again at Stratford Summer Music Festival, with pianist Jan Lisiecki, in August of 2019. They are passionate about the medium of string quartet being used for non-classical means and are responsible for the expansion of the genre through commissioned arrangements.

108 Lopez Interview. 20:11-20:23.

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TON BEAU STRING QUARTET

The Ton Beau String Quartet is based in Toronto and was founded in 2010. They prepare and put on three concerts themselves and are featured as part of other local concert series several times throughout the year. In total, they usually give ten solo concerts a year. Alex McLeod, the violist of the quartet, says “We just finished our first season with our new violinist and we did three concerts in our own series that we planned, plus probably about a half dozen other things … that other people organized.”110

The quartet usually base their musical output for the year around these three big concerts.

McLeod says this is a system that works well because “If we are hired to do a lunch time concert somewhere, we have repertoire that’s ready to go as opposed to working on it for a series.”111

One project they have been particularly adamant in pursuing is a concert project featuring the music, both existing and commissioned, of female composers. “We are planning this a couple of years out right now,” says McLeod, “so for this year what it means is that we are going to be playing at least one work by a female composer on each concert.”112 They took their inspiration for this project from the Cecilia Quartet who disbanded before being able to make a recording of four Canadian pieces they had commissioned. McLeod states, “When they started talking about

[the] representation of female composers and what it’s like being a female performer… I realized what an important issue it is, and what an opportunity it is.”113

110 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 02:55-03:12.

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The Ton Beau String Quartet is very passionate about programming and performing

Canadian and contemporary music. McLeod remarks,

We worked with a lot of composers, and knew a lot of composers … It’s kind of hard to sort out how much [is] our artistic drive for those things, which I think is real, and how much is about our perception of … where the opportunity is. We weren’t feeling like anybody would be necessarily paying a lot of attention to what we were doing, so we were looking for ways to make ourselves look attractive, ways to gain resources and support and find ourselves a little bit differently.114

Their desire to present contemporary music differentiates their concert season from that of other quartets in the area, and it both fulfills an artistic need that the quartet strives for, and offers the opportunity to focus, learn and premiere works to a degree often overlooked in contemporary music. McLeod remarks,

I think we have all had the experience of playing contemporary pieces in settings where you never actually learned them properly. [It means] you may not come out with much of an understanding of the piece at the end [and] we hoped never to do that.115

As a result of working with contemporary music so regularly, they have started trying to organize more projects with commissioned works. “We did commission a piece from William

Rowson that was commissioned through grants,” McLeod recalls. “That was a plan that we worked out with him. It was a way for us to get a new piece, and for him to get paid, so we planned that a fair bit ahead of time.”116 Many of the pieces that they have played up to now were pre-existing works by local and emerging composers they knew. McLeod says, “We had a

114 McLeod ,Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 09:57-10:24.

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47 lot of friends who were in school with us, and who were generating music that they were looking for ways to get played.”117

At this time, they only have one commissioned piece, but one of their goals for the

2018/2019 year, and moving forward, is to collaborate more with local composers to generate new music. McLeod reflects on a past rehearsal saying,

We have had a couple of composers who have come to a reading of their piece and they say something like “oh, you’re playing all the notes!” and clearly they have had a different experience somewhere else.118

Part of their freedom to learn these pieces so thoroughly is that they are not dependant on moving quickly through rep in order to do as many concerts as possible. McLeod says,

We make our living from teaching, and we have no illusions about that, so we can say “oh, we are only going to learn this many pieces a year,” or “we are going to do this much work” and do it the way we want to do it.119

When they first started the quartet a few years ago, they decided to present several concerts free of charge for students, faculty and casual concert-goers at the University of Toronto

Arts Centre. “We did four or five a year. We would design a concert that suits that kind of exhibition, and I had a lot of fun … designing the concerts and writing the shows.”120 McLeod remarks,

It was something that I put some effort into in the first years of my degree because I thought, “well here is this massive university, and if we could get university students interested in classical music, they would go off into life and listen to it, and there are a lot

117 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 13:11-13:32.

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of people, so it should be possible to develop an audience within the university.” I didn’t have very much success with that, but it was a good idea to try.121

Three out of the four members of the quartet teach with El Sistema Toronto at two of its locations. When doing school shows, the quartet will often draw upon their connections with that program, or connections with friends, colleagues, and family members to find venues to give educational shows. “We have done a couple [of school shows] but we have not done a run of getting a grant and going and doing a half dozen shows at a bunch of schools,” McLeod remarks.

“We probably give eight to ten school shows a year. We tend to design a program based on the music that we are playing already.”122

They had a lot more time for educational programming in the early days of the quartet and got into the habit of developing programs based on whatever music they were currently workshopping. McLeod says,

We didn’t usually start with a non-musical idea and decide on the programming, we would say “hey, we are learning this Mozart piece and the Haydn piece, how do we put together a program that will bring those two ideas together?”123

Sometimes they included contemporary and Canadian works as part of these concerts, but as McLeod points out, “we try to be judicious [as] length is challenging for young listeners. In general, they respond to the content quite openly.”124

As a quartet, they have given a handful of masterclasses and it is something the quartet aspires to find more opportunities to do. The Penderecki Quartet, which is based at Wilfrid

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Laurier University, developed a program that encourages more advanced chamber ensembles and performers to mentor younger string ensembles through the University. They had designed [this program] for the Cecilia Quartet [and then it] was modified for us,” remarks McLeod. “[It was] sort of a young artist mentorship program.125

One project McLeod has recently taken on which gives the Ton Beau String Quartet more opportunities to teach masterclasses and coach chamber ensembles is organising the Belfountain

Summer Music Festival. “I took over last year, and it’s in Belfountain which is about an hour outside of Toronto, northwest of Brampton,” McLeod says. “It runs usually for nine days …

Concerts every evening, and masterclasses and student events during the day.”126

“We don’t do a ton of masterclasses during the year, but only because we are given limited offers. We have only done a half dozen, but we love doing them,” McLeod says. It represents teaching at a higher level which is something that McLeod and the other members of the Ton Beau String Quartet aspire to. He remarks,

I would be a lot more excited about one masterclass with students who have musical training than I would be about a thousand school shows with people who are not prepared to listen, not that I find one of them is a better thing to do than the other, just my comfort zone and my energy in versus satisfaction out.127

Something that has been an important project for the Quartet is their collaboration on the

Silent Voices Project, which is run by musician and scholar Zachary Ebin. At the time of its inception, he was doing a PhD in musicology at York University, and came across a book in the library entitled I Never Saw Another Butterfly, which is a book of poetry and illustrations from

125 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 34:02-33:41.

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50 children who were in concentration camps during the Second World War. Ebin is involved heavily with education and teaching as a Suzuki teacher and suggested that some of his students and other young composers attempt to write pieces for chamber ensembles inspired by this book and the poems and illustrations inside.128

There are fourteen pieces now, all inspired by the poems that were written in the camps.

Some are for string trio, but most are for string quartet. McLeod explains that, “The youngest composer was nine, and the oldest at the time that we performed them was twenty. So they are mostly teenagers. There was a very big range of compositional material in terms of what was produced.”129 This project has been presented both in Canada and in the United States, and is presented with commentary by someone who has a personal connection to the Holocaust. It has been given as a stand-alone concert as well as an educational program in schools for kids. It has been very well received. McLeod comments, though, that the marriage of the poems and music which is composed is not always a good one. He remarks,

The pieces don’t really hold up. It’s a little weird talking about the Holocaust then playing these dorky little pieces by kids, most of them are in major keys. The piece by the student who is now in university was quite impressive. At a performance of the show, we usually do it with a Rabbi there, and they have someone to read the poems and then someone to give an address, someone who has a connection to the Holocaust.130

One of their plans for this upcoming season is a series of three concerts, before each of which there will be an educational concert facilitated through their connections with El Sistema.

128 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 27:43-33:50.

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They are planning concerts both through El Sistema’s Toronto chapter, and concerts at the Sarv

Music Academy in Toronto, which features both Iranian music, pop and western classical music.

The kids they will be performing for all take music lessons through the Sarv Music

Academy, or the El Sistema Toronto program, so McLeod is excited about the fact that they can be a little more in-depth in their presentation.

We will likely try to find a tie-in for the Sistema ones to social aspects, which is their big mandate. Most of those themes are pretty easy you know, teamwork, respect, you can talk about how the quartet works together.131

ODIN STRING QUARTET

The Odin String Quartet, established in Toronto in 2015, and is the most recently formed of all ten groups. They have not done much touring yet, but are giving, on average, three concerts per month, or thirty to thirty-five a year. All members do many different things in addition to playing in the quartet. All four teach and do freelance work such as recording, videos, and playing with symphonic or chamber ensembles.132

Because they are still getting started as a quartet, most of their activities so far have evolved around building an audience and fan-base for their regular concert series. Violinist Alex

Toskov remarks, “We don’t do many school shows at this point, it’s something that is in development.”133 As part of Toskov’s teaching connections at the Grove Music School, run by

Forest Grove United Church in North York, they gave an educational show this year. “We

131 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 43:47-44:13.

132 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 01:09-05:33.

133 Toskov Interview. 05:40-05:57.

52 explain what the cello is about, the viola, we try to differentiate instruments a little bit,” Toskov says. “We had a Q&A after and kids came and plucked instruments a little … [and] we played pieces of music that kids might understand or recognize, we tried to make it interactive.”134

Before giving a presentation in a school, they get together as a group and discuss what they will talk about, prepare concepts and discuss what they wanted to present. “There was a

PowerPoint presentation, which I’m very proud of,”135 Toskov says. “There was planning involved. We prepared the concept of discussing our instruments, but there was a bit of open interpretation, [and] I feel we could have had more script and even more music.”136

Several times this past year, the group has given a masterclass at Earl Haig Secondary

School. “We got an invitation to do that, and it was tons of fun,” says Toskov. They had one student quartet that performed for them, and he remarks,

We gave them some initial comments, then we worked one-on-one. We got a chance to work on individual stuff, then returned for another hour giving a masterclass to them in front of their colleagues.137

The Odin String Quartet has also had several chances to work with young chamber ensembles during summer festivals and residencies. “They shipped a school orchestra to this retreat, and we worked with the students, then performed a little bit, we had a good experience with that,” Toskov says.

We spent a good five hours together, and we worked as a group to give them advice. At first, it was together as a quartet, but then we also got a chance to do a little one-on-one.

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It was set up by the RCM in co-operation with the former Afiara Quartet and was not a paid engagement.138

As a quartet, they perform and play a lot of music written by Canadian composers, specifically that of Samuel Bisson, their cellist. “It was a coincidence, knowing Sam, and I liked his playing,” says Toskov. “We had a chance to perform together and it turned out that he also composes.”139 When they first formed as a group, they tried a few of his compositions and found them enjoyable to play. Toskov recalls, “He was infamous for writing original music for weddings for his family members, including his own, so we turned those into concert pieces.”140

This year they have embarked on a huge undertaking, premiering Samuel’s first piece

Epitaph for string quartet and orchestra, which took place in May of 2018.

The scoring for a symphony orchestra plus string quartet is something that is not very common. We just premiered [it] with the Scarborough Philharmonic which was a lot of fun [but] a huge undertaking for him as a composer as well.141

The Odin String Quartet has not done any touring yet as an ensemble, however they have given lots of concerts in unconventional places. One of their favorite venues to perform and give concerts in are other people’s residences. “We started out by doing house concerts but we have also played in front of a monastery in King City,” Toskov says. “We have played in parks, open spaces, the great thing about string quartet is that it’s anywhere.”142

138 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 09:35-12:35.

139 Toskov Interview. 15:19-15:42.

140 Toskov Interview. 16:58-17:20.

141 Toskov Interview. 17:47-18:03.

142 Toskov Interview. 19:22-19:54.

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Usually when they play house concerts they set them up themselves, not through a program or agency. Often a client or regular concert-goer will offer their house to host a musical program. One of the fantastic things about house concerts is they receive direct feedback about their program and the quartet. Toskov says,

We get an indication, [of how it was received]. We can talk to people about whether something was too much for them, too little, whether they can make it through a 20th century piece more easily than an 18th century piece. We [get] to do quite a bit of research with these concerts. The people that host them might have a bit of say in what we play, sometimes they give us carte blanche, and we just play whatever we want, but after the performance we would discuss with the audience and ask them all those questions about it, get really nice feedback.143

They do not have an album of their own recorded yet, however they have created an interesting niche for themselves in that they have performed and recorded the soundtracks for three different horror films so far. “It’s really something else, it’s a completely different style of playing, and it’s really spooky and crazy,” remarks Toskov. “That’s our specialty at this point, but we do record for pop artists as well, jazz artists, and we had a [few] recording projects this

[past summer in 2018].”144

Because the Odin String Quartet is a fairly new ensemble, a lot of their short-term goals are related to building a name for themselves and creating interest in their concerts. Toskov states, “[We] can be developing a community that’s already there. So, maybe trying to create recognition, “oh, these guys played here last year, they are here again this year.”145 Toskov says,

I don’t expect to change their lives with one performance, but as you know, even if one kid gets inspired to take on a musical instrument, that could be considered a success.

143 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 22:14-22:58.

144 Toskov Interview. 25:21-26:55.

145 Toskov Interview. 33:58-34:19.

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Even if that one hour is just time for them to relax and listen to something beautiful that we argue is worth listening to, then we should be happy about that achievement.146

VAUGHAN STRING QUARTET

The Vaughan String Quartet, located in Edmonton, Alberta, has been together since 2013 and gives, on average, twenty concerts per year. Vladimir Machado Rufino, the first violinist in the quartet, comments,

This past year we had to reduce a lot of our activities. I finished my doctorate last September, and my wife is finishing hers in the fall. So with the quartet, this last season, we didn’t really have a season set up because we needed to finish.147

They give school shows regularly and, in the first year they were together as a quartet, developed a program called “Music in Schools” which presents outreach concerts in a variety of places. “Basically what we do is alternate between schools, retirement homes, and hospitals,” remarks Machado Rufino. “When we are preparing a concert, we usually run this program once or twice in these venues.”148 In the first year especially, they focused on presenting these concerts in schools. “At first,” he said,

We had this idea of not trying to put too complicated repertoire for the kids, but then we realized that they understand complex music. Even if they don’t understand fully the little nuances of the music, they still really enjoy it. We performed one time the Shostakovich [String Quartet] No. 8 for them, and they loved it the most.149

146 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 34:03-34:52.

147 Machado Rufino, Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 13:02-14:20.

148 Machado Rufino Interview. 01:25-01:48.

149 Machado Rufino Interview. 02:31-02:57.

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They are always very conscientious of what repertoire they are performing for what venue, and work to tailor each show to fit the audience. “We did a concert for terminally ill patients one time, and that one we focused more on light music,” Machado Rufino remarks.

“Depending on the venue, especially hospitals, we do change the program. For school kids, especially the little ones, they enjoy everything.”150

Currently, the Vaughan String Quartet is waiting to hear back from the city regarding approval for a ten-concert project which will take them in to perform at hospitals, schools and retirement communities. “All of our outreach programs are free, we never had any funding at the beginning,” he says. “This year is the first time we applied for funding, mostly to cover travel expenses. For the outreach programs, we had never applied for any grants.”151 The quartet sees these interactions as a means to bring music where normally it doesn’t go. Machado Rufino states,

The 10 concerts that we are waiting to hear back about, those are all projects that we developed. We came up with the idea, and for these we asked for funding from the Edmonton Arts Council. We had to come up with the idea to come up with funding.152

Another project they have been working on this year is bringing the Azure Concert Series to Alberta. Machado Rufino says, “As a quartet, we were at Stanford University [for] the

Emerging String Quartet Program last year [in 2017]. We played in the Azure concert series, those are concerts for kids with Autism.”153 They had previously had the opportunity to give concerts for special needs children, but had never been directly involved with this project before.

150 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 02:54-03:15.

151 Machado Rufino Interview. 06:07-07:01.

152 Machado Rufino Interview. 07:46-08:05.

153 Machado Rufino Interview. 08:55-09:34.

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“They had three quartets who played for the Azure concert series, so each one had their own ideas and such,” Machado Rufino says.

We were all advised that the kids might get loud, someone might start yelling or running into the stage, so we just said at the start, “Anyone is welcome to walk on stage, come on over.” The parents didn’t get so concerned about it, and the kids are free to express themselves.154

The Vaughan String Quartet is known for giving a lot of open rehearsals from the homes of its players. “From time to time, we open our rehearsals for anyone that wants to come for one hour, Machado Rufino remarks. “They come to our house, and we rehearse with them there, we do a normal rehearsal for about an hour, then anyone who has any questions, they are free to come ask anything.”155 It is a really open environment, and an interesting look for audience members at how a chamber ensemble approaches and workshops a piece. “For an audience, it’s very nice to feel connected to the group.”156

In addition to doing open rehearsals, the quartet sometimes gives house concerts. “We do them quite often both as a quartet, and as private players,”157 Machado Rufino states. However,

One thing that is big for us is that we never play background music, so when someone invites our quartet to play, we are very clear about that. We say, “It’s ok to hire us, but we need to make sure that these are concerts, not background music.”158

154 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 11:04-11:47.

155 Machado Rufino Interview. 15:33-15:51.

156 Machado Rufino Interview. 16:04-16:28.

157 Machado Rufino Interview. 24:30-24:41.

158 Machado Rufino Interview. 24:58-25:40.

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Finding these ways to interact with the community feels very gratifying to the quartet and

Machado Rufino remarks, “Around here we still see that the community very much rallies in support of its artists.”159

Another way they attempt to connect with their audience is through benefit concerts. “A few years ago after the Paris attack, we did a concert with music dedicated to the victims of the attack,” Machado Rufino recalls. “It was very emotional because, as you probably know, a lot of them had connections to friends.”160 There have been times where attendance to their concerts has been free. Machado Rufino explains, “[In our] first season, we got a big grant from the

Edmonton Arts Council and … all the concerts were free the whole year. Anyone who wanted to come was free to come.”161

One of the ways they regularly interact with their community is by rehearsing and playing at one of the local churches. Part of the arrangement is that they do not pay rent, but come and play at the church services regularly as well as hosting concerts there occasionally.

Machado Rufino remarks, “It’s very nice to see that the community is proud of the quartet. It’s very rewarding.”162

Machado Rufino states that they regularly incorporate Canadian music into their programming. He remarks, “In our third season, we had a series called ‘Canadian Journey.’ What that was, was every concert we put a Canadian work in our concert [alongside standard

159 Machado Rufino, Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 26:13-26:39.

160 Machado Rufino Interview. 16:55-17:21.

161 Machado Rufino Interview. 16:32-16:54.

162 Machado Rufino Interview. 20:00-21:10.

59 repertoire].”163 When they tour and travel, they will typically develop a program which features entirely Canadian music concerts. Machado Rufino states,

[When] we travelled to France, we played only Canadian compositions. Then, when we went to Italy, we [played a] mixed program … We are always trying to incorporate Canadian music, even though we are not from Canada, we see ourselves as a Canadian ensemble.164

Connecting and interacting with the community is something that is very important to the

Vaughan String Quartet. Machado Rufino recalls,

For us the idea of reaching out to the community has always been there. [My] wife and I [grew] up in Brazil [and] the universities there are free, so anyone can have access, and as kids, we saw our teachers doing concerts for the community. Our orchestra was always involved in the community, bringing music to the poor, so they could understand what a string instrument is.165

Machado Rufino says that, for the quartet, intersecting with the community through school shows, concerts in hospitals, and recitals in retirement communities has been a very meaningful portion of their overall performance schedule.

I think we can’t expect that in a large group of 300 people that we will impact all of them … [but] I think maybe in the future, someone will remember the quartet coming to play for them, or [that we] inspired them because we played on stage.166

163 Machado Rufino, Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 21:47-21:59.

164 Machado Rufino Interview. 23:02-24:24.

165 Machado Rufino Interview. 31:21-31:58.

166 Machado Rufino Interview. 34:25-35:23.

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EMERGING STRING QUARTET COMPARISON

Educational outreach in the form of school shows, masterclasses, and seminars is often an important mandate in a Canadian string quartet’s intersection with the community.

Before I conducted the interviews, school shows and educational programming was something I felt would be an activity emerging string quartets would do often, if not more often than the established string quartets. In reality this seems to not be the case and I think there are two main reasons behind it. Firstly, in order to give school shows, you have to have some way of setting them up, either through connections with the school itself, or through a third party such as an educational institution or larger ensemble. Secondly, these are not always paid engagements on behalf of the institution presenting them, so most quartets would have to search out financial remuneration through grants and other agencies, or simply agree not to be paid for their performance and any work put into getting the program ready beforehand.

Both these problems mean that either through a lack of connections or lack of funding, these quartets are not pursuing these opportunities as readily. Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau

String Quartet discussed how they approached contacting the school system to arrange a school concert saying, “when we were visiting the Banff Centre, our cellist’s mother teaches at a school, so we performed there.167

The Ton Beau String Quartet also uses their teaching connections to set up educational programming when they are in their hometown of Toronto. McLeod remarks,

Three of us teach in the Sistema program in Toronto, so we have given concerts in those schools. The two violinists teach at the Jane and Finch chapter, and I teach at Parkdale. We probably give eight to ten school shows a year.168

167 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 14:32-14:57.

168 Alex McLeod Interview. 16:55-17:31.

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Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet expresses other issues with setting up school shows. Even if you have the connections, sometimes it is not easy to convince the schools to make the time or find the money in their budget. She says,

I talked to our school, where my kids go, and I told them that this was something we do, and I was talking to the music teacher, they are the ones that initiate contact with ensembles regarding projects like that. He said they did not have the budget for that yet. The schools tend not to know who to contact unless there is a bigger sort of society like the symphony, something like that. They wouldn’t have come to us with an enquiry, they wouldn’t even consider that.169

Larger institutions such as orchestras, conservatories and universities have easier access to funding for these projects. Setting them up as a lone ensemble can seem like a daunting task.

Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet says, “We don’t do many school shows at this point, it’s something that is in development. I would say we are doing one per year so far, not that many.”170 The one he describes, given at North York United Church, was arranged through teaching connections, and not something they were paid for. He remarks, “There was [a lot of] planning involved. We prepared, [but] I feel we could have had more script and even more music. That was a free outreach concert, we were not paid.”171

School shows, in addition to providing an opportunity for quartets to interact and teach within their community and work with young musicians, offer an excellent opportunity to run through repertoire in a low stress environment, practice engaging with audiences one-on-one and

169 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 36:13-36:45.

170 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 05:40-06:02.

171 Toskov Interview. 07:42-08:11.

62 present your ideas as a quartet. Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet remarks,

All of our outreach programs are free, we never had any funding at the beginning. To us, this isn’t a promotion of the quartet, it’s an opportunity for them, but also for us, to prepare music before a concert.172

Of the five quartets, four have given school shows within the past year. Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet agrees that these concerts are valuable to them as a quartet, despite his quartet only having the opportunity to give one this year. He states,

I think every concert is beneficial, whether it’s good or bad, whether it’s rain or shine, whatever. Beneficial in terms of trying to educate and bring new audiences to concerts … trying to get kids at least somewhat involved in a remote anything, classical existence and … reaching out to people who might not have this chance. [It is] almost like some sort of gift.173

Knowing that they might be inspiring the next generation of musicians is a powerful motivator for the quartets. “Kids are impressionable,” remarks Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet. “As a kid I had seen professionals play on stage and wanted to do the same. It is such a big deal for [us] and inspires us to continue. I hope that myself and the quartet are able to do the same for others.”174

Some string quartets decide to pursue a different direction, opting instead to focus their efforts on building connections in other ways, often focusing on a different part of the community by trying to interact and engage with audiences that typically would not attend classical music concerts. Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet says,

172 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 06:53-07:28.

173 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 27:35-30:58.

174 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 35:47-36:18.

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I can’t recall really doing any partnering with a public school here in Toronto. I think at the time, we were so focused on performing, travelling, and developing music for ourselves, that we didn’t really explore that form of outreach. We have done outreach events, mostly [for] some of the music festivals that we would perform at, things like that, but it wasn’t something that was part of our season in a sense.175

The Annex String Quartet chooses to align their focus in a slightly different direction, working tirelessly to build an audience through alternative means. Building a presence in a city as an emerging string quartet can be very challenging. Many string quartets have trouble finding a unique voice for themselves and try very actively to find something that differentiates them from other chamber groups in a city. Yunior Lopez remarks that they Annex String Quartet attempts to incorporate different styles and genres such as Latin or jazz music. Playing music in non-traditional venues as well as performing non-classical music, a genre which is meaningful to them, helps to distinguish the Annex String Quartet from other classical ensembles. 176

Often a quartet will attempt to find something that sets them apart from other groups.

Some choose to focus on contemporary repertoire and Canadian selections to make themselves stand out and be more desirable for concert presenters. “The very first image we wanted to create for ourselves was as a group that wanted to play contemporary music,” remarks Müge

Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet. “We wanted to be edgy. We didn’t want to only stick to the classics and be yet another quartet that plays the same stuff. We always try to keep our approach quite fresh, and of course within acceptable and convincing ways.”177

175 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 14:55-16:32.

176 Lopez Interview. 07:24-07:58.

177 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 49:00-49:42.

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Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet discusses what their original goal was as a string quartet, stating,

In the early years of the program, we wanted to focus on two things, one of which was outreach projects or non-traditional formats, and concerts that were designed to bring music to an audience that wouldn’t normally come. The other was contemporary Canadian works.178

The Vaughan String Quartet set themselves apart by showcasing a different side of classical performing, electing to open some of their rehearsals to the public. “From time to time, we open our rehearsals for anyone that wants to come for one hour,” Machado Rufino remarks.

“They come to our house, and we rehearse with them there, we do a normal rehearsal for about an hour, then anyone who has any questions, they are free to come ask anything.”179

This is very well received within the community and the audience enjoys getting a look at how a string quartet functions behind the scenes. The Vaughan String Quartet feel this helps them strengthen their concert numbers as well as helping to establish them musically in their home town. Machado Rufino remarks,

People love going to concerts, but they don’t know the interaction we have beforehand, how we interpret a phrase, how we fight during rehearsals. For an audience, it’s very nice to feel connected to the group.180

With the emerging string quartets, there is a relatively new trend in playing house concerts. These are private concerts hosted either by the string quartet or by another home owner and provide a more intimate audience and time before and after for interaction between the quartet and audience members. Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet remarks, “We started

178 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 09:25-09:58.

179 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 15:27-16:02.

180 Machado Rufino Interview. 16:03-16:28.

65 out by doing house concerts. We play at people’s houses who have never hosted a group.”181 In addition to being a good environment to trial run new repertoire, house concerts have the added benefit of facilitating interaction between the audience and quartet. “We got to do quite a bit of research with these concerts.” Toskov comments.

After the performance we would discuss with the audience and ask them all those questions about it, get really nice feedback. That’s the great advantage of house concerts versus conventional concerts where you don’t necessarily get to check in with the audience as much.182

One of the ways that emerging string quartets try to distinguish themselves is through the repertoire that they choose, the venues that they perform in, and the opportunities that they take.

When an ensemble is starting out, they often have fewer concerts per year, (an average of fifteen concerts per year in comparison to an average of ninety from the established quartets). This allows them a little bit more freedom when taking on projects. They can put more time into rehearsing repertoire that requires it, allowing for the performance of more Canadian and contemporary music.

This flexibility on projects can lead to a lot of interactions with young composers and newer works. Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet states, “we definitely try to play

Canadian pieces, partially because we have a lot of friends who are composers, partially because we think it’s relevant, [and] partially because we all like music of this time period which has been composed.”183

181 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 19:04-19:32.

182 Toskov Interview. 20:47-21:11.

183 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018.16:55-17:34.

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“We seemed to be the only ones willing to take on these pieces and learn them in a limited period of time, along with whatever else we were doing that season,” remarks Yunior

Lopez from the Annex Quartet. “We did end up doing a lot of Canadian works, whether they were past or living composers, and we [as a result] have developed a very broad repertoire list.”184 Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet reflects,

There is an artistic side of things, wanting to do those new works, knowing the composers want to have their works played, and there is the side of wanting to justify your existence.185

Because none of these quartets have positions on faculty as Quartet-in-Residence either with a symphony orchestra, or with a university or conservatory, they take their concerts on a very project-based schedule. Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet comments on this saying,

I usually have a list of projects that I have in mind. We play it, then we will have another project, that’s just kind of what we do, we try to build up some type of project, wrap it and present it and perform it a bit, then maybe move on to the next one.186

This both helps to build their repertoire list as well as facilitating forays into many different stylistic periods, genres of music, and collaborations with other musicians. “We always hired someone to do the arrangements, in fact we usually hired someone to do collaborative projects with us,” remarked Lopez. “We started … working with a lot of big jazz names in town, big names in the Latin and jazz world.”187

184 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 11:59-13:33.

185 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 11:42-12:01.

186 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 24:08-26:52.

187 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 10:38-11:44.

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Programming concerts on a project-basis also enables the musicians to play music they are really passionate about. Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet comments on this saying,

We are kind of picky with what music we play. The main reason why the quartet started, why the four of us got together and formed this ensemble was because we are orchestra musicians, all of us, and we loved doing chamber music, and we wanted to have control over what we wanted to play, play what we were interested in. All our program is done that way.188

Doing their own programming means that these string quartets decide what they want to play and how they want to present it. It makes grants and funding more attainable because they can tailor a particular concert or series of concerts to the nature of the grant they are applying for.

Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet remarks that they applied for funding to finance ten concerts which would be performed in schools, hospitals and seniors centres. They chose the music for these concerts, pulling from standard repertoire as well as pieces they were currently programming.189

Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet also remarks about this.

“Funding is the tricky part,” she says,

That’s why we try to come up with projects so that we can apply for grants through Canada Council or BC Arts Council. We have been doing ok with BC Arts mainly, but Canada Council is a lot tougher of course. We have received grants several times, but not every single time. The grant application has to be cohesive, it has to be worked out very clearly so it can be written out as a big project. If it doesn’t come across as being convincing, they don’t even look at it. They don’t even consider it.190

188 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 08:22-08:57.

189 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 06:27-08:11.

190 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 06:59-08:22.

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Most quartets choose to focus on applying for grants from provincial or local sources as there is a better chance of getting funding. Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet remarks,

“We are mostly focusing on the recording grants and possibly touring grants. You basically organize a tour … [and the] organizers only have to cover your concert fees.”191

Although playing in a string quartet is part of how these ensembles make their living, occasionally it is not about the money. If there is a project that the group really feels is important or vital to the community, sometimes they will just do it whether the funding is there or not.

Müge Büyükcelen-Badel says,

The last few years we have received a gaming grant through BC [to fund our lecture concert series]. You have to have a continuing series which has been running for several years in order to apply for it. Originally the board was funding it [but] sometimes if we are short we just donate money back.192

Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet reflects on their first season as a quartet stating,

In the first season of the quartet, we received funding from the Edmonton Arts Council, we gave concerts all for free. Of course, later the council said “Well maybe you should start charging” mid-way through the season because the funding really wasn’t that large, but we thought “We have so much from the community, and they are giving so much to us, we need to give something back too.”193

All of these emerging ensembles are finding success within their own musical communities, as well as in some touring and traveling. I have observed their success to be

191 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 24:23-24:55.

192 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 18:52-20:00.

193 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 33:04-33:54.

69 closely linked with several aspects: specialization in terms of repertoire, cultural engagement, and mentorship from seasoned quartets.

All five ensembles have an aspect of their playing and performing that makes them unique and desirable as an ensemble, or have specialized in a genre of music or personal project which makes them distinctive.

Some of the unique projects these string quartets have been involved with can be linked to taking any and all work that comes their way. Alex Toskov of the Odin String Quartet talks about an experience recording the soundtrack for several horror films saying,

It’s really something else, it’s a completely different style of playing. I’m really glad we did [it], [we went] overseas actually, in Barcelona, we were provided music and we just put it together. Previously, we have done a Canadian short, also horror, and then after that we did a thriller horror, [which was] also a Canadian film.194

The Annex String Quartet has also specialized in a unique genre of music for string quartet, shifting from presenting exclusively classical music in their concerts to specializing in commissioning, performing and recording Latin and jazz music.

We [often] hire someone to do collaborative projects with us. The [Bloor Street United] Church encouraged a couple of jazz collaborations with the University of Toronto jazz program and over time, we started [collaborating with] big names in the Latin and Jazz world.195

Another reason for their success as emerging quartets can be linked with taking advantage of personal connections. The Ton Beau String Quartet regularly use their connections with the El Sistema Toronto chapter to present educational programing, and a personal

194 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 25:23-26:03.

195 Lopez, Yunior. "String Quartet Interview: Yunior Lopez from the Annex String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 24, 2018. 12:38-13:04.

70 connection between Bijan Sepanji, first violinist in the quartet, led them to intersect with the

Iranian community. Alex McLeod of the Ton Beau String Quartet comments on this saying,

Our plans for this year is a series of three concerts, before each will be an outreach concert through our connection with Sistema. We are doing one at each of the centres and I think we are hopefully planning to do one at the Sarv Music Academy in Toronto, which is a program that does both western classical music and Iranian music, pop and classical.196

The Emily Carr String Quartet has also utilized colleagues and personal connections to open the door for more performance opportunities. Büyükcelen-Badel discusses the formation of the Strings Mentorship Program stating,

June Goldsmith, who is a great supporter of the quartet and a friend of mine, wanted to start a concert series in Victoria. She approached us, and that was how it started.197

All of these ensembles have been mentored or inspired by other established Canadian ensembles. Many of the opportunities to intersect with the community have been inspired by the work done by these senior ensembles over the years, or have been occasions which were set up directly.

The Emily Carr String Quartet and the Vaughan String Quartet both attended the

Emerging String Quartet Program at Stanford with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. This has prompted them both to adopt their own versions of the Azure Concert Series, a program which caters to special needs children, in their hometown. The Vaughan String Quartet were very inspired by their opportunity to participate at Stanford, and have taken much of their experience with them to school shows and hospitals where they often give concerts for children. They were

196 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 42:03-42:37.

197 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 14:22-14;57.

71 one of three ensembles who were chosen by the St. Lawrence String Quartet to plan and perform a small concert as part of the Azure concert series.198

The Emily Carr String Quartet has also worked with June Goldsmith and the St.

Lawrence String Quartet to form a branch of the Azure Concert Series in BC. They worked with the Canucks Autism Network this past year in a series of trial concerts for special needs children and adults. Büyükcelen-Badel remarks on this saying,199

[We have worked closely with] the St. Lawrence SQ, I am very close with them [and] I studied a lot with them, and that was how I met June. That whole connection with the Autism Network started that way. She contacted me and she said, “We would like to get into the Victoria scene a little bit.” She is a very project driven lady [and is adept at] putting all these things together.200

The Ton Beau String Quartet benefited from opportunities set up by the Penderecki

Quartet at Wilfrid Laurier University. The quartet established a young artists mentorship program which allows the Ton Beau String Quartet to give masterclasses and teach undergrad students. McLeod remarks on this saying,

[It was] a program at Laurier that they had designed for the Cecilia Quartet which was modified for us, sort of a young artist mentorship program. As part of that, they invited us to give a masterclass for some of the chamber music students.201

Many of the steps that led these quartets to be successful were in taking advantage of opportunities within their own communities and capitalizing on personal and professional connections. By working with other local musicians, either in a classical music setting, or

198 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 08:55-10:15.

199 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 27:52-28:52.

200 Müge Büyükcelen-Badel Interview. 28:11-28:52.

201 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 33:50-34:37.

72 expanding their horizons to include non-classical music in their concerts and programming, these quartets have found success and improved their career. Mentorship and support either from institutions, or from other more senior chamber ensembles, helped to get these quartets’ careers off the ground.

These five emerging string quartets are all very active within their local community, striving to find ways to intersect with the general population through a variety of different capacities. All five have stated how important these supplementary engagements are both to them as a quartet, and also to the community as a whole. Playing at unconventional venues offers the opportunity to reach new audiences, and programming and performing non-classical works lends itself well to engaging new listeners. Finding ways to intersect with the community enriches their concert season, provides them with opportunities to have a trial run of some of their repertoire, and makes them feel established as a chamber ensemble within their home town.

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Chapter 3

Established String Quartets

These established quartets, all very active within their community, strive to find meaningful ways to intersect with the general population through a variety of different activities. Their knowledge and experience as educators gives them the opportunity to work regularly with youth variously through school shows, masterclasses, private teaching, educational workshops or helping other young chamber ensembles find a musical voice. Faculty connections through universities or orchestras enable them to build strong ties within their city, find financial security, and engage with new listeners. Despite their hectic schedules, all five quartets find ways to be present within their home town and feel that these opportunities do a lot to enrich their concert season. Staying engaged helps them to feel established as a chamber ensemble within their home-town despite keeping a challenging and rigorous touring schedule for most of the year.

LAFAYETTE STRING QUARTET

The Lafayette String Quartet, on faculty at the University of Victoria, rehearses on average four days a week and gives thirty-five to fifty concerts per year. Violinist and original member Ann

Elliott-Goldschmid remarks, “We perform a lot, on average I would say a concert every two weeks, maybe a little more some years.”202 Their regular touring schedule keeps them busy and every other year they have a working summer which entails touring and teaching both in Canada and abroad.

202 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 03:21-03:30.

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One of the events they run every season is Quartet Fest West, a program they developed which was modelled after the Penderecki Quartet’s similar program Quartet Fest, held in

Waterloo Ontario every summer. This two-week program, which takes place at the University of

Victoria, is a chamber music residency for several student quartets. Students have the opportunity to participate in daily masterclasses, workshops, lessons and coachings. This program enables the Lafayette String Quartet to work both one-on-one with members of these young ensembles, and together as a quartet. Regarding the schedule, Elliott-Goldschmid says,

Every day, the chamber groups rehearse in the morning and maybe work individually for an hour or so. After lunch they have a coaching, and every day there is a masterclass or a workshop of some kind. We have a lot of people come in and discuss various things … [and] the groups are performing for each other. They get a lot of performance experience in front of their peers.203

As part of their job as Quartet-in-Residence at the University of Victoria, the Lafayette

String Quartet is the driving force behind numerous programs within the university. Some of these programs are coordinated by the quartet members directly such as the Bach Competition which is organized by Joanna Hood, the violist in the quartet. It is an annual competition which requires students to memorize and perform a complete Bach Sonata or Partita.204 This program, and others they run, are in addition to their work as the full time string faculty with the university.

Teaching is very important to all members of the quartet, and they take the development and nurturing of young players very seriously, making sure they have regular opportunities to perform for each other and in concert settings. Elliott-Goldschmid says,

203 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 12:52-13:56.

204 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 42:03-43:11.

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I take my students regularly to a Senior Home to perform, as I think it is really important. I feel it is vital for young students to have the opportunity to play for people who are isolated. It is an important opportunity for my students to realize all performances are important. We have built up a huge audience in that place. I made a connection with one of the workers who runs the extracurricular activities that they do, and it’s a very regular thing for us now. It’s really fabulous for everyone.205

One program that they are involved with that connects young university students with the community is the Strings Mentoring Program. Initiated and taught by Elliott-Goldshmid and

Highbaugh Aloni, the original impetus for this program was a result of public schools in the area losing funding for string programs. Elementary string instruction was being cut completely from schools, and the local high school students considered this a terrible loss in opportunity for these young students, recognizing that the passion they had for their instruments had started at that pivotal age. “They loved it, loved performing and playing,” Elliott-Goldschmid said. “They knew that if you cut the elementary string program, there would no longer be middle and high school programs.”206 The original idea for this mentorship program began with these young high school students, and by drawing attention to the issue, they began to draw momentum and funding.

Elliott-Goldshmid and Highbaugh Aloni partnered with the students and educators in the community to galvanize the school boards’ position, and the Lafayette String Quartet developed and expanded the Strings Mentoring Program by recruiting participants from their university strings pedagogy class. Students from the class would observe weekly lessons and work as mentors to younger string students at a string club that was formed. Ann remarks, “[The

Students] started a string club after school … and our students ran that string club, practicing

205 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018.. 49:27-50:22.

206 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 19:20-19:56.

76 with the children and [working on] the things they had learned in the lesson in the previous class with the teacher. It was amazing. And our students learned so much from that.”207

There have been a lot of changes in how the program works and how it has evolved over the years, but there is now a string program in every elementary school in District 61 in Victoria.

Most of the university students currently involved are education majors who take the strings pedagogy class as a mandatory course for their degree. The students get a rare opportunity to see classroom string teaching in motion. They learn how to properly set up a beginner string student, what language and metaphors to use when explaining concepts, and they get first-hand experience on how to effectively manage the energy in the room. Elliott-Goldschmid says,

The whole program is win, win across the board. Students take it for a university credit; they get the benefit of learning to play and to teach while getting a chance to interact, observe and assist the public school teachers. Nobody has to pay them, therefore there is no financial drain on the public school system. Even though most are not string players, they are watching and learning together, and the little kids look up to the big kids.208

Another way that the Lafayette String Quartet passes on their experience as teachers is in encouraging young string quartets to give school shows. Elliott-Goldschmid says, “We will occasionally do a school show, mostly while on tour. Locally, we encourage our student quartets to go into the public schools and give concerts, they are primarily the ones going into the public schools.”209 While she feels that performing in educational settings and providing school shows is a very important way that the quartet can connect with their home community, their many

207 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 20:46-21:04.

208 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 24:50-25:35.

209 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 26:35-26:51.

77 activities do not leave a lot of time for them to work with public schools like they used to in the younger years of the quartet.

One way all four quartet members interact regularly as teachers outside the university is in giving workshops and adjudicating for local festivals. Although all quartet members are sought after adjudicators, sometimes booked years in advance, Sharon Stanis is in particular demand, often touring across Canada to adjudicate and give masterclasses.

Another project that the Lafayette String Quartet is passionate about is the Lafayette

Health Awareness Forum. The genesis of this project was cellist Pamala Highbaugh Aloni’s diagnosis of cancer in 2000. At the time, the ensemble had been invited to play the complete

Beethoven cycle in Berlin, Germany, and although Highbaugh Aloni was intent on performing, the other three members of the quartet refused. Elliott-Goldschmid says, “Pam needed surgery, I mean this was a big deal to be invited there, but this was an absolute no-brainer, in our minds.

This wasn’t a delay of a week or two, this would have been a delay of several months.”210

Elliott-Goldschmid stated that they all wanted to do something to honor the medical community that had supported and rallied around Pam in that difficult time, so they spoke with many health care professionals in the area and developed what is now the Lafayette Health

Awareness Forum.

The forum is sort of like a mini TED talk, free and open to the public. Over the course of many years we have delved into a variety topics, which are chosen by the Lafayette String Quartet and a committee made up of doctors and scientists. Every year many ideas are explored, many topics are discussed and one emerges that the whole group agrees on. We started with Breast Cancer, then Menopause, the HPV vaccine and many more. The majority of the funding comes from a partner called the Institute on Aging and Lifelong Health.211

210 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 33:57-34:14.

211 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 37:33-39:15.

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The Lafayette String Quartet is not only an influential ensemble when it comes to teaching locally. They are also very active in touring, commissioning and regularly performing

Canadian works as well as presenting big masterworks and cycles in their entirety. Every few years, they present the entire string quartet repertoire of a composer, a big cycle such as the complete quartets of Beethoven, Bartók or Shostakovich. They pair these seminal works with an accompanying lecture series, and have global scholars present alongside their performance of the works. Elliott-Goldschmid remarks, “When we do these big projects, we invite scholars to come in and present with us. Everything, (all the lectures) is free. We have three to four solid days, sometimes a week of concerts and lectures. It’s an extraordinary experience.”212

The Lafayette Quartet is heavily entrenched in the musical community in Victoria, both in their work as performing musicians, faculty members at the university, and as teachers working to build a new generation of string players. From the very beginning, when they formed in Detroit, Michigan, reaching out to interact with a wide range of audience members was of vital importance to them, and Ann feels that their work with inner city schools helped shape who they are as a quartet. Elliott-Goldschmid remarks,

It has been a part of who we are from the very beginning … Maybe that job formed us, maybe that job is the reason for our interest in community engagement. Working in Detroit, working with those children and just loving them, loving the resourcefulness and power and joy that music gave them.213

Members of the Lafayette String Quartet all feel that giving back to the community and finding ways to intersect through outreach activities is vital to the growth of the city. Ann says,

212 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 55:02-55:30.

213 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 50:48-50:52.

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“We have always been a part of the communities’ social fabric. It has always been integral to us, it’s just what we do.”214 All four members of the quartet feel that in order to find success as a group that they need to be present within their community. “It’s who we are, we are all socially conscious, we all care about the health and integrity of our community.”215

PENDERECKI STRING QUARTET

The Penderecki String Quartet, based in Kitchener-Waterloo and on faculty at Wilfrid Laurier

University, is a very active ensemble and are busy touring, performing, and teaching throughout the year. Violinist Jeremy Bell says, “When I first joined the quartet [in 1998], it was eighty to ninety concerts per year, now it’s more like sixty or seventy … there is always a bit of a flux from season to season … and we are teaching anywhere from twelve to sixteen to eighteen hours per week.”216

The Penderecki String Quartet’s season is full of unconventional concerts in addition to the standard repertoire they perform regularly. They are often heard performing what David

Braid, a jazz pianist and frequent collaborator, has termed Chamber Jazz. They received a grant to do a project with the Tork Percussion Ensemble. Their 2018 tour took them to Australia,

Spain, and Mexico with two concert programs which featured both Chamber Jazz as well as a concert program with the Tork Percussion Ensemble. They also have a project featuring a

214 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 52:44-52:53.

215 Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 50:53-51:14.

216 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 02:20-03:06.

80 theremin, which is based on the Geller Prize-winning novel “Us Conductors” by Sean

Michaels.217 Bell remarks, “It’s really cool when you get an idea like that and it just seems to take off.”218

The Penderecki String Quartet work tirelessly on grant proposals to pursue many of these unique concert ideas. One of the ways they often utilize grant funding is in support of commissioning new works for the string quartet.

We have been pretty aggressive in applying for grants and have had some good success. We spend a lot of careful time writing them … We have commissioned a new string quartet by Christos Hatzis, we were part of a commission for Alice Ho to write the Chamber Opera for the Canadian Children’s Company, and we commissioned Quinsin Nachoff to write a piece for jazz trio and string quartet.219

The four members of the quartet make up the core string faculty at Wilfrid Laurier

University where they teach masterclasses, give private lessons, and coach chamber ensembles as part of their regular duties.

Twenty-six years ago Paul Pulford, who was the cellist in the quartet at the time, began a new summer festival which he called Quartet Fest. It was conceived not only to be a festival that all students could apply for and attend, but was also an opportunity for students attending Wilfrid

Laurier University to earn summer credit. It also acts as a support for both the chamber diploma and masters in chamber music, which are degree paths offered at the university. Bell remarks,

“Ultimately it’s been a lot of fun to have this festival as a way to connect with other faculty and other students around the province and beyond.”220

217 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 05:41-06:45.

218 Jeremy Bell Interview. 06:48-06:58.

219 Jeremy Bell Interview. 07:15-07:50 and 11:01-12:30.

220 Jeremy Bell Interview. 15:30-16:11.

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The program offers young university-age ensembles, either pre-existing or formed at the festival, to rehearse and attend masterclasses for an intensive two-week period. There are masterclasses four or five times a week, daily coachings, and regular performance opportunities for these string quartets to play for audiences and for one another. Regarding the funding for this program, Bell states,

We have paid ourselves a small honorarium, a very minimal amount, but there are years where we don’t get paid at all, just because we wanted to put the money into other things. It is part of our mandate as artists-in-residence at Laurier to be doing something like this.221

Most of their other coaching opportunities arise when the quartet tours and travels abroad. On a recent tour to Mexico and the United States, the quartet got the opportunity to work with many young chamber ensembles. Bell remarks, “I would say we give around twenty to twenty-five masterclasses a year. Pretty much any time we are on tour there is some kind of masterclass.”222

Bell states that, in their experience, there is a wide interest in chamber music coachings and masterclasses, particularly when they are visiting Mexico. He says that when they travel, the quartet really notices a focus on educating and improving the lives of youth through the medium of music. Large numbers of children and university students will attend their masterclasses, and there is never a shortage of willing participants. He and the quartet find this interest in classical music, and chamber music in particular, very exciting and strive to include as many masterclasses as possible when touring internationally.

221 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 20:15-20:38 and 22:50-22:59.

222 Jeremy Bell Interview. 26:00-26:24.

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Because the quartet is so involved with their university teaching contracts, performing, and the other programs that they run, they don’t often have the opportunity to give school shows.

Bell says that although they have given a number of educational performances for primary school aged kids, that they tend to do that only in smaller communities. He remarks,

We have given school shows, but we don’t have a specific “show” that we use, and sometimes I think that we are not all that good at it. In terms of playing for primary school kids, it can be really tough, and I think you have to be really good at that, have the right repertoire. It’s not enough to just show up with a Dvořák Quartet . They’ll be interested for five minutes or so, but then they are screwing around and stuff.223

More often, the Penderecki Quartet will target high school music classes, partly out of a sense of recruiting and partly because they feel that masterclasses and seminars are where their talents and interests more directly align. Bell feels the quartet tends to be more comfortable working with slightly older kids and ensembles. They will often try to introduce more interesting repertoire when playing for slightly older kids, performing Bartók, Shostakovich or contemporary Canadian works. He feels the quartet is slightly better served targeting this audience and states,

There are other groups out there that are doing this so well [lecturing / tailored school shows] and sometimes you show up and … they have an assembly of like 400 kids, all rowdy and excitable, and we are supposed to talk about string quartet and what we are doing…. It’s a lot for them to take in, [with you as a performer] just trying to outrun their attention span.224

One of the things that the Penderecki String Quartet is very unwavering about is their dedication to building and maintaining a community that is passionate about classical music in

Waterloo. He says,

223 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 27:45-28:40.

224 Jeremy Bell Interview. 31:41-31:57 and 33:48-34:10.

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There are a handful of groups that are on the road all the time, like the Kronos quartet, or the Borodin quartet, where their only vocation is to just play concerts. They are not teaching or freelancing, they have enough concerts that they are on the road literally all the time.225

Bell feels that while this may be good for a quartet at the start, it is much more fulfilling to become a part of a city and work within a community. He feels that the quartet’s residency with Wilfrid Laurier University has been an important ingredient in establishing them within the city. It provides them with some of the most fruitful opportunities they have had to intersect with the university as well as general members of the public. “I think Waterloo has become a very musical city. Our impact has grown … and it has become a little centre of culture within the community, our little corner of the province, and of Canada.”226

SAINT JOHN STRING QUARTET

The Saint John String Quartet, formed in 1989, is comprised of the four string section leaders of

Symphony New Brunswick. They present four concerts every year with Symphony New

Brunswick as well as five lunch hour concerts for the University of New Brunswick. Their entire concert season is anywhere from 135 to 150 concerts, many of which are school shows. David

Adams, first violin, remarks, “We do fifty school shows a year, and we generally have four programs that we prepare for that, four different kinds of programs.”227

All four members divide up the work and focus on different areas in order to best use their time. Daniel Sametz, second violin, and Sonja Adams, cellist for the quartet, write the

225 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 40:30-41:04.

226 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 45:09-45:12 and 46:52-47:00.

227 David Adams Interview. 03:15-03:40.

84 school shows together. They draw up story lines, write dialogue or scripts, and arrange and select the music. Christopher Buckley, the violist, contacts the schools and books the shows, and David

Adams handles the funding. He says,

Funding comes from all over the place, private donors, grants, all of the above. The symphony does help a little, it changes from year to year depending on what they want our services for. We get paid for 180 services with the Symphony, some are spent with the quartet presenting the four programs for them. Other times they might include the main concert series as part of our services, but typically we would do maybe twenty of those fifty school programs for the Symphony, that’s average.228

Typically when putting the school shows together, Sonja Adams and Daniel Sametz will pair the music with a storyline, either one they have pulled from a book, or a storyline they have fabricated. David recalls one particularly strong program they presented recently which is based on a Sheree Fitch book entitled There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen. He says, “We actually paired music, all Canadian music, to the words of the little story for children. It’s a book, and we put music to it and we say the poem and play the music, and it all kind of works that way.”229

They also present seasonal school shows, or story lines that follow the development of styles from country to country, follow a specific timeline, or focus on a particular type of music such as dance, world music, or popular selections. “We have made maybe a hundred of these shows, I mean we have been doing this for thirty years.”230 Adams remarks, “I mean they aren’t all new, we do recycle. We try to incorporate repertoire that we are playing on a recital … we try to economize the amount of rehearsal that we have to do as best we can.”231

228 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 04:22-05:40.

229 David Adams Interview. 05:55-06:42.

230 David Adams Interview. 08:27-08:32.

231 David Adams Interview. 08:32-09:20.

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Not all of these programs happen in Saint John, where the Quartet is primarily located.

They travel all across the province. Adams says,

We try to track all our schools, we try to rotate schools every year so that every school will get the opportunity. We have developed a very positive relationship with the principals and they are always more than enthusiastic for us to interrupt their day and entertain their kids for forty-five minutes.232

Another type of educational show that the Saint John String Quartet does every year is their series of Library Cushion Concerts. Those are presented in Fredericton and Saint John in a more intimate setting. Typically there are fewer than one hundred people who attend, sometimes as few as twenty. These concerts are geared towards pre-school aged kids so the programs that they develop for them are slightly more child-friendly. “It has garnered quite a following in both of the libraries we present it in.” Says Adams, “It’s right in the middle of the library and the kids sit on the floor, right next to the books. There is usually a little play area in the library, and we will invite the kids to come up and pluck the strings, look at the instruments.”233

In addition to giving these shows for kids, the quartet is heavily invested in teaching and is the Quartet-in-Residence for the University New Brunswick as well as maintaining their own private teaching studios. Adams remarks,

We give a free masterclass just before the music festival in April, so the kids can have a chance to come and play their pieces through. The University covers that through the residence proposal, so we apply for an artist-in-residence grant from the province and the university matches those funds.234

232 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 201814:54-15:20.

233 David Adams Interview. 16:02-17:29.

234 David Adams Interview. 19:21-19:56.

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Several members of the quartet have also been active in working with the New

Brunswick Youth Orchestra. David Adams has been on the board of directors for the NBYO for at least twenty-five years, and also chairs the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s Foundation which is a group which supports the youth orchestra as well as providing kids with tuition for

University.

The quartet itself is for the large part, the sectional coaches for the youth orchestra. That may change in the next little while, but we would typically coach them three to four times a year, and that is quite heavily weighted at the start of the year at a music camp that they go to.235

In addition to an active educational presence, the quartet boasts an online presence also.

They have been working on manufacturing videos which feature Canadian scenery, music and video of the quartet at iconic New Brunswick locations. The title of the series is “Making a

String Quartet,” and Adams remarks,

This is a project that we want to increase. We do have some ideas to further it, we will make more videos of new repertoire and use it as a marketing tool, show some iconic Maritime and Canadian scenes. Most of our branding is dealing with the fact that we are Canadian.236

The Saint John String Quartet has done some extensive travel over the past several years, and Adams states, “We do teach a little when we travel, specifically a lot of the presenters are universities and conservatories that would present us in a concert, and we would also do masterclasses for them.”237 These masterclasses tend to be for university-aged students and

235 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 18:48-19:02.

236 David Adams Interview. 31:06-31:47.

237 David Adams Interview. 28:52-29:16.

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Adams describes the process of working with these passionate young performers as an exciting collaboration.

The Saint John String Quartet has also been a part of large scale concerts that take them outside of the classical repertoire. Says Adams,

We quite often would be asked by singers and songwriters to accompany them, particularly at the East Coast Music Awards. We did a DVD recently with Matt Andersen, [and] we opened for Meatloaf once, that was interesting! [It was] definitely our largest audience ever, over 7,000 people.238

Some of the most important inspiration for Adams and the quartet is knowing that they are impacting the community. “I think right away we realized that if we didn’t do it, it just wasn’t going to happen,” says Adams. “[We wanted to have] kids hear music, classical music on a large scale, and the only way to do that would be to go to the schools where the kids are.”239

David says he finds all these concerts inspiring and necessary, but also useful to the quartet. He remarks,

I think these outreach projects are absolutely beneficial to us as a quartet. We do about 135 concerts a year, sometimes a little bit more, a little bit less, fifty of those are in- school presentations.240

238 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 21:58-23:31.

239 David Adams Interview. 37:46-38:55.

240 David Adams Interview. 40:10-42:10.

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SAGUENAY STRING QUARTET

The Saguenay String Quartet, formed in 1989 and formerly known as the Alcan String Quartet, is comprised of the four core string players from the Saguenay Symphony Orchestra. Violinist

Nathalie Camus, one of two original members of the quartet, remarks,

We are hired by the regional orchestra here, and the orchestra gives about six concerts a year, and we all have first chairs in the orchestra. The orchestra finds engagements in the region here, so we do some outreach and provide music and activities, but everything outside of the region is with our agent and that gives us a chance to tour [and] give workshops at universities or grade schools and high schools.241

One of the regular concerts they are contracted to do is the “Mardi Concert series.” They give four of these every year, but the program is repeated twice on the day to allow for more audience members to hear it, given limited space in the concert hall. “I would say, on average, we give fifty concerts a year,”242 says Camus.

In addition to the orchestra concerts that we play, the administration of the orchestra finds other concerts for us, either in schools or remote communities, and we have an official chamber music series that we are in charge of.243

The orchestra and city of Saguenay make up most of their income, but they also get government grants from different associations as well as making profit from the ticket sales of their shows. They are contracted for a thirty-two-week year and funded by the City. Camus states,

[Around] fifty percent of the funding is from the city of Saguenay. That’s why we have to carry the name Saguenay Quartet, and the project started off with the Alcan company

241 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 04:11-04:53.

242 Nathalie Camus Interview. 04:58-05:01.

243 Nathalie Camus Interview. 05:02-05:59.

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giving fifty percent, that’s why we were called the Alcan. About three years ago the city took over, so we had to change names.244

The Saguenay Quartet is invested in regular school shows during the year and give roughly eight to fifteen concerts in grade schools per calendar year. They do not travel outside the region to give these, so the schools in the city have lots of opportunity to regularly interact with the quartet. Camus remarks, “The orchestra finds schools that are interested in having the quartet [come play], or else we play in libraries, those would be more family-oriented concerts.”245 They help in writing their own school shows which often include dialogue, story line, props, and actors or comedians. “We are not responsible for the story line, that is up to the actors.”246 Camus says, “[They] tell us, there will be say ten interventions or [musical interactions] so I need that kind of music. Or they tell us there is a concept, so we find the repertoire and we put it together.”247

The quartet employs many methods of keeping their young audience members engaged and entertained during their kids shows. “Sometimes we have the kids come up and conduct,”248 she says, “or we have them sing or scream or whatever, we try to get them to participate as much as possible.”249 There is always a portion where the kids can come up and see the instruments and interact one-on-one with the musicians. The quartet tries to include a wide variety of styles

244 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 08:22-08:56.

245 Nathalie Camus Interview. 09:01-09:42.

246 Nathalie Camus Interview. 10:12-10:22.

247 Nathalie Camus Interview. 10:29-11:02.

248 Nathalie Camus Interview. 11:20-11:28.

249 Nathalie Camus Interview. 11:55-12:01.

90 when writing school shows. They strive to perform a wide range of musical genres, including classical pieces, well known folk tunes, and popular soundtracks such as music from Star Wars or The Simpsons.

The Saguenay Quartet has given masterclasses for chamber music groups and solo players across Canada during their regular touring schedule. Camus says, “For seven years we were guests once a month, every month, at the l’Université de Montréal. We would teach masterclasses where all four of us would sit down next to the players and we can demonstrate quartet excerpts.”250 She feels things can sometimes be chaotic giving a masterclass sitting next to the students, but it is ultimately a profitable experience, both for the quartet and the young chamber ensemble. “Sometimes we will disagree, and the students find it funny because it’s reality. That’s when we demonstrate ideas, how to solve it, how everybody needs a chance to try different ideas.”251

Another instance in which they give masterclasses is when working at Quartet Fest West.

They are great friends and collaborators with the Lafayette Quartet and often work together both at the festival and touring as octets. Camus remarks,

We have probably done [Quartet Fest West] five times. We would give individual classes, masterclasses, and quartet masterclasses of course. We perform also. Sometimes we perform alone, sometimes we partner with the Lafayette String Quartet.252

Quartet Fest West is just one of many summer chamber music festivals that the Saguenay

Quartet has been a part of. “There are numerous ones, all over the country,” she says,

We have taught at Domaine Forget, the Orford Arts Festival, Baleno Jazz Festival, the Lanaudière Music Festival and Quartet Fest of course. In the [United] States there is a

250 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 17:53-18:11.

251 Nathalie Camus Interview. 20:03-20:56.

252 Nathalie Camus Interview. 21:10-21:37.

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music festival in California that we went to for five summers, then regionally there are summer festivals [that] we have been involved in a lot.253

The Saguenay String Quartet are dedicated to bringing Canadian music wherever they travel, both in Canada and across the globe. Camus remarks, “Most of the time we try to include a Canadian program, and if we go to Europe or something, it makes it much easier for grants.”254

They have commissioned some pieces for the quartet, but their favorite is one that was written for them by Andrew P. McDonald.

Alongside Canadian music, the Saguenay Quartet regularly deviate from classical music in an effort to make their music more accessible in the region. Camus remarks,

The orchestra hires us so that we can bring music to small communities around here, [citizens] who would not necessarily come to us … We have a presence all over the region, we might give a kind of cabaret concert where people sit around tables, they might be used to hearing pop music, or it will be part of some kind of poetry evening, some acting or Halloween, and we bring in all kinds of music.255

These events they host in addition to their regular touring and performing schedule are very important to the quartet. Camus remembers musicians coming to her school when she was younger, and the memory of that interaction has had a lasting impact on her approach to the quartet’s presence in schools. Their role in bringing string quartet music to venues it would not regularly occupy is a responsibility that all four members have embraced. “Originally, the school show was a requirement from the orchestra,” she says, “but we always try to find ways to get

253 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 24:58-26:31.

254 Nathalie Camus Interview. 26:33-26:49.

255 Nathalie Camus Interview. 33:30-34:57.

92 involved with the community.”256 Reaching out to engage with their home-town is something they are very passionate about and Camus remarks,

I think more and more you need to be involved in your own community. It can be a university, or an orchestra … Residency is a must at some point. You really do need stability to encourage the four players to work together.257

ST. LAWRENCE STRING QUARTET

The St. Lawrence String Quartet, founded in Canada in 1989, is now the Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford University in California. One of the most sought after string quartets in the world, they tour regularly, averaging anywhere from 150 to 200 days a year on the road. Violist Lesley

Robertson remarks, “I purposefully do not keep track of the days away from home. In terms of self-preservation it’s probably best!”258

As Ensemble-in-Residence at Stanford, the quartet’s formal duties include teaching applied lessons, directing and coaching chamber music and performing a series of formal concerts at Stanford’s Bing Concert Hall. While these contracted activities are typical of a traditional string quartet’s career, a large portion of the work they do and projects they undertake are self-initiated. This means that they are conceived of and implemented by the quartet, and are

256 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 31:42-31:58.

257 Nathalie Camus Interview. 41:03-41:55.

258 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 03:36-04:52.

93 often either unpaid or self-funded. Robertson states, “Honestly, our formal contract is [just] the jumping off point.”259

There are five categories of work which the St. Lawrence String Quartet focuses on.

Firstly, formal concertizing, teaching and touring, which includes both self-initiated and presenter-initiated community engagements. Secondly, all contracted duties with Stanford such as teaching, coaching chamber ensembles, and performing a three concert series at the Bing

Concert Hall. This also includes projects with guest artists, commissioning projects and some student and community engagement.260

The other three categories are comprised of programs which are initiated directly by the quartet, and are independent of their contracted work with the university. The first is the St.

Lawrence String Quartet Seminar which is an initiative that provides seventeen concerts and events annually, all free to the public. It features a wide array of events ranging from keynote presentations and participant concerts to faculty concerts and family events, and represents 250 coaching hours for the faculty involved.

The next category couples the Emerging String Quartet Program and Stanford Pre

Collegiate Studies Program. Since their inception, they have provided hundreds of community events and have served a wide variety of venues and persons including public and private school children, incarcerated populations, hospitals, and venture capital firms to name a few. The fifth and last category describes all projects which take place on the Stanford campus or in the greater

Stanford community, including but not limited to freshman seminars, the Pegasus Physician

259 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 05:58-06:12.

260 Robertson, Lesley. Letter to Gwyneth Thomson, July 8, 2019.

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Writers event, the Azure Concert Series, concerts for incarcerated populations, collaborations with colleagues from other faculties and annual concerts for the Stanford community.261

The quartet finds many ways to collaborate with other parts of the university. “Over the years this has taken many different forms,” says Robertson. “We have collaborated with colleagues from the Law School, the business school, the engineering school, medical school and more.”262 These projects facilitate engagement with students and teachers from other faculties across the broad spectrum of the university, offering an opportunity for the quartet to connect with diverse communities. Robertson remarks,

The quartet might be able to lure into conversation an entirely new community by illustrating via the musical lens to a community of mathematicians the beauty of math in Beethoven’s Grosse Fugue, or to engineers the importance and ingenuity of structure in Haydn String Quartets, or to budding law professionals an alternative view of conflict resolution through a string quartet’s on stage real time dynamic.263

When developing an idea for a presentation the SLSQ discovered that the key was to find a commonality or shared issue between the two seemingly unrelated fields. Robertson says, “The notion of “string quartet as a leaderless team” is one example of a conduit employed by the

SLSQ to connect to those at the Business and Law Schools.”264

Another example of a cross pollinating collaboration is the annual Pegasus Physician

Writers event. Robertson remarks,

Pegasus is a group of physicians and physicians in training who meet regularly to workshop their creative writing. Roughly a year in advance of the shared evening, we

261 Robertson, Lesley. Letter to Gwyneth Thomson, July 8, 2019.

262 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 06:14-06:42.

263 Robertson, Lesley. Letter to Gwyneth Thomson, July 8, 2019.

264 Lesley Robertson Interview. 07:56-08:34.

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identify a particular work as the pillar for the evening. The writers are then invited to compose a work in reaction. 265

The evening is comprised of a performance of the “pillar” work by the St. Lawrence

String Quartet and is followed by selected readings of the reactive works which are curated and selected by the Pegasus panel. Roberson remarks, “The writing is extraordinary and the readings run from lighthearted to deeply moving – but each is connected in some way to the musical pillar.” 266 These types of events serve to take music out of the traditional concert venue and foster deep interactions, utilizing music to connect two communities that might not otherwise interact.

One of the most impactful of the self-initiated projects undertaken by the St. Lawrence

String Quartet is the annual SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar, which is a ten day program geared towards emerging young professionals and adult amateurs. It is something the quartet created from the ground up, and continue to nurture twenty years later. Robertson describes it as, “a magical cross-pollination hybrid program combining aspiring “hot-shot” young professionals with people who pursue music because they love it.”267

This program is exciting because it combines musicians with differing backgrounds, on the one hand amateurs who play simply for the joy of it, and on the other, young professionals who are just at the cusp of beginning their musical career. In addition to all the things these musicians can learn from one another such as differing perspectives, emotional depth and fresh musical ideas, the greater community benefits as well. All concerts, masterclasses, presentations

265 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 15:36-15:52.

266 Lesley Robertson Interview. 15:36-15:52.

267 Lesley Robertson Interview. 16:09-16:48.

96 and events are free to the public, including presentations by instrument makers, community workers, musicologists and physical therapists.

Another self-initiated Stanford project is the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s Emerging

String Quartet Program, or ESQP, which was started in 2009. Robertson states,

[This program was] created with an eye towards supplementing already well established training opportunities for emerging quartets. ESQP offers concentrated exposure to some of the experiences that were most meaningful and beneficial to the SLSQ when [we] were first starting out in [our] career.”268

The biannual program, to which participation is by invitation and selection from the SLSQ, provides an emerging quartet a ten day fully-funded mini residency. Quartets are given coachings and career development advice, have the chance to perform as an ensemble, and are provided with intense community engagement opportunities, both on campus and off. Robertson remarks,

The aim is to provide many rich and diverse community engagement experiences to these young ensembles so when they return to their home communities, they have a host of new skills to invest in their own community.269

Many of the groups who participate in this program arrive with considerable expertise in teaching, performing and presenting, and in some cases well developed educational programming, others not at all. “We try to give them a lot of opportunities to present in very different forums,” says Robertson,

[We have sent them to] a school, or a seniors’ community, technology campus, hospital, LGBTQ support group, homeless shelter, a women’s shelter, nursery school and several prisons. We aim to expose them to a variety of platforms, so they have the opportunity to practice connecting with different communities.270

268 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 20:36-20:47.

269 Lesley Robertson Interview. 21:06-21:58.

270 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 23:10-24:09.

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These interactions present a mutually beneficial arrangement for both sides. The groups have the opportunity to practice honing their skills performing, presenting and working with diverse audiences, and the greater Stanford community gains a lot from the energy and investment these exceptional artists and performers bring to their concerts.

Another program which the SLSQ created is “Why Music Matters,” a summer class for high school students facilitated by the Stanford Pre Collegiate Studies’ Summer Arts Institute.

Pre-college age students who attend the Summer Arts Institute are provided with a variety of different ways to intersect with music through composition and performance. One of the facets of this program is having daily access to a string quartet and includes a reading of the students’ compositions. Each year the SLSQ awards the SPCS Quartet-in-Residence position to an emerging ensemble chosen from the roster of SLSQ Seminar applicants. Lesley remarks,

The idea is to provide a young quartet with a taste of what it is like to be a string quartet in residence - to plant some seeds and ideas and, like the Emerging String Quartet Program, provide opportunities to practice engagement ideas. It is essentially a short and intense version of the SLSQ/Stanford relationship in microcosm.271

This year, the quartet is celebrating their 30th season by entitling their 2019-2020 season

“What Matters – Celebrating thirty years of the St. Lawrence String Quartet connections!” It is an entire season dedicated to all of the musical interactions which distinguish the SLSQ, and is an appreciation of the quartet’s thirty years of playing and connecting deeply with audiences through their concert performances. This special concert season will highlight all the musical initiatives and programs that the SLSQ takes on every year, including their outreach concerts,

271 Robertson, Lesley. Letter to Gwyneth Thomson, July 9, 2019.

98 student mentoring, presentations and community engagement. In their season announcement, the

SLSQ states,

This season, 2019-2020, the quartet will be focusing on projects with presenters that include but also reach beyond the usual concert hall program. The details will differ, but the aims are unified: to make music a more vital presence everywhere [we] go.272

In addition to mentoring ESQP groups and running dozens of other community events each season, the quartet does still give school shows. “I would estimate we self-initiate six to eight family focused presentations per year in our home community,” Robertson says. “We have done everything from a highly scripted Dr. Seuss show to a completely improvised event.”273

One thing she does stress above all else is that there is no such thing as a cookie cutter children’s show. She lauds groups who put the time into building a specific show with a story line, props, costumes etc. She says, “A highly scripted show can be really effective, but there are so many ways to present to children. In general we forego props and scripts.”274

One project that has had far ranging impact is the Azure Concert series. The concert series was established in 2010 in partnership with pianist Stephen Prutsman, a long-time friend and collaborator with the St. Lawrence String Quartet. Azure Concerts provide a joyful and stress free environment for families with children and dependents on the autism spectrum to enjoy music. “We present three to four programs annually at Stanford and Steve usually hosts and performs unless he is on the road. He has a magical rapport with the audience and instantly creates a welcoming ambiance where all behaviors are welcome and neurodiversity is

272 Robertson, Lesley. Letter to Gwyneth Thomson, July 9, 2019.

273 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 58:42-59:18.

274 Lesley Robertson Interview. 59:23-59:47.

99 celebrated.”275 Robertson remarks that because of Steve’s commitment, Azure concerts have been started all over the globe. She discusses this further saying,

Several emerging groups who have participated in Stanford Azure shows have brought the concert format back to their own communities. There are now series in Toronto, Austin, Texas, Phoenix, Vancouver … Steve has even established concerts in Ukraine and Korea. It’s wonderful to see. [This model is so] easily replicated and can be re- created anywhere.276

Very quickly, participating musicians learn to use phrases such as “all behaviors are welcome,” and this is a “shush-proof concert”. “There is no effort to constrict the audience in any way,” says Robertson, “and though the program is presented in concert format, audience members are completely free to vocalize or move about without fear of rebuke.”277 The atmosphere is very relaxed and lighthearted, and presenters often program shorter works and feature several different groups to keep audiences engaged. Robertson remarks, “An outsider dropped into the hall unexpectedly may see a room in complete chaos, but looking more closely, will see a community brought together in a joyful celebration of diversity and music.”278

In addition to the teaching they do at Stanford and coaching they give as part of their other programs, the St. Lawrence String Quartet also gives masterclasses when they are travelling. Though occasionally self-initiated, these classes are usually organized by an institution, either the concert presenting organization or a local university or conservatory.

One aspect that makes the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s residency at Stanford unique, is that the quartet primarily instructs non-music majors in their private teaching studios. Robertson

275 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 34:04-34:29.

276 Lesley Robertson Interview. 34:38-35:09.

277 Lesley Robertson Interview. 35:44-35:59.

278 Lesley Robertson Interview. 35:59-36:14.

100 says this was particularly eye-opening when they first arrived, and that she has found it very influential in the kind of programs they create going forward.

For the most part, our students come to lessons or chamber music sessions simply because they want to play, they want to have music in their lives. They may be highly accomplished or not so much, but no matter the level of music making, the motivation is very simple and I find this deeply refreshing279 … Even though the primary focus of their academic study may be heavily invested in engineering or medicine or some other field, they protect time and space in their lives for a deep connection and experience with music.280

Another community that Robertson and the St. Lawrence String Quartet have worked with over the years is incarcerated populations. She describes interactions with the Hiland

Women’s Correctional Facility in Alaska and the San Bruno Jail in California as unexpectedly powerful. “Music can be a deeply positive rehabilitative and transformative experience,”

Robertson states.

Hiland has an active chamber orchestra. We were fortunate to work with them on one occasion and what an experience. Every person in the small string orchestra engaged with her full self, utterly committed and fully immersed, working together to create. It seemed the focus of the women’s lives and I came away deeply inspired.281

The St. Lawrence String Quartet does a lot in terms of reaching out to the community and finding ways to be present despite spending so much time abroad touring. Robertson says so much of setting up these interactions is reaching out and being patient. “Sending one email to say

‘can we come play for you?’ never works. It requires dozens of emails, repeated contact and consistent messaging.”282 she says. One of the ways that they are making an impact is by setting

279 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 1:11:48-1:11:57.

280 Lesley Robertson Interview. 1:11:59-1:12:21.

281 Lesley Robertson Interview. 1:16:42-1:16:57.

282 Lesley Robertson Interview. 1:02:47-1:02:58.

101 up opportunities for emerging string quartets to interact with all members of the community.

Robertson remarks, “There is really no one answer about [why we do this and why it’s important], but one of the big drivers is the pursuit of relevance and meaning.”283

Robertson states,

“There are so many extraordinary young string quartets working their way up, I want to do what I can to help these young groups find a place in the world. I am a passionate believer in the power of a string quartet both on and off the concert stage. Our compact size makes us nimble and economical. We can move easily from the formal concert stage to a hospital or laboratory. Our repertoire is vast. We have the potential to initiate profound exchanges by embracing diverse communities and exploring connections. With their energy, creativity and commitment to excellence, these extraordinary young groups are uniquely positioned to be effective musical ambassadors - a critically important role. 281

The St. Lawrence String Quartet’s passion for bringing music to venues beyond the traditional concert hall, and inspiring young quartets to do the same, is an excellent example of the potential of a string ensemble to foster change within the community.

ESTABLISHED STRING QUARTETS COMPARISON

School shows, “kiddie concerts”, educational outreach and musical presence in schools are all important parts of how these string quartets interact with the community, especially young school-aged members. All five established ensembles actively give school shows, or have in the past. While some believe that these interactions are best delegated to younger quartets and work hard to arrange opportunities for emerging ensembles to have a presence in the school system, some give regular school shows and engage actively in educational programming.

283 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 1:03:46-1:04:22.

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Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette Quartet states that they frequently find opportunities for student quartets to perform. Because they are busy with duties at the university, touring and performing, the Lafayette Quartet encourages younger ensembles to provide school shows in addition to doing it themselves. “We have a graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the university now, and they are outstanding,” says Ann. “They are fully capable of doing all that stuff.”284 By delegating these responsibilities, they help to inspire a presence in schools as well as provide performance and teaching opportunities for younger ensembles.

The St. Lawrence String Quartet also occasionally delegates some of these opportunities although Lesley Robertson says they do still give several school concerts per year. As part of the

Emerging String Quartet Program, the emerging quartets who visit engage with the community in many ways. “The school is just one of many places where they play,” says Robertson.

Developing effective community engagement is something young groups figure out as they go. Sometimes their ideas work really well right out of the block, and other times they learn the hard way, but it is meant to be trial and error and for the most part, ESQP has been wonderfully effective. It’s really encouraging to watch the growth trajectory of these young quartets and to see how they fine-tune their presentations.285

The emerging quartets still experience the same trial and error process for putting together a school program as the established quartets did at the beginning of their career. Ann

Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet says,

We have given advice to students [about how to create a school show], but we don’t actually sit down with them and coach them how to do it. We never had anyone tell us how to do it when we were a young quartet, we went out there and figured it out on our own, and I think that’s what you have to do.286

284 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 28:31-29:03.

285 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 24:14-25:03.

286 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 29:09-29:47.

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Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet has a similar approach recalling,

“Some groups arrive with material that they have already worked out fairly deliberately, while others make it up on the fly.”287 In both cases, practice and creating opportunity for them is the goal. Robertson states, “I think what is most important is that they get many opportunities to practice it, to work out the bumps and wrinkles.”288

The two ensembles who are Quartet-in-Residence with orchestras, the Saint John String

Quartet and the Saguenay String Quartet, both give the most school shows every year. The

Saguenay Quartet gives between eight and fifteen per year, most set up and funded by the orchestral services that they are expected to fulfill during the year.289 The Saint John String

Quartet has a similar arrangement for funding although the members are the ones who reach out to schools and set up these interactions. They are paid for 180 services per year with the orchestra, of which typically twenty to fifty would be school programs.

Some quartets feel they are not particularly good at engaging kids in school shows and choose to interact with the community in other capacities. Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki

String Quartet comments, “We have given school shows, but we don’t have a specific ‘show’ that we use, and sometimes I think that we are not all that good at it.”290 He says,

In terms of playing for primary school kids, it can be really tough, and I think you have to be really good at that, have the right repertoire.291

287 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 25:53-26:02.

288 Lesley Robertson Interview. 26:48-26:59.

289 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 09:01-15:55.

290 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 27:45-27:55.

291 Jeremy Bell Interview. 27:55-28:40.

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Some quartets see school shows not only as an opportunity for the kids, but also as an opportunity for them as a quartet. David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet says,

I think these outreach projects are absolutely beneficial to us as a quartet … The frequency of performing in front of people is so very important to a performer … I think these [types of concerts] are great for growth.292

Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet agrees remarking,

[I think the school concerts and community outreach are beneficial to us] because it is a place to experiment, and everyone gets involved to show them, it feels important for interactions, and it’s also fun and rejuvenating. To see the kids that are so mesmerized by what we do is really fantastic.293

School shows can be a fantastic way to build momentum and interest within younger generations in an effort to create new players. David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet states, “[Deep down] it’s about making the connection with what kids hear today in music

[compared] to where it came from. It’s history, it’s heritage of music.”294 Even though these shows tend to be quite scripted and the focus is on fun and entertainment, these kids are still listening to classical music, something they may not have had an opportunity to experience live before.

All of the established ensembles feel that engaging with the youth in their community through school shows and other educational programming can have a lasting impact. While they vary as to the age range of children they work with, approach, and venue, all five of the quartets

292 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 40:10-42:10.

293 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 29:23-29:45.

294 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 39:52-40:09.

105 feel this form of musical outreach is both an important part of their work as a quartet, and vital to establishing and maintaining their place within the community.

While all of these quartets are on faculty at a university or on the payroll of an orchestra, there are frequently times when they organize a concert, teach a masterclass, or provide their time for free because they believe in the importance of what they are doing. Regarding Quartet

Fest West, Ann Elliott-Goldschmid remarks,

We get a very minimal payment, we pay ourselves a very small amount, there are no grants, we just pay ourselves to organize and teach and run the concerts. We get our revenue from tuition and concerts. There were a couple of summers where we didn’t get paid at all.295

Regarding Quartet Fest in Ontario, Jeremy Bell confides, “there are years where we don’t get paid at all, just because we wanted to put the money into other things. We [do] pay ourselves a small honorarium, a very minimal amount.”296 Sometimes the funding doesn’t come through or the quartet ends up spending a lot more time organizing an event or concert than they end up getting paid in the end but funding, when it comes, has to fit with the quartet or organization.

Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette Quartet discusses the funding for the Lafayette

Health Awareness forum saying,

We had some corporate sponsorship for a while, and while it was nice, it wasn’t the perfect match for us. Now, we have a partnership with the Institute of Aging and Lifelong Health, and we love it, it’s the perfect match.297

295 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 16:20-16:55.

296 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 20:15-22:38.

297 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 39:15-40:11.

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Others jump on the opportunity to have corporate funding. Jeremy Bell remarked on new funding for Quartet Fest last year by saying, “Last year … was the first year that we got a sizeable donation from businessmen and the community and we were able, for the first time, to offer full scholarship to all students.”298

In the end, funding has to be a perfect fit for both parties. Often, the best fit for funding for these projects is from grants, government funding, or partnerships with music and educational organizations within the community, and often there is no funding at all. Lesley

Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet says,

I know some people have the impression there is top-down leadership in terms of funding for SLSQ’s ongoing projects, and also in terms of assigning projects, but our experience is exactly the opposite. We have never been presented with a budget and instructed to do these projects, spend this money, or hire these people. That doesn’t happen. For us it’s a matter of deciding what is important, what do we believe in and what do we want to make happen, and then we put our shoulder against it. Most of our projects operate on shoestring budgets cobbled together each year with funds from several sources including our own donated concert fees and from a small collection of individual supporters.299

Determining an exact percentage of how much these string quartets give back to the community in terms of school shows, hours of unpaid work, and planning or organizing content before the actual concert would be next to impossible. Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence

String Quartet states,

The number of hours are impossible to estimate and in the end really don’t illustrate an ensemble’s or organization’s commitment to engaging with a community. “Community Outreach’ events are often mandatory components of a successful funding application –a logical pairing when the incentive is tackled thoughtfully. Too often though, little thought goes into these “check that funding box” events. In these instances I find myself

298 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 22:04-22:39.

299 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 17:10-18:03.

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torn between thinking any music is better than no music and wondering if disengaged box checking does more harm than good. 300

In order for these types of outreach to be truly effective and long lasting, there has to be an underlying connection and foundation built within the community. All five quartets work tirelessly in their home town and are consciously trying to build connections through a variety of different events and programs.

Something that all five established string quartets say contributed to their success and longevity as an ensemble is their relationship with the orchestra or institution at which they have residency. Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet remarks on his relationship with

Wilfrid Laurier University stating, “I think we are really lucky to have Laurier, this home base.

There are times when we really get sucked in to the needs of the university, and it can take away from other projects, [but I think] it’s a valuable partnership.”301

Having an ongoing relationship with a university or larger ensemble helps to provide a place for all of these quartets, and helps to ensure that they continue to be part of that community in a meaningful way. David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet agrees that forming a partnership with a larger institution is key, saying, “[string quartets] don’t tend to stay, especially this day and age, and especially young string quartets.”302 Often times the geography of Canada makes extensive touring more difficult and demands that a quartet try to establish itself permanently in a community. Jeremy Bell remarks on this saying, “It’s particularly hard in

300 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 17:10-18:03.

301 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 36:14-36:40.

302 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 36:05-36:55.

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Canada, geographically there are challenges. Our cities are so spread out that you can’t really tour, and the weather is risky, even just driving from Edmonton to Calgary.”303

Having a residency with an institution often gives these ensembles the foundation they need in order to pursue other activities beyond traditional touring and concerts. Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay Quartet says, “I feel a quartet really just needs stability and support from some kinds of residency. It’s hard to have contacts to survive on. I think more and more you need to be involved in your own community.”304

Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence Quartet feels that their residency with Stanford

University serves as just the starting point for the outreach she and the quartet provide.

“Honestly, our contract is the jumping off point,” she says. “Traditionally we have put a lot of energy into finding ways to intersect with our on-campus community.”305 David Adams from the

Saint John String Quartet states, “Most quartets do come and go, we don’t really have that notion that there is a lineage of playing that remains constant in any given community.”306 Nathalie

Camus from the Saguenay agrees that quartets need a stable foundation that a residency can provide, stating,

There are great quartets all over the world, and not enough room for everybody to just perform all the time. Residency is a must … There are outside things that get in the way that are essential because it’s an income, but to really focus on quartet, you need some kind of stability.307

303 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 41:04-41:42.

304 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 40:40-41:10.

305 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 04:55-06:12.

306 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 36:12-37:17.

307 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 40:40-42:27.

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One of the things that is very important to all five established string quartets is making time in their touring schedule for engaging young performers through chamber music coachings, masterclasses, lessons and seminars. Ann Elliott Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet says, “For me, teaching is so important. It’s constantly a learning process [and] you have to find what works for every child.”308

Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet discusses their involvement with institutions when they tour saying, “If we are on tour and we have some extra time, we try to add some kind of educational workshop, either for kids, or university level, in addition to our official performing.”309 There is so much enthusiasm for lessons in some of the places that these quartets tour. David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet remarks,

“We do teach a little when we travel, specifically a lot of the presenters were universities and conservatories that would present us in a concert, and we would also do masterclasses for them, sometimes quite extensive ones. In Ecuador, there were quite a few days of masterclasses, there are just hordes of kids there, it’s unbelievable.”310

Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet says that the level of enthusiasm they receive when giving masterclasses in Mexico is very exciting. He states, “There is a fever of education, and educating youth through music that has really taken off. Any city we go in

Mexico, we are asked to give a masterclass, and hundreds of kids will show up.”311

308 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 44:52-45:51.

309 Camus, Nathalie. "String Quartet Interview: Nathalie Camus from the Saguenay String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 8, 2018. 40:40-42:27.

310 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 29:45-30:03.

311 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 24:22-26:00.

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Another thing that all quartets are passionate about is presenting Canadian music, both in touring and in their regular performances in their home city. All five have works that they have commissioned, and will actively feature when on tour, representing Canadian composers abroad.

Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette Quartet states, “We often try to incorporate some Canadian works. We have commissioned several pieces by Canadian composers.”312 She states that they play Murray Schafer’s eleventh quartet frequently while touring because it’s such a captivating piece, but she also expresses the desire to represent women more, stating, “What we would really like to do is commission some women to write for us.”313 David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet says being Canadian and playing Canadian music is part of their brand. “We program Canadian and contemporary music all the time,” he says. “Our branding is

… Canadian. That creates a certain amount of interest, particularly for presenters in Europe. We use that to our advantage in our soliciting [of] concerts.”314

Some quartets also incorporate Canadian and contemporary music into their educational programming. Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet says,

We try to show a range [of repertoire], we try to give students a broad perspective. So we would never play something that was especially esoteric because it would risk losing their attention, but in any case we have played a lot of Canadian repertoire.315

312 Elliott-Goldschmid, Ann. "String Quartet Interview: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid from the Lafayette String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 09:44-09:57.

313 Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Interview. 11:01-11:08.

314 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 31:45-32:06.

315 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 30:05-31:16.

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Lesley Robertson and the St. Lawrence String Quartet finds a particular pleasure in working with contemporary musicians and she reflects on the relationship that can develop between a chamber music ensemble and a composer stating,

We have been fortunate to work with many ‘living’ composers over the last three decades and have learned so much from these interactions. Experiencing the ‘coming to life’ of a new work is invaluable for any performer but having the opportunity to be in the same room and to hear a composer sing a given phrase or describe the character of a passage through story or gesture can utterly transform one’s understanding and approach to a work. Basically it is impossible to convey nuanced information through written notation and recognizing that limitation allows for a much deeper well of interpretation and possibility when approaching the works of composers who are no longer living.316

The string quartet can be an incredible medium for engaging with the community. It is portable and easy to bring into any and all environments. All five of these Canadian string quartets, have brought music into unexpected places and found a niche for themselves within their community. David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet says that they are inspired often by hearing stories of kids who attended their school show or Library Concerts and thought,

I want to do that someday. He reminisces saying,

A young school-age kid heard us play, a young girl, and she said later on in life that she had heard us play at her school and she knew from that moment on she wanted to be a musician, she wanted to play the violin. So she set that path for herself, actually she was my student for a number of years, she went to university, got a degree, got a teaching degree as well, and now she’s teaching music in the schools here in Saint John. She always attributes her life path to us coming to her school that one day.317

Even the quartet members themselves have found moments of inspiration that led them to do what they do today. Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki quartet talks about one such event saying,

316 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 54:11-56:25.

317 Adams, David. "String Quartet Interview: David Adams from the Saint John String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 3, 2018. 35:11-36:40.

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I grew up in Sudbury and my dad was running a concert series at our church, and he brought the Orford Quartet in. I was just blown away, I thought they were so amazing. I hadn’t thought very much about string quartets up until that point. We moved to Toronto, and they were on faculty with the university, and I just felt like this was really amazing. They were my idols already, then seeing them, watching them rehearse, seeing their touring schedule, it just seemed so glamorous.318

All of the things that these quartets do in addition to their regular concerts and sessional contracts is a vital part of the promotion of classical music. Whether they are engaging with their home communities or travelling and touring to other cities, these quartets help to inspire children to interact with the classical music world and get excited about a genre of music they may not have a chance to see otherwise. Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet comments on this saying,

Many performers are purely interested in playing formal concerts, and for them, community engagement can be a chore – a box to check. Others are motivated to find a way to make an impact in their community beyond the concert stage.319

These five established string quartets are all very active within their community, striving to find ways to intersect with the general population through a variety of different capacities.

They bring a wealth of knowledge to their teaching and performing that has developed because of their years together as an ensemble. All five quartet members have stated how important these extra engagements are both to them as a quartet, and also to their local community as a whole, and their residencies through universities and symphonies enable them to build and develop these strong ties. Playing at unconventional venues offers the opportunity to reach new audiences and programming and performing non-classical works lends itself well to engaging new listeners. Despite their hectic schedules, all five quartets find ways to be meaningful within the

318 Bell, Jeremy. "String Quartet Interview: Jeremy Bell from the Penderecki String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 1, 2018. 48:01-49:02.

319 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 1:05:12-1:06:58.

113 community, and feel that these opportunities do a lot to enrich their concert season and establish them as a chamber ensemble within their home town.

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Chapter 4

Conclusions

At all levels, these string quartets have commonalities. Many comparisons can be drawn between the historical twentieth-century string quartets, the established string quartets, and the emerging string quartets. From talking to the modern ensembles and reading about the historical string quartets, I get a strong sense that their group mandate was fundamentally the same. Much like the historical string quartets, I feel these modern ensembles are committed to many things that fall outside the category of traditional classical music performance.

One aspect I find particularly interesting is the departure from focusing on traditional repertoire and the innovative locations and concert programs these modern ensembles are presenting. Increasingly there seems to be a limited market for groups who focus solely on masterworks and classical pillars of the string quartet repertoire. Audiences seem to be more excited by pairings of non-classical music with more traditional repertoire, or by projects which endeavour to take the string quartet out of the rigid environment of the classical concert hall and into homes and coffee shops.

Both emerging and established ensembles are finding new ways to engage audiences, and are departing from the typical career trajectory that string quartets followed in the twentieth century. Our interest as a society is affected by streaming sites which allow us access to an unlimited range of genres and musical styles. These emerging ensembles are discovering new ways to offer live audiences a little bit of everything, whether it be Latin-American music, jazz standards, horror music, folk music or collaborations with contemporary performing artists. This blending of styles by no means indicates a lack of technical skill and proficiency in classical

115 music repertoire, it merely shows a willingness to explore all musical opportunities, and to promote themselves and grow as an ensemble.

One aspect that all of these ensembles are passionate about is fostering Canadian music, both through commissioning new works and by performing pre-existing Canadian repertoire.

Whether they are based in Canada or in the United States such as the St. Lawrence String

Quartet, all these ensembles strive to bring Canadian content with them to other places when they tour. The Parlow String Quartet presented many concerts with Canadian music, including one they commissioned, John Weinzweig’s String Quartet No. 2 which was one of the first commissioned string quartets by a Canadian composer.320

Nathalie Camus of the Saguenay String Quartet commented in her interview that they often put together a “Canadian program” which they take with them when they go on tour. David

Adams of the Saint John String Quartet remarks similarly about taking Canadian works with them when they go on tour, a practice which he feels makes them desirable as they have a distinct voice when in other countries. This policy of incorporating Canadian music makes it easier to get grant funding for travel, and creates interest in Canadian music and culture.

One common theme among the historical string quartets was working hard to create a national Canadian identity. The Hart House String Quartet was described by Hector

Charlesworth in 1927 as “[making] the whole country its field and … winning enthusiastic recognition clear across the United States,”321 and while the individual players were not

Canadian by birth, they worked hard both to promote both music education, and to act as musical

320 Robin Elliott, “The String Quartet in Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1990), 34.

321 Hector Charlesworth, ‘Hart House Quartet Grows in Beauty,’ Saturday Night, 29 Oct. 1927, 6-7.

116 emissaries at home and abroad.322 Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet remarks on this also saying, “We are always trying to incorporate Canadian music, even though we are not from Canada, we see ourselves as a Canadian ensemble.” 323

Several historical quartets came to Canada either by request to fill educational positions, act as section leaders within orchestral ensembles, or in order to fill other musical posts. Many were associated with orchestral ensembles, including the Czech String Quartet, recruited by

Boris Brott in 1969 as an effort to strengthen the string section of the Hamilton Philharmonic,324 and the Vághy String Quartet, which focused very intently on their responsibilities as hired section leaders of the Kingston Symphony Orchestra.325 Likewise, the Purcell Quartet, active from 1968-1991 formed the four principle players of the Vancouver Symphony orchestra.326

Several of the modern ensembles are affiliated with orchestral groups either as an acting

Quartet-in-Residence, or as members filling positions. All four musicians from the Emily Carr

String Quartet are members of the Victoria Symphony. The Saguenay String Quartet is comprised of the four core string players from the Saguenay Symphony Orchestra, and the Saint

John String Quartet forms the four principal string players from Symphony New Brunswick.

322 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan. Music education in Canada: A historical account. Univ of Toronto Pr, 1991, 134.

323 Machado Rufino, Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 23:57-24:24.

324 Koh, Min-Jeong. "The Proliferation of String Quartets in Canada 1991-2014." DMA thesis, University of Toronto, 2014, 37.

325 Clifford Ford and Robin Elliott. "Vághy String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published February 8, 2006.

326 Gooch, Bryan N.S., Nancy McGregor, and Max Wyman. "Purcell String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

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Several historical string quartets were also on faculty with educational institutions such as a university or conservatory. The Brunswick String Quartet, which was founded in 1970, was on faculty at the University of New Brunswick as their Quartet-in-Residence and performed and toured throughout Atlantic Canada. Although there were several iterations of the Conservatory

String Quartet and Academy String Quartet, all of them were associated with the Royal

Conservatory of Music (or Toronto Conservatory of Music as it was known from 1886 to 1947).

Although several quartet members from the emerging ensembles hold positions with universities, three of the established ensembles are Quartet-in-Residence at an institution. The Lafayette,

Penderecki and St. Lawrence String Quartets all perform and teach regularly for the university that they are affiliated with.

Teaching and educating at all age levels from school-aged to university students seemed important to a lot of historical string quartets in the early twentieth century, and at a time where travel was more difficult, they made engaging youth across Canada a priority. The Orford String

Quartet gave masterclasses and concerts for several music camps, but were most influential as artistic directors for the Kelso Music Camp which was held annually in Oakville, Ontario.327 The

Vághy String Quartet, successors to the Orford String Quartet at Kelso, also founded the

Chamber Music Institute in Kingston in 1978..328

Although all of the string quartets, both emerging and established, have had a chance to work as coaches, the Odin String Quartet recently had the opportunity to work with a young

327 Legge, Valerie J. One Quarter of the Orford String Quartet: Marcel Saint-Cyr. Calgary: Frontlist Pub., 2009. 328 Clifford Ford and Robin Elliott. "Vághy String Quartet." In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada, 1985—. Article published February 8, 2006.

118 chamber ensemble through a festival residency.329 Likewise, the Ton Beau String Quartet performs and teaches at the Belfountain Summer Music Festival, giving masterclasses during the day and presenting concerts at night.330

Presenting educational concerts, specifically for school-aged children, was a vocation which several historic string quartets took the initiative to do. The Brunswick String Quartet was heavily invested in educational outreach in the Maritimes. They gave hundreds of school concerts during their active years as a quartet.331 Likewise, the Purcell String Quartet put together several educational concert series every year in Vancouver, sometimes travelling to perform them.332 The Hart House String Quartet also felt that inspiring Canadian students was important and gave annual concert series specifically designed for high school students.333

The modern quartet who gives the most school shows is the Saint John String Quartet, who gives roughly fifty of them a year all across the province of New Brunswick, however the

Saguenay String Quartet, St. Lawrence String Quartet, Ton Beau String Quartet and the Odin

String quartet have all given several this year.

329 Toskov, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex Toskov from the Odin String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. May 22, 2018. 09:35-12:35.

330 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 26:55-27:41.

331 "Brunswick String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

332 Gooch, Bryan N.S., Nancy McGregor, and Max Wyman. "Purcell String Quartet." The Canadian Encyclopedia. N.p., 7 Feb. 2006. Web. 27 May 2016. .

333 Green, James Paul, and Nancy Fraser Vogan. Music education in Canada: A historical account. Univ of Toronto Pr, 1991, 134.

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The Dubois String Quartet was passionate about encouraging new listeners and made all concerts, from their 1928 year to their disbandment in 1938, free to any attending listener. By dropping the fee to attend, especially during a difficult financial time, they ensured that new listeners got a chance to hear live string music.334 The Ton Beau String Quartet presented several concerts free of charge for the faculty, students, and casual concert-goers at the University of

Toronto Art Centre.335 The Vaughan String Quartet also gave many free concerts in their first years as a quartet, after receiving funding from the Edmonton Arts Council.336

Most interesting are the programs that have been formed and nurtured by these groups, either with the support of a larger educational body, or as a passion project by the four members.

The Purcell String Quartet was involved in founding the Hornby Island Festival in 1980 and helped with developing the Courtenay Youth Music Camp as well, both of which are still thriving and expanding today.337 The Emily Carr String Quartet recently, in 2017, began the

Strings Mentorship Program as part of the “Music Inside Out” Concert Series, which selects a student performer to perform a masterwork with the string quartet at one of their concerts.338

Both Quartet Fest and Quartet Fest West came about because of the Penderecki String

Quartets and the Lafayette String Quartets. These two-week intensive chamber music programs,

334 Robin Elliott, “The String Quartet in Canada” (PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1990), 16.

335 McLeod, Alex. "String Quartet Interview: Alex McLeod from the Ton Beau String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. July 20, 2018. 37:04-37:28.

336 Machado Rufino. Vladimir. "String Quartet Interview: Vladimir Machado Rufino from the Vaughan String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 27, 2018. 33:04-33:54.

337 Cummings, Robert. "Purcell String Quartet." All Music. ComplexMusic, n.d. Web. 10 June 2016. .

338 Büyükcelen-Badel, Müge. "String Quartet Interview: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel from the Emily Carr String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. April 25, 2018. 10:30-11:06.

120 still running today, have been influential in supporting and providing opportunities for emerging ensembles. Likewise, the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s Emerging String Quartet Program, has been integral in helping emerging quartets to gain performance experience and hone their skills as presenters and educators. One collaborative project which was also begun by the St. Lawrence

String Quartet, in partnership with Stephen Prutsman, is The Azure Concert Series. Past participants include the Emily Carr String Quartet and Vaughan String Quartet, both of which have carried on these concerts in their home provinces. These concerts create a space for these quartets to perform for special needs children and their guardians, and has since turned into a global phenomenon with chapters in the United States, Canada, Europe and Asia.339

One thing that is apparent to me is the cycle of inspiration and influence that takes place between established quartets and the next generation of performers. Just as members of the

Orford String Quartet were inspired by the Hart House String Quartet, the established modern quartets were influenced by ensembles that came before them, and are in turn nurturing and teaching he next generation of string quartets in Canada.

In many ways these emerging quartets are mimicking and aspiring to be like the ensembles that came before them, following the same career path that led previous quartets to be successful. One of the ways that they are doing that is by working with a larger institution and building community connects which help foster concert attendance and provide them with teaching opportunities. All five established ensembles are Quartet-in-Residence with a university or an orchestra. These connections do two things, they offer financial stability and contracted work, but they also allow these ensembles to extend outward to intersect with the community first-hand. Unlike some performing quartets who travel giving performances as their main way

339 Robertson, Lesley. "String Quartet Interview: Lesley Robertson from the St. Lawrence String Quartet." Telephone interview by author. June 6, 2018. 59:23-59:47.

121 of subsisting, these quartets relish having a home base from which to run many projects that extend beyond giving classical concerts.

By preparing concert programs, giving masterclasses and providing opportunities for young quartets to work with them in a teacher-mentor environment, these established string quartets are ensuring that emerging ensembles are provided with experience and opportunity.

They are fostering the next generation of musicians.

Quartets, such as the Saguenay and Saint John String Quartet choose to focus most of their educational energy on interacting with school-age children. This helps to address a growing problem of a lack of opportunity for young kids to interact with live classical string music. While string quartets are not a fix for many of the problems inherent within the public school system, they do offer a unique opportunity for young children to see and interact with live classical string music. The portability of the string quartet means it can be enjoyed in any space, and can provide supplementary material to the typical school music program, perhaps inspiring new generations of players.

Ensembles like the St. Lawrence, the Lafayette, and Penderecki String Quartets choose to focus their energy on interactions with university-age players, or young professionals through programs established at their respective educational institutions. Lesley Robertson of the St.

Lawrence String Quartet states that their Emerging String Quartet Program at Stanford was created to provide new string ensembles with some of the experiences that the SLSQ had found most meaningful and beneficial when they were first starting out in their career. Likewise, the

Quartet Fest and Quartet Fest West programs seek to provide performance and mentorship opportunities to young groups in the hope of fostering the next generation of string quartets.

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In observing the differences and similarities between the historical and established string quartets in contrast to the emerging ensembles, I noticed a pattern to their success and longevity.

When seeking to become established as a chamber ensemble, working with positive mentors built necessary connections and offered them experience as a quartet. Three such programs currently offered are the St. Lawrence String Quartet’s Emerging String Quartet Program, the

Lafayette Graduate String Quartet Program at the University of Victoria, and the Chamber Music

Diploma from Wilfrid Laurier University. These courses can help to establish musical connections, encourage ensembles to learn how to set up educational programs and workshops and enable emerging string quartets to play in a variety of venues.

Collaborating with Canadian composers to commission work and taking those pieces with them when they travelled within Canada and nationally, helped these established ensembles to create a Canadian identity. They endeavored to play music that set them apart as an ensemble, finding new ways to showcase new music.

Another aspect which brought success to these established ensembles was becoming established within a community through a residency or faculty connection. Partnering with a larger institution like a conservatory, university or symphony orchestra allowed these quartets to extend outward from a home base. Touring, performing and dedicating time to teaching and special projects all becomes easier when there is a larger institution working to help further connections. Additionally, support from a school or orchestra provides a base salary to these ensembles making additional projects easier to pursue.

One final aspect connected with the longevity of these quartets is the passion with which they approach nurturing future generations of musicians, either through school shows, masterclasses or private teaching. By fostering the musical development of the next generation,

123 they experience growth as an ensemble, develop their audience, help to encourage new players and listeners, and ultimately find meaning as a quartet within the community.

All of these ensembles are striving to find ways to differentiate themselves as performers, and are working hard to find their own voice both as artists and teachers. I find it interesting that all of these string quartets, whether emerging or established, take on and fulfill so many diverse roles within their community, yet at no point would I purely categorize an ensemble as a group who only performs or only teaches. Even when considering an ensemble such as the Saint John

String Quartet, who gives over fifty school shows annually, or an ensemble such as the St.

Lawrence String Quartet who tours and performs roughly half of the calendar year, neither of these quartets have purely specialized in performance or teaching as their sole vocation.

It is in examining this idea that we find why a look at these quartets is so important and enlightening. Traditional classical performances are really just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to what these ensembles are accomplishing every year. All of these chamber groups are eager to embrace new performance projects, work with unconventional artists, program and premier newly commissioned works, perform for and teach marginalized peoples, and inspire other musicians through education and community engagement. By interacting with these new communities and audiences, these groups are helping to ensure their longevity and permanency as an ensemble, as well as helping to preserve interest and enthusiasm for classical music.

When first starting this project, one of the aspects I was most excited to explore was what these ensembles were doing beyond conventional classical music concerts in established venues.

I have heard first-hand about a plethora of fantastic concert programs and innovations ranging from recordings of Latin music, chamber jazz, entire concerts featuring music by female composers or Canadian compositions, house concerts, and classical concerts in unconventional

124 locations such as bars and coffee houses. The emerging and established quartets are both passionate about bringing classical music to unconventional venues, as well as incorporating non-classical music into their traditional concert series.

Additionally, I was interested in learning what these string quartets were doing to inspire and interact with their community and got a chance to hear about residency programs, school concerts, masterclasses, community events, comedic musical acts and TED talk-like forums where these ensembles could intersect with non-musicians and trained classical musicians alike.

All of these things feature live music at their core. In providing a focused look at the career profiles of these ten Canadian string quartets, five emerging and five established, I have uncovered their similarities and differences, as well as highlighting their unique passions and pursuits as a quartet.

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Interview Consent Form Career profiles of Ten Canadian String Quartets: Outreach and Educational Activities

Research investigator: Gwyneth Thomson

Research Participant’s name: ______

String Quartet name: ______

The interview will take approximately an hour. I don’t anticipate that there are any risks associated with your participation, but you have the right to stop the interview or withdraw from the research at any time. Thank you for agreeing to be interviewed as part of the above research project.

Ethical procedures for academic research undertaken from Canadian institutions recommends that interviewees explicitly agree to being interviewed and are aware of how the information contained in their interview will be used. This consent form is necessary to ensure that you understand the purpose of your involvement and that you agree to the conditions of your participation. Would you therefore read the accompanying information sheet and then sign this form to certify that you approve the following:

• the interview will be recorded and transcribed statements will be used in the process of this research

• the transcript of the interview will be analysed by Gwyneth Thomson as research investigator

• access to the interview transcript will be limited to Gwyneth Thomson and academic colleagues and advisors with whom she might collaborate as part of the research process through the University of Toronto

• the actual recording will be kept for the duration of research

• any variation of the conditions above will only occur with your further explicit approval. With regards to being quoted, please initial next to any of the statements that you agree with:

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I wish to review the notes, transcripts, or other data collected during the research pertaining to my participation. I agree to be quoted directly.

I agree to be quoted directly, but require myself and my quartet to remain anonymous. I agree that the researchers may publish documents that contain quotations by me.

By signing this form I agree that;

1. I am voluntarily taking part in this project. I understand that I don’t have to take part, and I can stop the interview at any time;

2. The transcribed interview or extracts from it may be used as described above;

3. I have read the Information sheet;

4. I don’t expect to receive any benefit or payment for my participation;

5. I have been able to ask any questions I might have, and I understand that I am free to contact the researcher with any questions I may have in the future.

Participant Signature ______

Researcher Signature

Date ______

SAMPLE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS (a tailored list was made for each interview) Biographical Info:

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1. How long have you been in this Quartet? 2. When was the Quartet formed? 3. Are you one of the original members? 4. Can you give me an outline of your regular touring and rehearsal schedule? 5. I know musicians often wear many hats; are there other rolls that you and members of your quartet fill regularly such as freelance work, or teaching or performing with other ensembles? 6. How many concerts would you say you give as a quartet every year?

School Shows: 1. How many outreach / school shows would you say you are involved in per year? 2. Where do these usually take place? 3. Are you compensated for school shows? What about the time you spend planning and programing? 4. How often are school shows and regular performances combined in terms of repertoire? 5. How far do you normally travel to give a school show? What is the furthest you have ever gone? Could you tell me a little about the trip? 6. What are some of the parameters you look for in selecting a town or school? 7. How far are you willing to travel? 8. What financial aspects must be covered for you to accept a job where travel is involved? 9. Do you regularly travel to more remote communities? How often? 10. What type of schools do you typically interact with? Public / Private 11. Who organizes the school shows you do in your home town? Are they set up through the same people who put together school shows in other cities? 12. What age range are the kids?

Format for School Shows: 1. Is there certain repertoire you use for school shows? 2. Do you have a standard format you use when performing in schools? How is your time organized if at all? 3. Do you incorporate other non-musical aspects such as a storyline or information about your job as a professional musician within a Quartet? 4. Do you ever use mixed media? Costumes? Props? 5. How much opportunity is there for one-on-one sessions with students in the school show? 6. Are kids allowed to touch, explore and ask questions? Could you give me some examples?

Teaching and Coaching: 1. Are you affiliated with a school, community, orchestra or university? Can you tell me a little about that connection and what it entails? 2. Do you coach students and chamber musicians regularly? 3. If you do any teaching, what age range do you usually work with? 4. Have you ever worked as a quartet with students or is it usually a one on one experience? 5. What kind of festivals or school affiliated programs have you worked with? Can you give me some more in-depth information about these interactions? 6. How regularly do you give masterclasses? Do you coach as a group or individually?

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7. Do you or other members of the quartet travel to adjudicate at festivals and competitions? 8. Was there a group or show that inspired you most when you were still in school?

Performances: 1. In your performance schedule do you often give shows where attendance is free? 2. Have you or your quartet ever organized these shows or is it usually put together by a third party? 3. Have you ever been involved with pop-up concerts or busking style shows? 4. Would your repertoire choices change when giving shows like these, and if so, can you give me an example? 5. Do these types of concerts specifically target low income areas, or places where classical music is not as often heard and enjoyed?

Organizations and Financials: 1. Who organizes these events? 2. (If an organization) Can you tell me a bit about your interactions with this organization? 3. How are you paid? 4. If you apply for grants can you tell me a little about it? Your experiences? 5. How often do you work with this organization or organizations like this one?

Lasting Results: 1. Do you feel these types of outreach projects are beneficial to you? 2. How do you think these types of educational projects help students? 3. What originally inspired you or your quartet to get involved with school shows? 4. Can you tell me a little bit about your first experiences teaching, coaching or giving a school show? What were the circumstances? 5. What impact do you feel you are having on these communities? 6. Do you see a big change in the audiences and demographics based on which cities you are in? 7. Are there any cities in particular that you have traveled to that you were more excited to work with? Why? 8. Do you feel this is merely a fun activity for school children, or do you think there are more lasting effects within the area such as reinvigorated interest in the musical community? 9. Are there aspects you feel are more successful or less successful than others? 10. Is there anything you feel could be changed regarding touring? Both in urban areas and rural towns? 11. What is your favorite part of these tours? 12. Are there any other interactions you can share with me regarding outreach your quartet performs? EMAIL CONTACT

Email contact – string quartet participation

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My name is Gwyneth Thomson, and I am a doctoral violin student at the University of Toronto. My thesis concerns the outreach and teaching activities of Canadian string quartets, and I am hoping to answer the question: What percentage of a string quartet’s career profile is dedicated to pursuits outside of typical concert performances. I am hoping to interview and include the in my list of emerging string quartets. I was wondering if you have a more extensive bio than the one featured on your website, as I would love to have a little more information about the quartet.

I am hoping to interview one member of the quartet, and get the other 3 to complete a small 10 question survey. Both of these activities can be done remotely if geographic location is a factor. String quartets are welcome to remain anonymous, or not based on personal preference. The questionnaire is short and will likely take no more than 20 minutes to fill out. The interview with one selected quartet member would be no longer than an hour.

Please let me know as soon as you can if this is something you are willing and able to participate in.

Thank you very much,

Gwyneth Thomson

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STRING QUARTET LIST OF COMMISSIONED WORKS (List of commissioned works is incomplete)

Lafayette SQ

Murray Adaskin Octet for Strings, “Fanfare for Eight Celebrities” (1993)

Murray Adaskin String Quintet for string quartet and double bass (1995) premiered 28/11/1996 at the concert “Murray Adaskin 90,” University of Victoria

Eugene Weigel Search for string quartet (1996)

R. Murray Schafer String Quartet No. 11 (2006)

David Jaffe Fox Hollow for string quartet (2013) premiered 8/11/2013 at Open Space in Victoria, B.C.

Kelly-Marie Murphy In a World of Motion and Distance for string quartet (2013) commissioned by the Pender Harbour Music Society

Airat Ichmouratov String Octet in G minor Op 56, “The Letter” (2018)

Penderecki SQ

Gilles Tremblay Croissant for string quartet (2001) commissioned by the Canada Council

John Mark Sherlock Lucinda for cymbalom, string quartet and glass gongs (2002) commissioned by the Canada Council

Peter Hatch String Quartet with electronics (2002) commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council

Alice Ho String Quartet No.2 (2003) commissioned by the Laidlaw Foundation

Piotr Grella-Mozejko String Quartet No. 3 “Secret Garden” (2004) commissioned by the Canada Council

Aidan Baker Zappa:Lifeforms for string quartet, electric guitar and metal works (2004) commissioned by the Canada Council

Daniel Janke New Work for string quartet (2004) commissioned by the Canada Council

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Law Wing-fai Wind Dance for strings, winds and piano (2004) commissioned by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council

Alice Ho Evolving Elements for marimba and string quartet (2005) commissioned by the Ontario Arts Council

Omar Daniel Annunciation for quartet and electronics (2005) funded by CBC, premiered 04/30/2005 at the Open Ears Festival, Kitchener ON

Laurie Radford Everything we see in the sky for string quartet and digital signal (2005) processing, funded by Canada Council. Premiered 10/15/2005 at the Perimeter Institute EinsteinFest, Waterloo Anthony Genge Prayer for Hydrogen for string quartet and video (2005) and Stefan Rose Funded by Perimeter Institute and Kitchener-Waterloo Record, premiered 10/15/2005 at the Perimeter Institute’s EinsteinFest

James Harley Soundskein for two spatialized string quartets (2006) premiered 05/10 and 11/2006 at the NUMUS-Perimeter- SoundaXis Music and Archictecture Festival

Jeff Ryan Sonata distorta for string quartet (2006) premiered at Music Toronto 03/15/2006) Jane Mallet Theatre for Kreutzer Sonata concert, funding by Music Toronto

Piotr Grella-Mozejko Transpaining for string quartet (2007) funded by Canada Council for the Arts

Veronika Krausas Tangled Hair for soprano, string quartet and video Video by Robert Drummond (2007)

Matthew Malsky Lacan for string quartet and live processing (2007) premiered at Clark University 02/09/2007

Jascha Narveson New Work for string quartet, accordion, harp and live electronics. (2007) premiered at “Weather-beaten” presented by NUMUS and Perimeter Institute, 02/23/2007 funded by NUMUS Concerts

Omar Daniel The Odyssey for string quartet, dance, and live electronics (2009) premiered at the Banff Centre Eric Harvie Theatre 11/28/2009 with Dancetheatre David Earle funded by Canada Council

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Alexina Louie The Raven for string quartet, narrator, and harp (2009) premiered at Luminato Festival in Toronto 05/4-6/2009 with Laurie Gemmel, harp and Tom Allen, narrator funded by Ottawa Chamber Music Festival

Kotoka Suzuki VESTIGIA for string quartet, dance, interactive video and NMR machine (2009) premiered at the Quantum to Cosmos Festival, Perimeter Institute, Waterloo ON 10/16/2009 funded by Canada Council for the Arts

Giorgio Magnanensi teatro dell’udito VI for string quartet, live video and electronics (2009) premiered at the Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, ON funded by Canada Council for the Arts.

David R. Scott String Quartet No.3 (2009) premiered at GroundSwell, Grammatte Theatre, Winnipeg 03/06/2009 funded by the Manitoba Arts Council

Ian Crutchley New Work for string quartet (2010). Premiered at the St. Cecilia Concerts, Halifax, NS 03/12/2010 funded by Mt. Alison University Research Grant

Glenn Buhr String Quartet No.4 (2010) premiered at the Women’s Musical Club of Toronto and Walter Hall, 03 25/2010 funded by Women’s Musical Club of Toronto

Jeffrey Holmes New Work for string quartet. (2011) premiered at Champman University, 02/22/2011 funded by Chapman Research Grant

Marc Sabat New work for string quartet/octet (2011) premiered at the Open Ears Festival, Kitchener, 04/29/2011

Eric Morin New work for string quartet and accordion (2011)

Michael Matthews String Quartet No.4 (2012) premiered at Quartetfest, Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Waterloo, June 2012

Norbert Palej String Quartet “de Profundis” (2012) premiered at Quartetfest, Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Waterloo, 06/2012

Carmen Braden The Raven for String Quartet (2013) premiered at Northern Arts and Culture Centre, Yellowknife, NWT 09/21/2013

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Peter Hatch Forest for Trees (2013) premiered at NUMUS, Maureen Forrester Hall, Waterloo, 11/2013

Linda Caitlin-Smith String Quartet No.6 (2013) premiered at NUMUS, Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Waterloo, 11/2013

Norbert Palej String Quartet “Four Quartets”. (2014) premier performance at Quartetfest, Maureen Forrester Recital Hall, Waterloo, 06/2014

Quinsin Nachoff Stars and Constellations: Scorpio for jazz trio and string quartet (2015) premiered at the Registry, Kitchener 05/29/2015 funded by the Canada Council

Diana McIntosh Gathering Four: Broadening Perspectives for string quartet (2015) premiered at the Registry Theatre, Kitchener 05/29/2015 funded by Manitoba Arts Council

Chan Ka Nin “Mountain Song” String Quartet No.5 (2015) premiered at the K-W Chamber Music Society 09/27/2015 funded by the Canada Council

Peter Hatch Once Upon a Time for string quartet and DJ (2015) premiered for NUMUS at Perimeter Institute 11/2015

Omar Daniel Regarding U.S. Patent 1,661,058 for string quartet, theremin, and electronic organ (2016) premiered for Open Ears Festival at the Perimeter Institute 05/2016 funded by the Canada Council.

D. Andrew Stewart Working song and the last dead leftover for string quartet and karlax digital instrument (2016) premiered for the Open Ears Festival 05/2016

David McIntyre A Play of Love Songs for string quartet (2016) premiered at Groundswell, Winnipeg 10/2016

Laurie Radford Reson for string quartet and electronics (2016) premiered at Groundswell, Winnipeg, 10/2016

Kelly Marie-Murphy Oblique Light for string quartet (2016) premiered at UNAM, Mexico City 10/2016

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Heather Schmidt Halo for string quartet and piano (2017) premiered at the FIMCA festival, Ribadeo, Spain 09/2017

Nicole Lizée Games People Play for string quartet, percussion quartet, and electronics (2018) premiered at the Open Ears Festival 05/31/ 2018 funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

Alice Ho The Monkiest King opera for chorus, soloists, string quartet and Chinese ensemble (2018) premiered May 2018 at the Toronto Centre for the Arts funded by the Ontario Arts Council

Christos Hatzis String Quartet No.4 “The Suffering” (2018) premiered for NUMUS 10/05/2018 Forrester Hall, Waterloo, ON funded by the Ontario Arts Council

Riccardo Piacentini Six fugitives for string quartet, piano, and soprano (2018) premiered for NUMUS 10/5/2018 Forrester Hall, Waterloo, ON.

Arlan Schultz new work for string quartet (2019)

Quinsin Nachoff new work for string quartet and jazz trio (2019) funded by the Canada Council for the Arts

Saint John SQ

Richard Gibson Changing Perspectives for String Quartet (1990)

Michael Miller Fantasia on Themes by Beethoven for string quartet (2004)

Martin Kutnowski Watercolours for ten fingers, arr by M. Kutnowski for string quartet (2008) premiered at Saint Thomas University in Fredericton, Canada 10/3/2008

Martin Kutnowski Five Argentinian Folk Pieces (2009) arr. By M. Kutnowski for String Quartet

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Saguenay SQ

Kelly Marie Murphy Another Little Piece of my Heart for string quartet (1999) commissioned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation for the Strings of the Future International String Quartet Festival

Other commissioned works not provided.

St. Lawrence SQ

Marjan Mozetich Lament in the Trampled Garden for String Quartet (1992) Commissioned by CBC for the 4th Banff International String Quartet Competition

Srul Irving Glick String Quartet No. 2 (1994) commissioned by Music Toronto

Osvaldo Golijov Tenebrae for String Quartet, Soprano and Clarinet (2002) commissioned by the Spoleto USA Music Festival and premiered at the Dock Theatre, Charleston SC on 06/01/2002

Ka Nin Chan String Quartet Number 4 (2005) written as a CBC commission for the St. Lawrence Quartet

John Adams String Quartet No. 1 (2007) commissioned by the Juilliard School

R. Murray Schafer Four-Forty concerto for quartet and Orchestra (2008) premiered by the Winnipeg Symphony Orchestra at the New Music Festival at the Centennial Concert Hall in Winnipeg

Elizabeth Raum Table at the Bushwakker (2008) premiered 10/02/2008 at the Rolston Recital Hall, Banff

David Bruce Gumboots for Clarinet and String Quartet (2008) commissioned by Carnegie Hall for Todd Palmer and the St. Lawrence String Quartet

Derek Charke String Quartet “Sepia Fragments” (2009) premiered at the Newfound Music Festival at Memorial University of Newfoundland

Brian Current Rounds for String Quartet (2009) co-commissioned to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the St.

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Lawrence String Quartet with the assistance of Stan Witkin (in honour of his 75th birthday) and Music Toronto in partnership with CBC Radio

Marcus Goddard Allaqi for String Quartet (2009)

Suzanne Hébert-Tremblay À tire-d'aile for String Quartet (2009)

Ezequiel Viñao Sirocco Dust String Quartet No. 2 (2009) commissioned by the Library of Congress in Washington D.C. and Stanford Lively Arts for the St. Lawrence String Quartet

John Adams Absolute Jest Concerto for String Quartet and Orchestra (2012) commissioned by the San Francisco Symphony

John Adams String Quartet No. 2 (2014)

Emily Carr SQ

List of commissioned works not provided.

Annex SQ

Sydney Bechet Egyptian Fantasy for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Juan Carlos Cobian Nostalgias for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing or the Roaring Twenties Project

Fred Fisher Blue is the Night for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Fred Fisher Dardanella for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing or the Roaring Twenties Project

Ernesto Lecuona Two Hearts that Pass in the Night for string quartet (2013) and Dame de tus Rosas transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

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Jelly Roll Morton The Crave for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Curtis Mosby In My Dreams for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Lew Pollack That’s a Plenty for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Paul Specht Static Strut for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Kurt Weill Comlainte de la Seine for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing for the Roaring Twenties Project

Kurt Weill Surabaya Johnny for string quartet (2013) transcribed and arranged by Hilario Duran and Andrew Downing or the Roaring Twenties Project

Gerardo Matos Rodriguez La Cumparsita (2019) and arr. Arturo Hernandez commissioned for the Latinoamericana Album

Gerardo Matos Rodriguez He Venido (2019) and arr. Arturo Hernandez commissioned for the Latinoamericana Album

Miguel Matamoros and Lagrimas Negras (2019) arr. Roberto Lopez and commissioned for the Latinoamericana Album Arturo Hernandez

Quirino Mendoza y Cortes Cielito Lindo (2019) arr. Arturo Hernandez commissioned for the Latinoamericana Album

Ton Beau SQ

William Rowson String Quartet (2014)

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Odin SQ

Samuel Bisson For Mor for string quartet (2016) premiered live in 09/2016

Samuel Bisson Epitaph for strong quartet and orchestra (2018) premiered live in concert 05/2018

Vaughan SQ

Joseph C. Lai String Quartet No.1 Op.11 "Bear Creek" (2018)

Davide Piero Runcini Suite Porpora for string quartet (2018)

Simone Boi Ten Variations on a Theme by Grieg for string quartet (2018)

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STRING QUARTET INTERVIEW TRANSCRIPTS

Emily Carr: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Emily Carr String Quartet SQ Member: Müge Büyükcelen-Badel Date of Interview: April 25th 2018 Length of Interview: 58:42 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-02:03 Chatting and hello 02:11-03:52 Rehearsal and Regular Touring: I am one of the founding members of the quartet. I am very very involved in teaching, I teach at the Conservatory as well as having my own private studio. I do chamber music coachings. This should not sound arrogant by any means, please don’t take it wrong, but I don’t teach for fun shall we say. I only take students who are serious. I am very busy as a person, and I have twins by the way, so they keep me busy too. I am very selective when it comes to my students, but I do teach around 10 hours a week. Some of my former students like Timmy and Nikki Chooi, Timmy especially studied with me for six years, and he’s one of them. Another student who is a concert master who is in Cologne now. I try to produce good players. 03:55-06:20 Programming Canadian Music: I take on many roles, both with the quartet and for myself. We are advocates of new music, especially Canadian music. I do a lot of solo Canadian works as a violinist, but the quartet is also quite involved with new music. From the Quartet’s perspective, we believe in supporting Canadian music. We take it on a project base, so we come up with projects mostly promoting Emily Carr, sort of our mandate, that’s why we picked the name, not only because we liked her work, but it represents West Coast, Victoria, art, a female figure, strong personality, Canadian. She has got quite a bit of material that composers can work with in terms of writings and paintings, all that stuff. There are poets out there who write about Emily Carr, so sometimes we work with them. We just did a premier this past November, a work by Jennifer Butler, a Vancouver based composer, where we had a poet who wrote something about Klee Wyck by Emily Carr, and so we paired that with Mary Newman’s music, a piece by her. We have done inspired works by her [Emily Carr] paintings, commissioned works by Jerard Miller, Jocelyn Morlock. We do a lot of commissioning, and we try to include that in our programs, in our main series. We combine it with more standard repertoire so we can reach out to new audiences. If you just put new music on a concert, people get scared.

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06:23-06:55 Aventa Ensemble: We also have another ensemble, based in Victoria. The three of us, myself the Violist and Cellist, we are the core members of that group. That group has actually done more hard-core new music. We only program new music with that ensemble. Not only Canadian, but worldwide. 06:59-09:47 Commissions and Funding: Funding is the tricky part. That’s why we try to come up with projects so that we can apply for grants through Canada Council, BC Arts Council, there is a CRD here. We have been doing ok with BC Arts mainly, but Canada Council is a lot tougher of course. We have received grants several times, but not every single time. The grant application has to be cohesive, it has to be worked out very clearly so it can be written out as a big project. If it doesn’t come across as being convincing, they don’t even look at it. They don’t even consider it. The last project, we got a little bit from BC Arts, but then it wasn’t enough so we had to fundraise privately, from donors and stuff. We have another project that we just put in a few weeks ago, so we will see how that works out. We do get a lot of approaches from composers, non-stop. We are kind of picky too with what music we play. The main reason why the quartet started, why the four of us got together and formed this ensemble was because we are orchestra musicians, all of us, and we loved doing chamber music, and we wanted to have control over what we wanted to play, play what we were interested in. All our program is done that way. We have endless bucket lists, and we just sit down and decide what we are going to put together. At the beginning we were just eating up stuff, saying “Oh I want to play this”, or “I want to play that” the first few years, building up a repertoire, but now we are a lot pickier. We try to have a theme over the year, cohesiveness is very important. 09:49-10:10 Regular Concerts: We give four of our own concerts [per year] that we put on. Two of those are the main series where we program more substantial works, and it’s a full length concert. 10:11-11:06 Music In The Morning: The other two are called “Music Inside Out” and it takes place on Saturday mornings. I don’t know if you are familiar with “In the Morning” in Vancouver, it’s Barry Schiffman and June Goldsmith who started it. It’s basically one work, mostly standard repertoire, and we have somebody, someone who talks about the work and composer, and we analyze the work, playing samples. Then we perform it in its entirety. It’s more of an educational thing. 12:09-14:13 It has been growing a lot, the venue has actually been a little bit of an issue. On Saturday mornings when it starts, around 10:00, we are a non-profit, but we have a board who puts up goodies and things like that, coffee and tea. We mingle at the beginning, everybody gathers and we talk. That takes around half an hour. 10:30 is the official time, but people always show up around 10:00 and stick around for an hour. The actual concert starts at 11. We have had at least 80 people, average 90-100, and it has been growing. It’s really picked up. It’s mostly retirees, but that’s our audience. We have a following of people who come to every single concert. That’s our membership, our regulars. That’s about

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80 people. Sometimes we do get young people, now that we have this educational component, I’m interested to see how many people we will have showing up. 11:00-12:09 Strings Mentorship Program: This year we just started a mentorship program. We select a talented student who joins us for one of the concerts, this type of concert, so on the 12th of May we will be doing the Schubert Cello Quintet with a student. 14:10-20:00 “The format for the Mentorship program is the same as Music in the Morning, but we are usually playing quintets rather than quartets. June Goldsmith who is a great supporter of the quartet and a friend of mine, wanted to start a concert series in Victoria. She approached us, and that was how it started. She was doing the narrating part at the beginning when we first started. Now we have Robert Holliston, head of the keyboard department at the conservatory, also a history teacher, he is phenomenal. He does the talking, but we come up with all the samples. We research together, then we come up with all the samples, stuff that we want to talk about, or the highlight of the work. We do try to pick music that is interesting, and which has something to offer to the audience in terms of what we talk about. We [the quartet] don’t do the talking, we just play, but we do rehearse together with Robert, and we give him the samples. At the beginning for about 15-20 minutes depending on the work, he talks about the composer and general information. Then he focuses in on the work, what was the purpose, how it was composed, what’s so unique, why we chose it. We don’t really go to deep into the form because it’s too theoretical, but we give them a general overview. We might play a little bit and then explore what is happening, then we might highlight any particular feature or compositional technique the composer uses. That takes about half an hour, then we play it all non-stop. We try to be done in around an hour. At the beginning, everybody does the research alone while we are deciding what we want to do, then when we start rehearsing we get together and sort of brainstorm all the information we collected. Then we start taking notes, and as we are rehearsing the work and playing, the features that we want to talk about often stand out on their own. We have been moving organically through time, we started with Haydn, then got into Beethoven, Mendelssohn, Tchaikovsky, another Mozart quintet with this student that joins us. We pick things that are meaty so there is lots to talk about. The last few years we have received a gaming grant through BC, you have to have a continuing series, which has been running for several years, in order to apply for it. Originally the board was funding it. Sometimes if we are short we just donate money back. We don’t know yet if we are getting another one this year, so much is on hold. We do have private donors and grants also, but we always have to be careful with all the money we spend. 20:01-20:48 Commissions: We have had this project for a long time, and we have applied to Canada Council repeatedly, over and over for a recording project, because we now have four commissions which we can put into a CD. Everything is cohesive because it’s all about Emily Carr, local composers, as a project it looks very good, but for some reason they didn’t want to fund it. I mean recording in a way, the

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industry is dead really, nobody buys recordings anymore, but it was a good project as a business card for the quartet, just to say “This is what we do” but at the moment that whole project is on hold. 20:50-22:51 Masterclasses and Coachings: We give several masterclasses through the conservatory. This year it hasn’t worked out yet because there were some faculty changes and a new head of the string department, so we could not work it out this year, but in the past the quartet has donated coachings for the conservatories collegium program, called Collegium for Advanced Students, they do a lot of masterclasses. I also give weekly coachings there because I am a private teacher there, I’m part of it, but the quartet is involved regularly, and we do regularly coach groups through the conservatory. Usually because there are so many groups, they will split us up, so there will be several halls, and we would have 3-4 groups per masterclass and two of us would be in one class, and two in the other. We exchange once in a while so we have the same two together always. That could be considered salaried work for me, but the other members were volunteers and donated their time, that was outreach for us. We were providing these coachings for free. The conservatory sets them up, but usually use me as an intermediary because I work there. I usually come with the project proposal to the string department, and of course they jumped on it. After that, it’s just a matter of working out the dates. 23:00-25:00 Health Arts Program: It is an organization based in Vancouver, and what they do is to send out professional groups and players to old folks homes. We do that regularly, mostly in the summer, May and June, and sometimes in November. These old folks homes, they put in an inquiry about having a concert. What we do is we put up a mini concert, about 45 minutes long, then they have their rooms, entertainment rooms, and we go there and perform. Between each selection, we talk about the piece we are going to perform, and they love it. We mostly use standard SQ repertoire, but because we tend to put new things in every concert, we also try to include something new. It wouldn’t be something big, like 20 minutes long, we have been very careful with the length of works that we have put in, but we do include new music. These would be fairly closely linked with what we do for a main concert, however sometimes with the main concert series we are a little more adventurous in our programing, Britten, Shostakovich, something like that, but we usually avoid playing those ones together. We might play one movement of Shostakovich, then pair it with Mozart or Haydn, Beethoven, something they are more familiar with, and also something that is easier to listen to. Usually we throw in some popular music as well, you know from gigs. Hungarian dances maybe, short crowd pleasers. 25:00-29:45 Canucks Autism Network: Just this past Sunday morning, we did for the first time, a concert for the Canucks Autism Network, that’s a free concert for network members, and this Vancouver-based society approached us because they wanted to get into the Victoria crowd, so we did a concert for them. We deliberately did a concert we called “Hop on a Plane” where we travelled around the world, played pieces

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from a lot of different countries. We still played some Haydn, Beethoven, Ravel, stuff like that, but we included 3 songs that were popular arrangements, one from Frozen, one from Moana and Pirates of the Caribbean. It was a huge hit with the kids. We were mindful of performing for the kids, we didn’t pick anything super long, all short selections of 2-3 minute movement selections because they are all over the place. They can be loud, and we were prepared for it, but they were all super nice, nobody had a big breakdown which was nice, none of that happened. We talked a lot in between the pieces telling them what they will hear, where we are going, what country. It was a beautiful day outside and we were expecting 80 people, but only 40 showed up because of the nice weather. The organizers told us though, with these families, if the weather is nice, they tend to go do things outdoors because the kids are affected heavily by the weather conditions a lot. I get it, I have kids, when things are nice out, you just want to be outside. June Goldsmith set that up for us, she is a very project driven lady, she’s in her 90’s and she is still putting all these things together. She reached out to us. You know the St. Lawrence SQ, I am very close with them, I studied a lot with them, and that was how I met June. One of their good friends Stephen, he’s a pianist, his son is autistic. That whole connection with the Autism Network started that way. She contacted me, and she said, “we would like to get into the Victoria scene a little bit. This concert this past weekend was a little bit of a trial concert. If it is successful, we will probably continue. The Network gave us an honorarium, although we had agreed on playing for free. They were very generous. 29:47-36:38 Concerts for Kids: The “Hop on a Plane” concerts that we programmed, we have done that before for schools as part of our outreach concerts, we have been thinking about re- vamping them and doing it again next year. We have gone to several schools as a quartet and put on slightly more sophisticated shows, the ages were different, these kids have a better attention span, therefore our repertoire was a bit different. It was more substantial program-wise. We talked about the composer, we had flags, then at the end of the concert we had a questionnaire and information about other concerts so they were a little more involved. There is always a dialogue with the students, if you don’t talk to the students, they zone out. Three of us are parents, one of our members does not have kids yet, but the rest of us we are all parents, and all our kids are school aged. We have a pretty good idea of what works and what doesn’t with kids. 12 years ago it was a complete unknown as to what we could expect with kids, but now we are a little bit more educated. It has been several years since we have ran one of these concerts, I would say maybe 4 seasons. The main theme of the whole thing was the trip around the world, but we usually go in chronological order too, paying attention to how music and the genre developed. We started with Haydn, the importance of him, what he did, then that brings us to Beethoven, and we talk about Beethoven and his life, then giving them a little bit of an idea of the composers and their role in classical music. After, we would bring it to North America, Canada and the states, what happened to music afterwards, we include a little bit of Jazz so they can see, that’s where it went. We also talk about

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dances, Tango and Ballet music. They get a general idea of genres too. I loved doing these in the past, and we have really just been too busy to do these concerts these past years, we have had a lot of things going on. Quartet is something we are devoted to, but it’s not our only thing. That makes it very tricky especially considering travel because we don’t have the flexibility of other quartets. We have Symphony, the other ensembles we are a part of, teaching, a lot of solo work, and children on top of that. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. We are hoping to find time for it this coming year. We worked these concerts out with the Symphony through their outreach program that they have, and being members of the symphony, they approach the players every year and if you have a set up group they prefer it, they don’t have to put people together, and that’s how we approached them. They connected us with the schools, and we took over afterwards. There were 4-6 a year when we were doing them, and as I said, we want to try and do some again this year, time permitting. You know, not every school has a budget for it, they have to make room for it. That’s the way it works apparently. I talked to our school, where my kids go, and I told them that this was something we do, and I was talking to the music teacher, they are the ones that initiate contact with ensembles regarding projects like that. He said they did not have the budget for that yet. The schools tend not to know who to contact unless there is a bigger sort of society like the symphony, something like that. They wouldn’t have come to us with an enquiry, they wouldn’t even consider that. 36:50-40:44 The Harmonic Orchestra: “We do concerts every year for amateurs and we give coachings. This is a regional orchestra, a symphony, and they are super eager and keen amateur players, they can play. They have, every year in May, they have a summer camp, a very intense one week program focusing on chamber music which is run like a workshop. Some of us have been asked to do coachings with them. Not as a quartet, but all our members are singularly involved. We get assigned to one group. Every year, the conductor, who was a former string quartet member, he looks at the program, and whatever he thinks is unique and necessary for the players to see, he asks us to play that concert one more time. In the past, we did Crumb’s Black Angels. We toured with it, but also we performed it there for them because it was so unique. We did the same thing with Korndorf, it had it’s own specific concert and I think it’s about 70 minutes long. It is an interesting visual experience, you sit across from one another, in a diamond shape, and there is chanting and it is very religious, super unique. It’s very long and it requires a different kind of set up. Again, some percussion instruments and chimes. We really like that kind of stuff. They hire us directly and we do several concerts for them that we get asked to do. 40:47-43:19 Touring: The biggest tour we did was a trip to Turkey about 10 years ago. We played two quartets by the leading Turkish composer called Saygun, and our CD has one of the pieces that we recorded. It was his anniversary year in Turkey, and they invited us to perform, so we went and gave two concerts, one in Istanbul and one in Ankara. Mainly here, we have been touring across the West Coast, and

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we have been in California several times to play, and we had a residency in Banff. Touring is challenging because of the Symphony so we don’t do too much, just the odd one. 44:10-46:30 Outreach and Lasting Aspirations: I think at the beginning, it might start as “these are the ideal people we have seen, and we are inspired to be one of them” it might start that way. But, once you start doing it then you get a sense of “ok, how can I reach and become something other.” We don’t copy what we saw, I mean you could, I think it’s inspiring no matter what, but also at the same time, to open up a new perspective. The first aspect is Education, but there is also audience building. There is always a recruitment, there has to be. Otherwise, you get stuck. The only way of recruiting is by doing outreach. People don’t go to you unless you go to them. They feel that “oh I can’t understand this music” or they don’t think that they are a fit for our concerts, but if we reach them and we make it accessible, then they will realize how interesting it is. 46:35-48:40 I truly believe that new music has to be talked about. You can’t expect someone, even an educated musician, to understand something abstract on their first listen, without knowing what it’s about. I’m not talking about teaching extensively note by note, I mean mentioning aspects of why. Same thing for the classical repertoire, there is always some sort of a story behind everything you play, and I personally like knowing what is happening in this guy’s life. Why did it end up like this? When we do concerts we always mention to people that it is important to play new music, and remind them that the standards that we play today were premiered and considered new at the time of their origin. Imagine yourself 200 years ago, you might be hearing a Beethoven quartet for the first time, and you would be completely outraged, you know “what the hell am I listening to?” and people walked out of them! We have to keep an open mind about this type of stuff.

49:00-53:47 Impact on the Community: “The very first image we wanted to create for ourselves was as a group that wanted to play contemporary music. We wanted to be edgy. We didn’t want to only stick to the classics and be, yet another quartet that plays the same stuff. We always try to keep our approach quite fresh, and of course within acceptable and convincing ways. I think the reason we are still interesting for the people that come to our concerts, first of all, we are very unique, but when you watch us, we come across as being very interesting. I move a lot, but Alistair does not move at all. People find that very interesting to look at. The group dynamic is so different, yet what comes out is so unified. The other thing is, we are approachable, and we program things that are interesting. And we are all four the original members, we have been together for 12 years, no personnel changes or anything. We program things we like to play, and every year when the time comes to program the next season, of course everyone comes up with a bunch of ideas, and every single time for every single concert we say “oh we have to be careful, we put too much difficult pieces and we have to reign ourselves in!”

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We constantly ask, can we do it? It’s an ambition and a hunger, oh I want to play that! In 2020 it’s Beethoven’s year, and we will be doing a cycle. It’s very personal and I convinced everyone that we should do it. I said, “In my lifetime, I want to play the whole thing. Every single Beethoven quartet. And if we don’t do it now, I’m not sure if I’ll have the chops to do it later”. They said, yes you’re right. Finally, the idea started to grow, and now we are committed. It’s this type of thing that excites us. And people know, they know we are excited about chamber music. 54:00-55:30 House Concerts: Yes, we do this once in a while, but most of the time, most of them are for people who come to our regular concerts. If we feel like we need a chance to play a piece one more time, or need an opportunity to rehearse one more time before an event somewhere else. Basically I just call them and ask “how about a house concert.” There is no money or anything like that, everyone brings a bottle of wine and we just play. Other than that, we haven’t done many fundraising concerts, those are usually just for the Symphony. For them, every year, we donate a house concert, but that’s for fundraising that they need. To help them, where we are all members, it just makes sense as a quartet to go in and play. It’s still an outreach for us, these concerts where you are meeting with new people, they end up coming to your concerts afterwards because you start a relationship. It works both ways. 55:32-56:50 chatting 56:55-58:35 Church Concerts: “From next year onward, we will be starting a tradition, a concert at a Catholic church here. One year they hired us to do it, the Seven Last Words of Christ, and it was really well attended, and so spiritual, the whole event. We enjoyed it very much, so we have decided that we will make it a regular annual thing. Next year we might add a few things, bits of chimes, atmospheric things. That will take place next season.

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Annex String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: The Annex String Quartet SQ Member: Yunior Lopez Date of Interview: June 24th 2018 Length of Interview: 34:38 Signed Ethics: yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-01:25 Chatting and hello 01:30-03:05 Bio and Rehearsing: First off, our quartet has been winding down a bit in terms of touring. Part of the reason is that, through the ten years that we have been together, and after the 5th year we started to slow down a little bit. We are all building our own families and things like that. So we are not touring at the moment per se. We play a small number of concerts here and there every year, but it is not anywhere as intense as it used to be. Back from 2010-2014 we had anywhere from 10-15-20 concerts just in the summer. That was sort of our biggest focus, during the summer, and we did do a lot of concerts during the year, our own concert series that we ran and then we played a lot [in other capacities]. 03:05-04:50 Early on, we had a partnership with the Aroma Espresso bar. At the time, there were only two of them in Toronto, on our last visit, there were 30 or something, but we used to play there regularly, mostly to build an audience, to come to our own music series that we did. There is a church on Bloor street called Bloor Street West Church and that’s basically it. From 2009-2014 there were anywhere from 20-50 concerts a year. 2015 to now is more like 4 or 5 a year. 05:12-11:44 Pop Up Concerts: Basically, it was early on in the life of our quartet, maybe even before we started running a lot of our own concerts. What we would do is, we would go and clear a room out on a regular basis, put up posters, hand them out in crowds. We would also go every Saturday to the St. Lawrence Market. Sometimes we got there as early as 4am to get a spot to play. We did that for maybe 1 or 2 years. I’m sure we missed a few Saturdays, but we were there very regularly. We would play gig music, but also music from upcoming concert projects and other classical music stuff. With that, we sort of built up a crowd, and they would then go to our concerts. Really, for a quartet, that was early one, it is difficult to get hired because there are a lot of quartets out there. The other issue is that venues are always looking for something unique. If everyone is playing a Mozart quartet [it sometimes turns into white noise.] We were really using all these opportunities to build an audience, and that really helped for our future concerts, where presenters, especially in Toronto they started hiring us, knowing that they could get an audience out. If there is a presenter in your local City, they are always looking for someone who plays regularly throughout the city. It always helps if they can see you at another

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location, another event. They are always trying to bring in outside people. We probably did anywhere from 5-6 concerts a year at that specific church. That was the one that we promoted ourselves at the most. It was pretty successful. Sometimes we just sightread stuff for the St. Lawrence Market or Aroma, and at that point, we were already shifting away from the purely classical concerts. The reason for that was that presenters were looking for something unique, basically I decided to step away from Classical and deal with some of the things that other quartets didn’t offer. That was a competitive decision, basically, if someone was already playing some classical quartet for a concert, we could offer something else. Maybe something that was jazz, rags, Latin stuff. We don’t ever do the arrangements, in fact, we always hired someone to do collaborative projects with us. The church encouraged a couple of jazz collaborations with the U of T jazz program and over time, we started pretty much working with a lot of big jazz names in town, big names in the Latin and Jazz world. Because there is so much opportunity, we have just moved away from doing only Classical concerts. 11:45-13:33 New Music: Basically, people were looking to present new works for private events, you know a festival or some small type of series, they would reach out to our quartet and say “we want this performance.” Friends colleagues whatever, and they sometimes also refer people back to us, we seemed to be the only ones willing to take on these pieces and learn them in a limited period of time, along with whatever else we were doing that season. We did end up doing a lot of Canadian works, whether they were past or living composers, and we [as a result] have developed a very broad repertoire list. 13:40-14:52 Midtown Music School: We were Quartet-in-Residence for a Toronto school called Midtown Music for a time, it’s been years now since we have been working there, but they probably still have our name on their website. None of us are actually there any more, little by little we started leaving for a variety of reasons, building a family, or finding other teaching engagements, life just took us away from it. Our first violin is living at the moment in the Ukraine, and our cellist was in Toronto up until this last year, but is now living in Thunder Bay. The second violinist is in Toronto, and I live in Las Vegas. So, none of us are actually teaching there anymore, I left around 2013 and I think our cellist was the last to leave that school, probably sometime in 2016. 14:55-16:32 School Shows: **none, but useful comments when I asked why not** You know, we didn’t really do a whole lot of school shows, I can’t recall really doing any partnering with a public school here in Toronto. [[Interviewer: Was there something in particular that deterred you from doing that? Maybe just that it was a little bit more work than you wanted to sign up for, or maybe not having the contact? Was there any particular reason that you never branched out that direction?]] That’s a great question. It’s hard for me to answer. I think at the time, we were so focused on performing, traveling, and developing music for ourselves, that we didn’t really explore that form of outreach. We have done outreach events, mostly to some of the music festivals

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that we would perform at, things like that, but it wasn’t something that was part of our season in a sense. 16:35-18:58 Outreach: (Roaring 20’s project) Every once in a while we would go to a festival where we were performing and teaching and outreach was a sort of component. For us, what we would use, our template if you will, was the string quartet and the compromise of having four people agree on something, how we would bring a piece of music to life. We also would sometimes talk about bridging gaps between different types of styles, and how we went about creating our own music. One of the projects that we did, especially after 2011-2013 were our own projects, so we would usually create a theme and then a project would emerge from out of it. One project we had that was very well received was called the “Roaring Twenties” project. Basically, we took music from the 1920’s and early 30’s which would have been big band or lounge band orchestras, reducing it down to a string quartet. That’s something that we did. It was costly, but worth it. It was very popular for teaching, especially for kids who might not really be interested in Mozart or Haydn or things like that. It made it possible to try other avenues when teaching a string instrument. That genre was one we utilized often when we did outreach events. 18:58-19:35 String Festivals: Two string festivals we used that approach at were ones like the Regina Summer Strings Camp and the Summer Stratford Music Festival. Those two would have been ones that we did several summers in a row. Stratford, was actually an official residency, so we played there on a yearly basis for around 4 or 5 years. 19:36-21:37 Regina Summer Strings Camp: The Regina festival is still running, it’s run by our second violinist now, even though we haven’t played there as a quartet in several years. The idea behind that festival is that we would teach chamber music, masterclasses, but we would also do little seminars and things for the kids, premiere our music, things like that, just to give them an understanding about how we ran things, how we pretty much use the Quartet as a tool to explore other musical possibilities. Mostly it was the four of us teaching together, I mean if one of us decided not to do it, or couldn’t they would just sit out, but usually the four of us had something to pitch in and elaborate on. It’s tricky because in a quartet you have the four and each person has their own opinion, sometimes we get angry, but we always participate. If a group is telling you everyone is always on the same page, they are lying. There will be disagreements, the reality is that everyone has their own opinion, and their own way of doing something, what they believe is a certain style, phrasing or whatever. You are never going to get the four, usually, to agree on something, not really. 21:42-24:06 Competitions / playing together: We found out early on that [people in the quartet do not always agree]. We did a competition for Carnegie Hall, and they were selecting three string quartets from throughout the world to study with the Kronos Quartet, do some concerts. We ended up being the only group in North America that was chosen, out of the

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three, the other two were from Europe, and we had days of rehearsals with all four members, but they were separate, they weren’t the four at the same time. The masterclasses were open to the public, one or two of those. The lesson that we had on a daily basis was that each member of the quartet were always contradicting each other, I don’t want to stay wasting time, but you know the Violist would have an idea of how he wanted, then the Cellist would say “don’t do that, do this” and it just kept repeating. Honestly, this is one of the main reasons that quartets fall apart, or have issues, just because people try to get their way in rehearsal. It depends on the people of the group and the dynamic, some people don’t care the direction something goes, other people are very picky, pretty much have to have it their way, and some people maybe just won’t compromise. It can be problematic. That’s just the nature of dealing with four people who are making up a group. I guess if it was 3 people it would be easier, like if you had a voting system. 24:08-26:52 Personal Projects: We were just in Toronto, and the reason we got together was because we had a project lined up, actually I have a list of projects that I had in mind. I tend to be the one that picks out all the projects and music and stuff like that. The others sort of follow along. Basically, I had a project that was supposed to be String Quartet with Singer, an all Cuban music project, and the singer is actually my aunt, and she is a well-known singer in Cuba who travels the world performing Boleros, that’s what she’s known for. That project came to be back in 2013/2014 just after we did the roaring 20’s project. We have been sitting on it pretty much since that time period, and we have been trying to work things out, and finally this past year we got funding to get it recording and performed, and a few months before we had to go to Toronto to do the whole thing, my aunt started showing her diva side. It might sound terrible, but we got into an argument on some logistics and I ended up pretty much firing her from the project. Ironically, according to my mom, her thought was that she probably didn’t want to take the project on, she’s already in her mid 60’s, and was probably a little intimidated by the project, some of the pieces she didn’t want to do, she wanted to replace them, and I wasn’t going to replace them. Eventually it fell through and I had to kind of skate over that project. There were other singers that we could have worked with, but we decided it was too short notice to work it back up, all the keys were chosen to fit her voice range, and we scrapped that for now and went on to another project I had. 26:53-28:10 It’s similar, it’s Latin-American music for String Quartet. Some are being written, commissioned, and others are featured songs from Cuba, Argentina, Panama and Mexico. It’s a really great project and we were able to record everything in one day, and we did 2 performances of it, in Toronto. That one, the record will probably come out some time in January, and the group will be performing it again in Las Vegas around January, we are still trying to book the dates and figure out everybody’s schedules. That’s the one that will be up next, and hopefully we will get to do some performances of it, next summer. Then we will have another project, that’s just kind of what we do, we try to build up

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some type of project, wrap it and present it and perform it a bit, then maybe move on to the next one. 28:15-34:38 Chatting and wrapping up

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Ton Beau String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: The Ton Beau String Quartet SQ Member: Alex McLeod Date of Interview: July 20th 2018 Length of Interview: 59:12 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-02:20 Chatting and hello 02:25-04:30 Rehearsal and Bio: Our approach to rehearsing and our schedule in general has changed a lot over the years. It really has changed every year it’s like a different thing, maybe I’ll start by talking about now then I’ll go backwards. So right now, we just finished our first season with our new violinist and we did three concerts in our own series that we planned, probably about a half dozen other things of various kinds that other people organized. Our own series is sort of what we plan our season around. We had the three concerts that we are in charge of in terms of repertoire, we decide what the pieces are going to be, and then we had a certain amount of repertoire that we can use for other things. If we are hired to do a lunch time concert somewhere, we have repertoire that’s ready to go as opposed to working on it for a series. We know we have a concert in our series we are working towards, so we try to work those in. It’s sort of a grounding thing for us. It’s what we pour our own creative energy into, so next season we get to play one of my bucket list pieces which is the second Schoenberg quartet, and since we get to make the decisions about what we are playing, we can plan things like that. 04:32-07:41 Pieces by Women: Last year, we did the three concerts, this year we are planning three concerts again, and we are trying to build some longer term projects into those ideas. One of the ideas we had was something focused on the music by female composers, partly inspired by the Cecilia Quartet who worked on a project and commissioned four pieces wanting to make recordings, but they never got a chance to make the recording. We are planning this a couple of years out right now, so for this year what it means is that we are going to be playing at least one work by a female composer on each concert, and the first concert will have two or three major works with only one, [other work] I think we are planning a Beethoven. It’s sort of spread throughout the whole season. The idea is that next year there will be more pieces by women composers and we will work towards a set that we can apply for grants to do recordings. It’s a loose idea right now, we are in the process of applying for a grant, so we may have to come up with a name for it, but it’s not something that we are using yet in our grant writing yet. I spoke to the former members of the Cecilia Quartet, I spoke to them all throughout their version of this project, and in the end it seemed more ambitious

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than the resources that they came prepared with, and higher profile, but when they started talking about representation of female composers and what it’s like being a female performer… I realized what an important issue it is, and what an opportunity it is. 09:25-12:25 Contemporary Canadian Music: In the early years of the program, we wanted to focus on two things, one of which was outreach projects or non-traditional formats, and concerts that were designed to bring music to an audience that wouldn’t normally come. The other was contemporary Canadian works. We worked with a lot of composers, and knew a lot of composers, and funny, it’s kind of hard to sort out how much that is about our artistic drive for those things, which I think is real, and how much is about our perception of that, where the opportunity is. We were starting our premier as a quartet relatively late in that three of us were already in our doctorates, and we were not in a position where we were doing residencies and things like that. We weren’t feeling like anybody would be necessarily paying a lot of attention to what we were doing, so we were looking for ways to make ourselves look attractive, ways to gain resources and support and find ourselves a little bit differently. Contemporary music was one of those things, and a way to sort of focus our work. There is an artistic side of things, wanting to do those new works, knowing the composers that want to have their works played, and there is the side of wanting to justify your existence. And I think, given that we had plans to work together, I think we have all had the experience of playing contemporary pieces in setting where you never actually learned them properly. If you are putting something together because a composer has their graduating recital happening, the notes will get played, but you may not come out with much of an understanding of the piece at the end. We hoped to not do that. 12:30-16:35 Commissions: “We did commission a piece from Bill Rowson that was commissioned through grants, and that was a plan that we worked out with him, It was a way for us to get a new piece, and for him to get paid, so we planned that a fair bit ahead of time. Most of the pieces that we have played are pieces that have already been written by someone that we knew. When we first started, we had a lot of friends who were in school with us, and who were generating music that they were looking for ways to get played, to be honest as a performer, you are also a little bit safer doing that because you can look at the piece and decide, you can look at what it is before you agree to play it. I have had people send me stuff and I don’t even know what to say. A lot of stuff gets written in that category [of out there music], I can see how you can do this physical thing, but I can’t see how it would sound good, or actually make sense. We have only commissioned the one piece, one of our aims for next season or the season after is to pursue that further. Right now we know a lot of young composers, and there are lots of them that have pieces that have been written but never performed, but performed but never learned to the point of really knowing it and getting to be expressive with it. We have had a couple of composers who have come to a reading of their piece and they say something like “oh, you’re playing all the notes!” and clearly they have had a different experience somewhere else. It

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makes sense that things are like that, if we were trying to make a living off of our performing, we would never be able to do it this way. We make our living from teaching, and we have no illusions about that, so we can say “oh, we are only going to learn this many pieces a year” or “we are going to do this much work” and do it the way we want to do it. 16:35-20:34 School Shows: We have done a couple [of school shows] but we have not done a run of getting a grant and going and doing a half dozen shows at a bunch of schools. We have done them through connections and people that we know, or schools that we are in contact with. When we were visiting the Banff Centre, our cellist’s mother teaches at a school, so we performed there. Three of us teach in the Sistema program in Toronto, so we have given concerts in those schools. The two violinists teach at the Jane and Finch chapter, and I teach at Parkdale. We probably give 8-10 school shows a year. We tend to design a program based on the music that we are playing already. In the early days of the quartet we did a lot more outreach programming. We got in the habit of developing programs with lots of extra musical content based on whatever music we happened to be playing. So we didn’t usually start with a non-musical idea and decide on the programming, we would say “hey, we are learning this Mozart piece and the Haydn piece, how do we put together a program that will bring those two ideas together?” So that’s what we tend to do in school programs. We take the pieces that we want to play and we find a way of presenting them and making them interesting. Over the years I think we have come to focus more on trying to focus our programs on things that help people listen to and understand the music, rather than things that are about something else and music is the vehicle for talking about something else. 20:34-27:42 We would [program Canadian works as part of those concerts] although we try to be judicious, length is challenging for young listeners, so it kind of depends on the piece. In general, they respond to the content quite openly. We have approached schools that have music programs, we did one at the Earl Haig Secondary School which had a very strong strings program where we came in and played. We coached them a little bit, and we have done it through a project that we do called the Silent Voices Project. That was a third party brought us in and helped present with the music, and that music is specifically related to the holocaust. We have done both paid gigs and pro-bono ones, what we have not done is pursued funding for school shows from an educational program. I know some quartets who do a lot more concerts will apply for a grant specifically for their education program and will market it to a bunch of schools. We have never done that, partly because we are busy and we make money from teaching. If we were 70% performing and 30% teaching and trying to fill that 30% with more performing, that would be much more appealing, but our schedules, depending on the member, are more like 60-90% teaching and 10-40% performing. The Sistema schedule particularly is four days a week, and I have to be there by about 2:45. It puts some restrictions on how much of that we are going to seek out. Personally I am somewhat skeptical of the value of it. I feel the two kinds of school shows that you can do, you are either enriching a

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program that has enough meat on the bones that they can understand what you are doing, they know how to listen, they know the instruments, they are going to listen to the music, or you are like exposing people to music for the first time. I don’t find that second one very inspiring or exciting personally. If I was going to say one big thing about how this has been for me, and I think for the quartet in general, in the early days when we started out, we were very idealistic about the idea of bringing music to new audiences and about building an audience for ourselves, finding and audience that wasn’t already going to concerts. Doing a lot of audience-building and reaching out to people who were not involved in classical music, and finding ways of making that happen. Over time I think we found that that was a lot more difficult than we expected, and that we were not particularly suited to that. So, when it comes to building audience and reaching out to people who are not naturally inclined to come to concerts, I personally am terrible at it. I don’t like talking to strangers, I don’t like going into a situation where somebody has no interest in what I’m doing and finding some way to convince them. I find that very energy intensive and not very rewarding. I wanted to like it, I wanted to try it, and I found myself thinking, “ok, we are going to go put up a thousand posters” and you know what, I don’t like doing that, I hate doing that. It’s not how I want to spend my time. So a lot of those things just didn’t end up happening. I have come to understand that it’s just not what I like or value about this kind of work. So, over time the quartet has come to focus more on what we put our effort on, in trying to find opportunities that are going to be artistically satisfying for us and that, in terms of other things, letting that be a bit more what comes to us. I would be a lot more excited about one masterclass with students who have musical training than I would be about a thousand school shows with people who are not prepared to listen, not that I find one of them is a better things to do than the other, just my comfort zone and my energy in versus satisfaction out. 27:43-33:50 Silent Voices Project: The person who runs the project, Zach Evans, was doing his PhD in music at York. He was procrastinating one day at the library, and he found this book which is apparently quite well known in the Jewish community called “I Never Saw Another Butterfly” and it’s a book of poems that were written by children in one of the concentration camps. It was published afterwards, translated into English, illustrations from kids from the camps were [paired alongside the poems] and published together as a book. It’s apparently fairly well-known. He said he was thinking about what he could do with that in terms of music, and he is and was a very active Suzuki teacher who knew a lot of young students. He thought, well what about getting these young students to write pieces inspired by these poems. So, Silent Voices, in the first concert I think there were 13 pieces, and now there are 14 pieces that have been written by young composers. Each piece is inspired by one of these poems that were written in the camps. Some of them are for trio, but most of them are for string quartet and we performed them a couple of times for Synagogues in Toronto, and eventually recorded them. He [Zach] invited us to a couple of places in Chicago to perform them, and in Nashville. The oldest composers would have been university

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students by the time we were playing these pieces. The youngest composer was nine, and the oldest at the time that we performed them was twenty. So they are mostly teenagers. There was a very big range of compositional material in terms of what was produced. The piece by the student who is now in university was quite impressive. At a performance of the show, we usually do it with a Rabbi there, and they have someone to read the poems and then someone to give an address, someone who has a connection to the Holocaust. The first couple of shows there was a presenter whose mother was a survivor and talking about her story, and at the show we did in Nashville, it was a mentor of Zach’s there who spoke a little more broadly about the experience of people who go through these things. At the concert in Chicago, I think he himself had been a child in one of the camps. There was always someone who had a direct connection to the Holocaust themselves, and then readings of the poems. That’s the genesis of the project, that’s the idea, and also the pieces don’t really hold up. It’s a little weird talking about the Holocaust then playing these dorky little pieces by kids, most of them are in major keys. We have done a couple of school shows with that, and [when we did that] we had kids prepared to read the poems. I don’t think Zach had any public grant money, but I think there was some private support and things like that. The last couple of shows I think there were some donations made, there was some funding from the Violins of Hope project when we went to Nashville. 33:50-39:02 Masterclasses: We did, in the early years of the quartet, we did a program at Laurier that they had designed for the Cecilia Quartet which was modified for us, sort of a young artist mentorship program. As part of that, they invited us to give a masterclass for some of the chamber music students. The Belfountain Festival, that’s the festival that Zach started, the same guy who did the Silent Voices project, and now I’m the director of that. We don’t do a ton of masterclasses during the year, but only because we are given limited offers. We have only done a half dozen, but we love doing them, they are so much fun. We give them together as a quartet. The St. Lawrence does the same thing, if they are all available.” [[Interviewer: You and the St. Lawrence SQ have very different ideas about outreach and what you value the most.]] “I think to some degree, that speaks to opportunity. For them, to give a masterclass, they are invited to give masterclasses fairly frequently, if they want to give one, they can set them up, they have an institute where they give them in the summer, it’s not something that is difficult for them to get a chance to do. For us, and for me, that represents the work that I would love to do, which is higher level teaching which I hoped to do when I was doing my doctorate. When I get to do [that kind of work] I really value it. One of the reasons that we got started as a quartet was I started running a concert series at the University of Toronto Arts Centre. They were interested in having someone give concerts there, so we did 4 or 5 a year. We would design a concert that suits that kind of exhibition. Those are a lot of fun. I really enjoy designing the concerts and writing the shows. There was no money for that though, it was a zero money thing. That was like, we were in school there, we play the concerts for free, we did the advertising. It was

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suggested to us by Annalee Patipatanakoon that we explore some outreach things on campus, and it was something that I put some effort into in the first years of my degree because I thought “well here is this massive university, and if we could get university students interested in classical music, they would go off into life and listen to it, and there are a lot of people, so it should be possible to develop an audience within the university.” I didn’t have very much success with that, but it was a good idea to try. 39:02-41:39 Bellfountain Music Festival: I took over last year, and it’s in Belfountain which is about an hour outside of Toronto, northwest of Brampton. The festival was inspired by this little church there. It runs usually for 9 days, one weekend and the week after. Concerts every evening, and masterclasses and student events during the day. I took over when Zach moved to Nashville, he needed somebody to take over. He reached out to me, and I said “sure, I’ll give it a try.” So last year, he had basically planned the whole thing, and I was there to execute it. This year, I did the programming, and planned the whole shebang in co-operation with the local community there. We have someone who does poster design for us, they do a lot of the leg work there. When I took over, there was already a lot of funding in place, a lot of the businesses there support it, and this year I changed the scheduling a little bit, it’s happening only on the weekends this year, trying to find some ways to capitalize on foot traffic. It’s been artistically and financially better on the weekends, participation during the week has been very low. Usually under 20 people per concert. If you can’t get people into the concert, what is the point of giving it. We are trying to find ways to reach out, to bring in foot-traffic, find ways to bring in new audiences. 41:40-44:09 Personal Projects: Our plans for this year is a series of 3 concerts, before each will be an outreach concert through our connection with Sistema we are doing one at each of the centres and I think we are hopefully planning to do one at the Sarv Music Academy in Toronto, which is a program that does both western classical music and Iranian music, pop and classical. We are planning to do for each concert, at least one little pre-concert presentation at different schools. They are all students who take music lessons. This means we can be a little more free in what we present. I don’t think we’ll play much Schoenberg for that, but there will be things from each show that we can pull out, examples. We will likely try to find a tie-in for the Sistema ones to social aspects, which is their big mandate. Most of those themes are pretty easy you know, teamwork, respect, you can talk about how the quartet works together. 44:15-46:13 Inspiration: Yeah. I had quit the viola, and I was bumming around in the summer, this was the summer before grade 13. My mother is a musician, and somebody knew her, Anne Valentine, who ran this program in Oakville called SOCMI, Summer Oakville Chamber Music Institute, and they were looking for a viola, and they called my mom and invited me to come to this camp for free for 2 weeks. I hadn’t been playing, I was all mopey, and my mom made me go to this camp. I had a blast. It was my first experience of chamber music, my first experience

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with other musicians my own age who were really into it. I had done youth orchestra, but this was more intensive, a lot of gossip. People were really excited about music. Then, the St. Lawrence Quartet was there, and they totally blew me away, their energy and passion. Working on music really intensively, having music become a really intellectual thing. I had taken music lessons since I was a kid and had never really thought about why I liked it, or whether I liked it. The challenge of it, that was it for me. 46:15-51:14 When we put something like “we want to inspire younger players” in our bio, really that is important. It’s paying it forward. Anyone who has become a musician has had some kind of experience like that where somebody just blew their mind, and showed them that music could be about something more, or open some new realm of possibility for playing when you think about it. For our quartet, the non-traditional the educational and the outreach work is a little bit of all of those things. How do we take these ideas and pass them on to other people, and what are we doing to help the music community sustain itself. Sometimes it’s asking “where is the work” or “what are the things that need to be done? 51:30-59:12 Chatting and wrapping up

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Odin String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: The Odin String Quartet SQ Member: Alex Toskov Date of Interview: May 22nd 2018 Length of Interview: 40:28 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-01:08 Chatting and hello 01:09-05:33 Bio and Regular concerts: We have been together since early 2015, so that would be about 3 and a half years at this point. We still have all our original members. The quartet hasn’t toured much. We have done some concerts out of town, but we haven’t really gone on any major tours. Rehearsal schedule-wise, we rehearse 2-3 nights a week. I would say that we do 3 performances per month. When it comes to teaching, we all have some teaching going on, private teaching for the most part. Some teach more than the others. I teach privately, I have 8 students. I do lots of different freelance work throughout the year, I’m not even sure where to start. One of my main things is playing in a chamber orchestra, and pick up orchestras, also lots of recording work and videos and just freelance gigs. My teaching is a part of United Church Canada program for the music school. 05:40-07:55 School Shows: We don’t do many school shows at this point, it’s something that is in development. I would say we are doing one per year so far, not that many. We basically gave an introduction to instruments, it was part of my music school program. We just explained what the cello is about, the viola, we tried to differentiate instruments a little bit, then also we played pieces of music that kids might understand or recognize, we tried to make it interactive. We had a Q&A after and kids came and plucked instruments a little, very basic situation of them being exposed to instruments that they might not have seen before, or played before. That’s pretty much it. There was a PowerPoint presentation, which I’m very proud of, so there was certain planning involved. We prepared the concept of discussing our instruments, but there was a bit of open interpretation, I feel we could have had more script and even more music. I felt that a [scripted] half hour was enough but we probably could have had more lines prepared explaining what’s going on. The total running time was an hour. 07:56-08:39 That was a free outreach concert, we were not paid. It took place in North York at the United Church. We played some familiar things, as in classical music familiar, Eine Kleine, Beethoven’s 5th Symphony, trying to go to the basics. We did play a little bit of film music, a bit of Disney, we didn’t necessarily go all the way to pop or rock because kids might not really know. 08:40-9:30 Masterclasses:

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We have given a masterclass, this year in February we did one at Earl Haig Secondary School. We got an invitation to do that, and it was tons of fun, so we 12:40-15:19 are invited to do that again at some point in early June. That was this year, we did work with kids also in 2015, in the summer. We had only one group at Earl Haig, it was a string quartet. They had prepared the second movement of the Ravel String Quartet, which we [as a quartet] had just played extensively throughout last year. It was convenient because we knew the piece so well, and we found so many discrepancies between our parts which was kind of strange journey. We spent a lot of time trying to fix those discrepancies, you know those French scores for some reason [are a little hit and miss]. So we listened to them, then we gave them some initial comments, very quickly, and then we worked one-on-one, basically each member of the quartet in claustrophobic small rooms at the school. We got a chance to work on individual stuff, they even played a little bit of their rep for us, just to get familiar with each other. We spent about an hour one-on-one, then returned for another hour giving a masterclass to them in front of their colleagues, and tried to motivate them to play better, find solutions, we joined the quartet a little trying to see who leads, which parts can we hear better or not well enough. It’s a very complex piece, so it definitely requires a lot of work. That was set up by the Earl Haig Secondary School and their music teacher, one of the strings teachers. That one we were 9:35-12:35 paid for. They shipped a school orchestra to this retreat, and we worked with the students, then performed a little bit, we had a good experience with that. The orchestra came to the retreat where we had our quartet residency, and we spent a good 5 hours together, and we worked as a group trying to give them certain advice. At first, it was together as a quartet, but then we also got a chance to do a little one-on-one, or by section or whatever was available to us for a short time. So, it was pretty active, a few hours with the kids. In the end, we joined them and played all together. It was set up by the RCM in co-operation with the former Afiara Quartet. That engagement was not paid. 15:19-18:42 Canadian Compositions: It was a coincidence, knowing Sam and I liked his playing, We had a chance to perform together and it turned out that he also composes. He threw a few pieces at us at the very beginning saying, “hey I wrote this back in 2006, let’s see how it goes, how it sounds.” He sent us the recordings back in the day, and we thoroughly enjoyed those pieces, and found them pleasurable to play, so we played those two pieces alongside a new one that emerged throughout the years. He was infamous for writing original music for weddings for his family members, including his own, so we turned those into concert pieces. The one we played at the Haliconian Hall a few weeks ago was written for his brother’s wedding. In the meantime, he composed another piece which we just premiered with the York Orchestra which was a lot of fun to play and a huge undertaking for him as a composer as well. The scoring for a symphony orchestra plus string quartet is something that is not very common. There was of course a Murray Schafer piece that you might know for String Quartet and Symphony Orchestra which is also phenomenal which I performed in 2010 with the Cecilia Quartet.

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So we get a chance to play a lot of his stuff. He does arrangements, he gets a bit of credit for that as well, but other than that, we definitely try to play Canadian pieces, partially because we have a lot of friends who are composer, partly because we think it’s relevant, partially because we all like music of this time period which has been composed. Currently we are working on a piece by Ronald Royer, and we are playing that on June 1st for the first time, it’s his first String Quartet, it’s about 10 minutes long, and we are having a great time with that piece. We still have a lot of pieces to read, Canadian composers. 18:45-23:32 Traveling and Unconventional Concerts: We haven’t done any touring as a quartet, but we do travel a fair bit around the GTA. We played in a lot of places in the GTA and in Ontario and we have done quite a few performances in Ottawa. For now, we are sticking around the GTA. We have done many concerts that are outside of traditional concert halls. We started out by doing house concerts. We play at people’s houses who have never hosted a group. And we have also played in front of a monastery in King City, that was something special. We had this massive choir that we accompanied, that was a very different experience, you might say. We have played in parks, open spaces, the great thing about String Quartet is that it’s anywhere. Regarding the house concerts, for the most part we do it ourselves, we would get an invitation from a particular customer or client or friend saying “listen, I would like to put a concert together, I will have friends over, we will do a dinner, then a quartet performance, an hour long, an hour and a half. We fine tune those details. We try to offer if we see a nice living room we say “hey, maybe you would like to get a string quartet in here. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t work, it’s been quite beneficial to us to run through a piece. Also, we get an indication, we can talk to people about whether something was too much for them, too little, whether they can make it through a 20th century piece more easily than an 18th century piece. We got to do quite a bit of research with these concerts. The people that host them might have a bit of say in what we play, sometimes they give us carte blanche, and we just play whatever we want, but after the performance we would discuss with the audience and ask them all those questions about it, get really nice feedback. That’s the great advantage of house concerts versus conventional concerts where you don’t necessarily get to check in with the audience as much. Sometimes the organizer asks us to play a specific piece, we have been commissioned to do Beethoven Op. 131 next year for a gentleman’s 70th birthday, he particularly wanted to hear that piece. 23:40-25:13 Funding and Grants: This is unfortunately not something that we have done so far. Samuel just completed his first grant, so that’s for his first piece with orchestra, that’s exciting. We would hopefully get a chance to record in a studio with the orchestra, so we definitely plan on doing that in the future. We are mostly focusing on the recording grants and possibly touring grants, they are just amazing, you basically organize a tour, concerts and then you get a grant for travel, then basically organizers only have to cover your concert fees, so that sounds like a good plan. There are all these stories where people get grants

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posthumously, so they come back from the tour and they still get the money, so there are different ways to apply. 25:14-27:31 Recording: We don’t have an album of our own. We do specialize in horror movies because we have done 3 horror movies so far. It’s really something else, it’s a completely different style of playing, and it’s really spooky and crazy. I’m really glad we did, overseas actually, in Barcelona, we were provided music and we just put it together. Previously, we have done a Canadian short, also horror, and then after that we did a thriller horror, also Canadian film. That’s our specialty at this point, but we do record for pop artists as well, jazz artists, and we have a recording coming up this Wednesday. We try to be very active on social media, Facebook, Instagram, and a little bit of Twitter. We try to post videos on YouTube from time to time, videos we think should be there for a long time, and Instagram for short term concert promotion. 27:35-30:58 Lasting Impressions: Yes, I do feel that concerts outside of conventional classical music venues are beneficial to us as a quartet. I think every concert is beneficial, whether it’s good or bad, whether it’s rain or shine, whatever. As I said, the beautiful thing about quartet is that you can really fit it in many different places. In regards to non-conventional concert halls, we have a small term plan to establish a monthly residency at a bar, just to perform, try to get people other than the 65+ crowd to concerts. Beneficial in terms of trying to educate and bring new audiences to concerts, incentive number one. Number two, playing in schools, trying to get kids at least somewhat involved in a remote anything, classical existence and the overall experience of playing in an unusual place, and reaching out to people who, again, might not have this chance. It’s almost like some sort of a gift. 31:00-32:55 Inspiration: I never heard anyone who inspired me when I was younger to be interested in string quartet. My situation was quite different as I grew up in a musical family, I didn’t necessarily need it. Even though I had inspiration I got it elsewhere. I would say that it’s been lonely. I am one of three people who went to music school [from my city]. When I was in Elementary school, it was surprising how little kids knew about classical music in general. It seemed to them like some sort of alien race, and also I had to miss school a lot because of lessons and competitions, God knows what else, preparation. I even remember kids not being comfortable with me missing so much school because I was doing something else that was very important to me. Anyway, in terms of outreach, willingness to share and educate, it’s as simple as that. We don’t necessarily expect these kids to come to our concerts, but that also might be the case if they happen to remember the name, they tell their parents, who knows maybe they will bring them, who knows. Again, I have mixed feelings about kids attending concerts in general, certain age to which they should be, or should not be brought to the concert venue, that’s maybe another topic. 32:55-34:30 Building a Community:

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Well, I don’t necessarily feel like we are building a community because it’s often a different part of town. You can not necessarily build a community through school shows, unless I’m missing something. Maybe you can build a community by performing in a part of town, trying to make a group string quartet, or an Annex string quartet, but when it comes to school shows, you could be developing a community that’s already there. So, maybe trying to create recognition, “oh, these guys played here last year, they are here again this year.” Maybe a yearly residency at a particular school. I do believe that there is a way to create an amazing show, and make it interdisciplinary by mixing maybe some dancing, acting, music, painting. That’s something that’s been on my mind and is in development right now. 34:30-35:55 You never know what a piece of music, what will leave an impression. Even ourselves, as classical musicians, you never know, you hear a piece, then 10 years later you hear the same piece, are you still a fan of it? That has happened to me many times. I don’t expect to change their lives with one performance, but as you know, even if one kid gets inspired to take on a musical instrument, that could be considered a success. Even if that one hour is just time for them to relax and listen to something beautiful that we argue is worth listening to, then we should be happy about that achievement. 36:00-40:30 Chatting

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Vaughan String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Vaughan String Quartet SQ Member: Vladimir Machado Rufino Date of Interview: April 27th 2018 Length of Interview: 38:15 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-01:16 Chatting and hello 01:15-03:15 School Shows: Yes we give school shows, actually in our first year, we had a project that was called “Music in Schools”. Basically what we do is alternate between schools, retirement homes, and hospitals. When we are preparing a concert, we usually run this program once or twice in these venues. In the first year we concentrated a lot in public libraries and schools. At first, especially for schools, we had this idea of not trying to put too complicated repertoire for the kids, but then we realized that, they understand complex music, even if they don’t understand fully the little nuances of the music, they still really enjoy it. We performed one time the Shostakovich number 8 for them, and they love it the most. It is a very dense quartet, very sad in most parts, but they love it, it’s just unbelievable. Then we did a concert for terminal patients one time, and that one we focused more on light music. Depending on the venue, especially hospitals, we do change the program. For school kids, especially the little ones, they enjoy everything. 03:16-05:12 We have never used props, but we do explain the music to them. We are one couple from Brazil and one couple from Italy, and we try to at every concert, even the outreach concerts, for everyone to talk a little bit about the pieces and interact with everyone that is involved, ask questions, especially in schools. For example, if we were talking about Brazilian music, we ask “does anyone know where Brazil is?” and all the kids got very excited over that. Sometimes we invite them on stage to participate and even to conduct the quartet a little bit. We don’t really use any games with them, our concerts are just that, we play through as a concert. We do talk about fugue sometimes. For example, we try to get them to figure out who has the theme, and ask them how many times this theme re-appears. They are counting to see if they realize. 05:15-08:32 We are now in the 5th year of being together as a quartet. In the first two years we did a lot of school shows. After that, we concentrated more on libraries, then after that we did hospitals and senior homes. Now we have a project that we are waiting to hear from the city if we have funding, but the project is to have 10 outreach concerts and we perform at schools, hospitals and seniors centres, to bring music where normally it doesn’t go. All of our outreach programs are free, we never had any funding at the beginning. To us, this isn’t a promotion of the quartet, it’s an opportunity for them, but also for us, to prepare music before

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a concert. We never received any funding for that specific thing. This year is the first time we applied for funding, mostly to cover travel expenses. For the outreach programs, we had never applied for any grants. When setting these concerts up, first we submit to the Edmonton Arts Council the project, but the concerts are set up, we go directly to the senior centres or the schools. The 10 concerts that we are waiting to hear back about, those are all projects that we developed, we came up with the idea, and for these we asked for funding from the Edmonton Arts Council. We had to come up with the idea to come up with funding. Of course, the Edmonton Arts Council is a great supporter of our quartet. In the past, they have supported concert series, and our CD, but all these projects start as an idea from the quartet. 08:30-08:52 We will travel a little with that project, mostly in the Edmonton area, surrounding area. Not so far, we won’t be leaving Alberta. 08:55-11:47 Azure Concert Series: As a quartet, we were at Stanford University as the string quartet Seminar last year. We played in the Azure concert series, those are for kids with Autism. We participated with that as well. My wife and I, we played for the University of Alberta, they have a program for the students to play in retirement homes, and we have done that as well. It’s through the university, and they contact the students to play. I’m not sure if they are still running those. They had 3 quartets who played for the Azure concert series, so each one had their own ideas and such. For us, we were playing two pieces that were very lively, two dances. One was a waltz, and the other one a tarantella. We had the kids come up to the stage to dance while we were playing. That was the interaction we had. Of course, after the concert, we stayed there, and they wanted to touch the instruments, to try to play a little bit as well. During the concert, parents and caregivers were told, don’t worry about if you kid gets loud. We were all advised on that. The kids might get loud, someone might start yelling or running into the stage, so we just said at the start, anyone is welcome to walk on stage, come on over. The parents didn’t get so concerned about it, and the kids are free to express themselves. 11:47-13:00 I teach privately at the Alberta College, the conservatory of music, it’s part of the MacEwan University. I teach there, and I also play with the Edmonton Symphony, more a casual player. I also play with the Red Deer Symphony from time to time as well. 13:02-15:00 Bio and Typical Concert Season: It’s a bit of a mix, I finished my doctorate last September, and my wife is finishing hers in the fall. So with the quartet, this last season, we didn’t really have a season set up because we needed to finish. This past year we had to reduce a lot of our activities. With the Symphony it’s sort of month to month. There are some months where I have many concerts, and some where I don’t have any. With students, we all have regular students every week, I think that’s the only steady thing we have week to week, everything else is moving around constantly. I would say, most of my time is performing. Last year I had 20 something students, but this year I am reduced to 9. 17:21-18:09

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I would say it depends season to season, but I think we give on average 20 concerts per year. We do a lot of collaborations with other groups in town, we always love working with other artists, other quartets. Viola quintets, cello quintets ect. 15:05-16:28 Open Rehearsals: We do a lot of open rehearsals, we used to do one every month but as I said, this last year has been tricky for time spent on these projects. From time to time, we open our rehearsals for anyone that wants to come for one hour. They come to our house, and we rehearse with them there, we do a normal rehearsal for about an hour, then anyone who has any questions, they are free to come ask anything. People love going to concerts, but they don’t know the interaction we have beforehand, how we interpret a phrase, how we fight during rehearsals. For an audience, it’s very nice to feel connected to the group. 16:28-17:21 Benefit Concerts: We did, our first season, we got a big grant from the Edmonton Arts Council and, in fact, all the concerts were free the whole year. Anyone who wanted to come was free to come. A few years ago after the Paris attack, we did a concert with music dedicated to the victims of the attack. It was very emotional because, as you probably know, a lot of them had connections to friends. It was a very interesting concert to perform. 18:09-19:55 Travel and touring: With the quartet, we have travelled to New York, in 2015 I believe, we did this concert with an accordionist and pianist, a tango, in New York. Then, in 2016 we did concerts in France and Italy. I think also that year we went to Los Angeles to do concerts there as well. Of course, we travel around Alberta quite a lot, Calgary and small cities nearby. Funding can be tricky, the New York trip was funded by the Edmonton Arts Council, the European trip, we had funding from the festival in France, and we also relied on ticket sales in Italy. For Los Angeles, it was all through us, we organized things while we were there, through the university. I did my master’s there, so I had some connections and we did big concerts and house concerts as well. 20:00-21:10 Community Engagement: There is a church we rehearse at regularly. As part of the deal with them, we don’t need to pay rent, we also play for their church services every couple months. It’s very interesting to see that the community welcomes our quartet. It’s very nice to see that the community is proud of the quartet. It’s very rewarding. 21;15-24:24 Canadian Compositions: We often incorporate Canadian compositions in our concerts. I think in our third season, we had a series called Canadian Journey. What that was, was every concert we put a Canadian work in our concert. We played MacMillan, we played some Edmonton composers, Joseph Lai, he actually wrote a quartet for us which we premiered. We played John Oliver from Vancouver, Arthur M. Bachmann from Calgary, and Robert Rival, Sounds of a Landscape. The Rival piece is one we play a lot, for example we travelled to France, we played only Canadian compositions. Then, when we went to Italy, we mixed, we played

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Haydn, Mozart and the Rival. That’s been a piece we have played since we started. We know Robert very well, and he said that we made his quartet ours. The next concert we are giving, we are playing the Joseph Lai quartet. We are always trying to incorporate Canadian music, even though we are not from Canada, we see ourselves as a Canadian ensemble. 24:25-26:39 House Concerts: We sometimes do house concerts. We do them quite often both as a quartet, and as private players, it has been quite constant for us. Usually the person that hires us is someone with a large house, and they invite the quartet. One thing that is big for us is that we never play background music, so when someone invites our quartet to play, we are very clear about that. We say, “It’s ok to hire us, but we need to make sure that these are concerts, not background music,” right? This means we have to turn away a lot of people who are specifically looking for background music. It’s quite interesting to see that people are still very keen on having these impositions on their home. It’s gratifying to see that we have the support of the community. That’s one thing, around here we still see that the community very much rallies in support of its artists. 26:55-30:19 Outreach and Lasting Results: I definitely think that outreach is beneficial to us as a quartet because we receive back support, some people who we play for at Senior homes or hospitals, they come to our other formal concerts too. As a person and as a quartet, I feel we receive so much back. I think the experience that we have, especially hospitals, in the past with terminal patients or patients with schizophrenia, it’s phenomenal to see how much music helps them to get better in health. We see that our job as musicians is not only to play notes, right, I remember when we played for people with Schizophrenia, they started out being very antsy and by the end they were all super calm, and we received a letter from the hospital, I think 3 days later, thanking us saying that the patients were still under the influence of music. For us, it’s so rewarding to see that we have a positive impact on others. The terminal patients, that was something very different, many of them were so ill they couldn’t move, but we could see that we were touching them because they were able to, some patients, to finally open their eyes after some days without doing so. Concerts for the war memorial that we do from time to time, or the benefit for the Paris attack victims, is something that reaches us, not only through music, but as artists. What makes us artists is that connection with the audience, not only by clapping, but we are fed by their energy. If you have an audience that don’t have any connection in any way, it’s a weird concert. We try to always have some sort of connection with our audience, which we change how we explain the pieces depending on where we are playing. For example, if we are playing for kids, we are not going to talk about the movements, we are not going to talk about impressionist music, but we can explain a little bit the feelings that we have about impressionist music, and they understand. So every time, we try to change our speech a little bit, keeping the main idea present, and that helps us to always be thinking, to always be evolving our thoughts. Every experience helps us to be better musicians.

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31:10-34:21 I can say for sure, both me and my wife, that for us the idea of reaching out to the community has always been there. Growing up in Brazil, the universities there are free, so anyone can have access, and as kids, we saw our teachers doing concerts for the community. Our orchestra was always involved in the community, bringing music to the poor, so they could understand what a string instrument is. Nowadays we have this big idea of El Sistema in Venezuela, but that’s something that always happened around, always social progress, bringing music to the poor. We didn’t have a name for it. They have gained more national acclaim because of Dudamel, but growing up there was always this idea of giving back to the community. I was part of the other side of the coin, I was a kid that went to the concert to know the instrument, and I said “wow, I want to do that.” In the first season of the quartet, we received funding from the Edmonton Arts Council, we gave concerts all for free. Of course, later the council said “well maybe you should start charging” mid way through the season because the funding really wasn’t that large, but we thought “we have so much from the community, and they are giving so much to us, we need to give something back too.” That was something that we always did as individuals, playing in hospitals, retirement homes, schools, then when we got together it seemed like a no-brainer. Quartet is a marriage, especially our quartet because we are two couples, our ideas always synch from the start. When we ask each other “what about hospitals” they all say “yah let’s do it.” “what about schools? Libraries? Yes, let’s do it.” That was always a thing for us, always a presence. 34:25-36:10 I’m not sure in ten years if someone would remember us specifically, like the name of the group, the members, but I’m sure they would remember a group of people coming and playing for them. We want them to remember us specifically, we want them to go “oh yeah, you played for me!” but especially for kids, I’m sure some of them will remember. I think we can’t expect that in a large group of 300 people that we will impact all of them. It’s like when you teach, you know that not all your students will become professionals, but we know that at least one or two might continue. I think maybe in the future, someone will remember the quartet coming to play for them, or inspire them because we played on the stage. We know as kids we are impressionable, I know as a kid I had seen professionals play on stage and wanted to do the same. Of course I don’t remember who exactly, but I remember seeing that, and it becomes such a big deal for me that inspired me to continue. I hope that myself and the quartet are able to do the same for others. 36:20-38:15 Chatting and wrap up

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Lafayette String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Lafayette String Quartet SQ Member: Ann Elliott-Goldschmid Date of Interview: May 1st 2018 Length of Interview: 56:31 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:01-03:13 Chatting and explaining the project 03:14-05:01 On an average week, we rehearse 4 days a week, either from 10:00-12:30 or 3:30-6:00. We perform a lot, on average I would say a concert every two weeks, so 35-50 a year, maybe a little more some years. Every other year we have a working summer. Many years ago we decided that every other summer we would take off because we have families, and it was impossible for us, while we are working and touring, in the summertime to spend any good time with our young children. So we decided that we would take every other summer off. So on the summers that we are working, like this is a working summer for us, we are touring in Mexico, Ontario, all over the place. So we will be away for a large chunk of the summer, therefore we will be having more concerts. 05:02-06:29 Touring and Performing (Summer 2018): This summer we are going to a festival in Mexico and we are running Quartet Fest West, we have the Penderecki’s coming to join us here for that, they will be here for several days teaching and performing, and right after that, we go to Mexico. From there we go to Ontario, again with the Penderecki Quartet, at the Festival of Sound performing there, then we come home for 3-4 days after which we head over to a lovely festival on the sunshine coast, the Tender Harbour Chamber Music Festival, we will be performing there, then we have 2 weeks off before we go back to teaching. So that’s the quartet schedule, we’ve got a few little odds and ends concerts in the summer time around Victoria which will be nice. 06:30-09:43 We will get a chance to preview some of our new rep, but these concerts are sort of semi-private, for different organizations in town. We are playing several works we are excited about, we are playing a Dohnányi Piano Quintet for the first time, we play a lot of piano quintets, but this is the first time ever performing that one. We are learning a new little Schubert Quartet in B flat, an early work of his, We are playing Beethoven op. 127, Shostakovich 12, that is a great quartet, it’s like Beethoven on steroids! We are doing a movement of Borodin 2 as part of an all Russian program, and they have asked us to stick a little nocturne in there. A Haydn quintet, Brahms Viola quintet, Mozart Viola quintet, we are so excited about our rep this summer. 09:44-11:08 Canadian Works: We often try to incorporate some Canadian works. We have commissioned a few pieces by Canadian composers, and are continuing to try to do that. This

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year we are not, however we did commission Murray Schafer to write a quartet for us, the 11th is written for us, and we play that a lot because it’s such an amazing piece. I don’t think we are doing anything Canadian per se this summer, sadly. What we would really like to do is commission some women to write for us. 11:09-12:51 Quartet Fest West: Well, Quartet Fest in Ontario started first, and invited us. We thought, well this is awesome, we will have Quartet Fest …. West, we’ll call it Quartet Fest West, and it worked out so nicely. We did that as sort of parallels with each other for a while, then it just got to be too hard, Pam and I had little kids. We still did it while we had babies, but it was just, I think around 2003 or something, we just petered out because it really does take just a lot of organization. I was just dying, because I kept my career going, we all did. A few years back we started it up again, I can’t remember which year, at least 5 years ago though. 12:52-13:56 Ok, so what happens is, every day, the chamber groups practice in the morning, maybe individually for an hour, then as a group for maybe two hours, then after lunch they have a coaching, every day, then there is a masterclass almost every day, and if not then there is a workshop of some kind. Workshops of recording techniques, we have had people come in and discuss various things, but almost always there is a masterclass. So the groups are performing for each other. Maybe they only perform an exposition of a movement they have worked on, or a development and recapitulation, but they get a chance to perform every other day for each other. So they get a lot of performance experience in front of their peers, which is the scariest thing, you know playing for an audience is a piece of cake in comparison to playing for your peers. 13:57-16:04 We sometimes teach together, typically what I have done here, is I let the quartets who are coming in decide what works for them because not every quartet does enjoy working and teaching together [in a masterclass setting]. It didn’t always work out well I noticed, you have dominant people and personalities in any quartet, and sometimes they simply take over. The other person may have very valuable things to say, but they’re not going to get a chance to say it. Not because of any ill-will on the part of the members, just personalities. So now, I just try to see what they prefer, or I try to mix it up so there is an upper string with a lower string. I would have Jeremy with Katie, or Jeremy with Christine. In the case of the Penderecki’s I like to put Jerzy and Christine together, that way they can have the afternoon off together, if they are not working. That does not necessarily mean they have to do that though, and I tell them that from the very beginning, so they might decide oh Jeremy will run that masterclass, or just Katie. 16:20-16:55 We get a very minimal payment, we do pay ourselves a very small amount, there are no grants, we just pay ourselves to organize and teach and run the concerts. We get our revenue from tuition and concerts. There were a couple of summers where we didn’t get any payments, and I don’t know why, but we like to get paid for the work that we do. 16:56-18:29 [[Interviewer: how many concerts do you put on]] It depends on the summer, most of the time we have the visiting guest artists play, and we play, and

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participants play, then everyone will have a gala concert where our visitors and us will play a concert together. Sometimes there are three concerts and sometimes four. Last year there were a ton because we had a guitar quartet from Poland, and for the first time we had our graduate string quartet coming up from Mexico, and they performed. So I think we had something like five concerts last year. 18:31-20:32 Strings Mentoring Program at U Vic: So that program started many years ago, and it started as a result of the public schools having their string program cut completely, the elementary strings program would just be gone. The high school string students thought this was just a horrible thing because they knew that you had to have young people learning string instruments, in order to continue it up through high school. They loved it, loved performing and playing, and they knew that if you cut the elementary, there would no longer be middle and high school programs. So they got up in arms, and it was a student led movement, they played concerts all over the place, they went to the board meetings and the school district that made that decision. There was even a movie made about it, called silence of the strings. My colleague Pam and I really got on board with it, also, there was a local artist called Bruce Wright, a painter, and he was terribly upset by this, and he donated the proceeds of one of his paintings, I think at the time it was something like 48 thousand dollars. He donated the proceeds of this to keep one day a week, it cost 108 thousand to run the strings program, and he put in half of that, so they could have at least one day a week. 20:37-21:04 what we did, what Pam and I did, was we started a program called the Strings Mentoring Program where our students took a pedagogy class with us, and we sent them into the schools to observe the one lesson a week that these students were getting with a teacher, then they started a string club after school on another day of the week, and our students ran that string club, practicing with the children and the things they had learned in the lesson in the previous class with the teacher. It was amazing. And our students learned so much from that. 23:38-24:46 Pam and I are directly involved. We write the syllabus, we are constantly looking at it. It’s morphed a little bit now and has become a strings pedagogy class, we teach not just string players, but we teach clarinetists, oboes, you know all the education majors. They are required to take it. It’s one of the most extensive string programs as far as what education programs in Canada offer. Students have to take violin for one semester, and cello for one semester, so they are not taking these instruments for, you know, four weeks, which is what a lot of these programs offer. So when they leave, they know how to play a violin and a cello. They aren’t going to play the Tchaikovsky Concerto, but they can play book one of Suzuki up to the minuets. You know they are very good by the time they leave. 24:50-26:04 The whole program is Win, Win, Win, Win across the board. Students take it for credit, so they get the benefit, but they are interacting with younger students and teaching as well so they get the benefit. Nobody has to pay them and they all get something out of it. Students go in to schools, they watch the little kids, even though some are not string players, they are watching the little kids learn,

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and learning beside them, the little kids look up to the big kids. They are helping each other out, and of course our students progress much faster than the little kids, but that’s ok. They can help them with their bow holds, and you know a lot of the teachers here in the school are not string players themselves, so they are often very grateful to have our students go in and sit with them and talk about bow holds because as you know, it just takes patience and repetition. Having out students there helping to assist with that, it’s really been fabulous, for the whole gang. 26:35-28:20 School Shows: We used to have a school show that we used for traveling around, but we don’t anymore. Our students do instead, they are the ones going into the public schools. We do every once in a while give workshops for the public schools, but our energy is better used teaching our students how to do that. When I say workshops, I mean we go out and work with the kids, like I’ll take the first violins of an orchestra, Sharon will take the second violins, we’ll talk to them about either whatever it is their teachers want us to talk about, or we’ll go, we’ll talk to them about shifting for instance, or different bow strokes, bow holds. A lot of these kids are not having any private lessons, at all, so we’ll give them a good basic understanding of those concepts, do repetition with them. Then we go back and we sit with them in the orchestra, and we’ll play and lead them through a piece. What they are getting is a sudden boost in energy and quality, everything clicks and they learn quickly, so that’s really fun. I enjoy doing that, but it really takes a lot of energy. It takes time because often the camps are not in Victoria, they are at a retreat or something. 28:31-29:03 We have a graduate Quartet-in-Residence at the university now, and they are outstanding. They are just a wonderful graduate quartet, they are from Mexico, and they are fully capable of doing all that stuff. 29:09-30:28 We have given advice to students [about how to create a school show], but we don’t actually sit down with them and coach them how to do it. We never had anyone tell us how to do it when we were a young quartet, we went out there and figured it out on our own, and I think that’s what you have to do. And these kids are smart, string students are smart, they have been playing their instruments since they were four or five years old. They have great imaginations, they are so resourceful and so intelligent. They have their own ideas on how to do stuff, I mean we told them this is how we did it, the little fun things we did for kids, but they figured it out, they put it together. We could teach them everything, but why would we. I mean they have to figure things out on their own too. 30:33-31:20 Olympic Music Festival: I haven’t been involved with the Olympic Music Festival in a few years, but it was something we did every year, every summer. Alan ran such an amazing festival out there, just a fantastic experience and a great joy of mine. It was just concerts. You would go there for the week and rehearse with your group. So many fabulous musicians that I had a chance to meet and interact with, but I haven’t done that for years. 31:55-36:28 Lafayette Health Awareness Forum:

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This is really Pam’s brainchild, we are her little minions running around doing what she tells us to do. What happened was, back in the year 2000, Pam developed breast cancer. We were invited that year to play the Beethoven Cycle in Berlin, and we would have been the first all-female quartet invited to play the Beethoven quartets in Berlin. In fact, we might even have been the first all- female quartet to play the Beethoven cycle in all of Germany, but I could be wrong about that. She said to us, You know, I’m going to delay my surgery so that we can go play the cycle, that was her decision. At that time we knew a few quartets that had lost members because of cancer, and there was no way on earth that we were going to have her delay her surgery for us. There was just no way on earth. The three of us met without her to talk about it, I mean this was a big deal to be invited there, but this was an absolute no-brainer, in our minds. This wasn’t a delay of a week or two, this was a delay of several months. And it’s not something she took lightly either, she had talked to her surgeon and he didn’t like the idea, her mother didn’t like the idea, but her surgeon was going to support her in any way he could. If there was any chance her cancer could spread, can you imagine. We said, we aren’t going to go to Berlin, you can go without us. You are going to have the surgery and you are going to have it now. That was 17 years ago now, but we are so grateful because the surgeon at the time had kids who were young who were taking lessons, and he really valued music and valued her. 36:40-37:32 I really wanted to do something to honor the community around us that had come together, and I think it was our 20 year anniversary, and I wanted to do something around Breast Cancer, awareness, we weren’t sure what form it would take. So we met with a bunch of people, doctors and administrators, spoke to the Cancer Clinic in BC, and we got a wonderful working group of doctors together, and together we came up with the Lafayette Health Awareness Forum. 37:33-39:12 It’s sort of like a TED talk, free and open to the public. We took one concert to get it going, one fundraising concert, and we raised enough money to get it off the ground. Over the course of many years we have gone through a lot of topics. We started with Breast Cancer, then Menopause, HPV vaccine, we just went through all the things that seemed at the time to be a hot topic for people. It seemed so successful, and we always play. We have gotten a chance to see how medicine has changed over the years, we have even gotten a chance to re-visit cancer, how treatment has changed. Even small things like how diets have changed, or community mindfulness. It’s just been such an exciting thing. 39:15-40:11 The fundraising we do just through the quartet, and we had some corporate sponsorship for a while, and while it was nice, we didn’t like it, it wasn’t the perfect match for us. And now, we have a partnership through one of our colleagues at the University of Victoria. We love it, it’s the perfect match. That’s through the Centre for Aging Well. 40:22-42:00 Private Teaching and Quartet-in-Residence at UVic: We, the quartet, are the full time string department. We have a sessional double base, but aside from that we are the full time string faculty. The only time we bring someone in is if we have an overload, and in the past several years, when

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that has happened, we have just taught it because there is a limited budget for sessional teachers. We all teach our own instruments, and we all teach chamber music. Occasionally Joanna, who is a baroque specialist, will take on, as an independent study, coaching baroque playing.” 42:02-43:50 We have something we run annually called the Bach Competition, that is a competition for any string player at the university who wants to apply. We bring in outside judges, and the students must memorize and perform an entire sonata or partita of Bach. Sometimes we have a lot of students who enter, and sometimes, you know how they come in waves, right now we have a new wave of students coming in, a lot of new freshmen. I did have a nice balance of two from each year, but now I have a wave of students who will be doing it. 44:42-45:51 For me, teaching is so important. It’s constantly a learning process, I know that’s how my colleagues and I see it. You have to constantly evolve, learn from your mistakes, study lots of pedagogy, and you have to find what works for every kid. 46:02-47:00 Personal Projects outside the University: “You know, we each have our own things we do outside the university. I don’t always have time for it, but I really love adjudicating. I just got back from adjudicating in Vancouver, and you know my father was responsible for the local examining for over 40 years, sending out examiners all over the province.” 49:27-50:22 Performances in Senior Homes: I take my students regularly in to Senior Homes to perform, and I think it is really important. I take all of my students on a regular basis to a local senior home. We have built up a huge audience in that place. I made a connection with one of the workers who runs the extracurricular activities that they do, and it’s a very regular thing for us now. It’s really fabulous for everyone. 50:21-52:53 Lasting Impressions: I think it’s hard to say if doing these outreach activities benefits us as a quartet because we have just always done it. When we were in Detroit, we worked with inner city children, and it’s just been a part of who we are from the very beginning. We have never not been a part of the communities social fabric. It’s always been integral to us, it’s just what we do. It’s really who we are, we are all so socially conscious, and I don’t think there is one person in my quartet who doesn’t give a damn. You know we are all caring, thoughtful, interested people who want to ultimately leave this world a better place. Music is really nice, music is why we are in a string quartet, because we adore this music so much, but it’s just always something we have done. I don’t think we could ever separate it out. Maybe that job formed us, maybe that job is the reason you know, working in Detroit, working with these kids and just loving them, loving the resourcefulness and power and joy that music gave them. Maybe they were our teachers in a way, who knows. Maybe that’s why we do it. 53:28-56:15 Global Scholars: We don’t do this every year because it just takes so much work, but when we did the Beethoven Cycle, the Bartók Legacies, the Shostakovich Cycle, the second Viennese School, whenever we do a sizeable project over 3-4 years, we, I mean my colleagues at the university, invite scholars to come from all over the

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world. And these are the scholars of the world, the authority on the subject that we are talking about. When we did Bartók, we had people from Hungary and Yale, you know the great scholars on their own topics. We even had a Beethoven scholar because we were looking backwards to find out who influenced Bartok. So when we do these big projects, we invite scholars to come in present with us, and everything is free, and we have 3-4 solid days, sometimes a week of concerts and lectures, and the lectures are all free for the public, the concerts aren’t because we have to pay for it somehow. It’s usually an extraordinary experience. We did Shostakovich’s full quartet cycle last year for our 30th anniversary, and we had scholars coming from all over, from England, Europe, Canada and it was really amazing. You know people came, they were really well attended. That’s really fun and everyone really learns something, and I think it’s really integral in getting the community engaged in these scholarly aspects of the music and work that we do. We can’t do that kind of huge event for every concert, but when we have the big stuff, we do that. 56:15-56:31 Wrap up and goodbyes.

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Penderecki String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Penderecki String Quartet SQ Member: Jeremy Bell, Violin Date of Interview: May 1st 2018 Length of Interview: 58:41 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-01:00 Project info and general greeting 01:37-02:02 Touring and Rehearsal Schedule: We rehearse 4-5 times a week, sometimes more if we are on tour. When the university if in session, we all have regular full time teaching, so the schedule is fairly heavy 02:20-02:36 We are teaching anywhere from 12 to 16 or 18 hours per week, officially, that doesn’t include all the other sort of committee work, and admin work that is involved with keeping the string program running. 02:50-03:06 When I first joined the quartet, it was 80-90 concerts per year, now it’s more like 60 or 70 … there is always a bit of a flux from season to season. 03:12-03-40 It often has a lot to do with how much effort we put in, how much time we spend building these tours and projects. It can be a lot of work and advanced planning, so last season for example was a result of a couple of years of building projects and tours. 03:54-4:40 Special Projects: One project this year was going to Australia with David Braid, doing what he calls chamber jazz. He’s been writing, basically, works for string quartet and piano, and has developed it into a full evening of works that are mostly composed, but there are improvised sections as well. That’s been really quite successful, we have been to China with him, and across Canada. 05:41-06:45 We have a project with a theremin featuring Sean Michaels, the Gellar Prize winning novelist, about Theremin himself, and his love affair with the woman who was essentially the first virtuoso of the Theremin. That was really fun because, we had the author, and we brought in this thereminist from Berlin who was just so incredibly mesmerizing, and we commissioned some works. It sold out here with a lot of people disappointed and turned away, and it was really interesting to see how that concert captured people’s curiosity and interest so easily. 06:46-06:58 It’s really cool when you get an idea like that and it just seems to take off.

07:15-07:50 Grants for personal projects: “We have been pretty aggressive in applying for grants and have had some good success. We spend a lot of careful time writing them.”

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09:06-09:21 If the project is really clearly written with a captivating idea, and if the support material is good then it gets to the top of the pile really quickly 09:46-10:08 We have been getting travel grants, we had one for Spain. Commissioning grants, we just got a grant to do a project with Tork, the Percussion Ensemble. 11:01-12:30 New Commissions: We have commissioned a new string quartet by Christos Hatzis, we were part of a commission for Alice Ho to write the Chamber Opera for the Canadian Children’s Company, and we commissioned Quinsin Nachoff to write a piece for jazz trio and string quartet. 12:43-14:03 Quartet Fest: It got started 26 years ago by Paul Pulford, who was the cellist in our quartet at the time, and it was conceived to be not only a festival, but a way to provide spring training for our students at Laurier, so they could earn credit. It was also conceived of something that could support both the chamber diploma and a masters in chamber music, and something that could be developed into a string intensive term. 14:30-16:11 Ultimately it’s been a lot of fun to have this festival as a way to connect with other faculty and other students around the province and beyond. 16:15-17:05 There is some one on one teaching at Quartet Fest … but it’s more of a focus on daily coaching [as an ensemble]. I think every day there is some kind of coaching. 17:05-18:52 The masterclass is about four times a week. Every evening at 5pm (with the exception of weekends when there are concerts) there is a masterclass. We have done it sometimes with two coaches in the same room, sometimes all four of us, but generally it is just one of us. I think we all prefer to have just one person, it gets a little weird when we start talking over one another, or start disagreeing on things. Students do, I think, find it fascinating when we are coming at it from different angles, and it does have a certain value, to watch a quartet debate things in public, but it can also be a bit irritating for us too. Sometimes it’s nice to have the freedom to work through an idea without having to worry about being scrutinized by your colleagues. 19:00-19:50 Number of concerts varies from year to year, like last year we did a ton of concerts, and it was a little bit too much. We felt like we were exhausting the audience, and at the end of the festival we had a big final show, a big house, and we were a bit disappointed [by the turn out]. So there is that risk of too much of a good thing. This year we are cutting back a little bit, there are four main faculty concerts, and then there will be four or five student concerts. 20:15-22:38 [[Interviewer: How does the funding work? Is it considered salaried work through Laurier?]] “We have paid ourselves a small honorarium, like a very minimal amount, but there are years where we don’t get paid at all, just because we wanted to put the money into other things. Last year for example, was the first year that we got a sizeable donation from business man and the community, and we were able, for the first time, to offer full scholarship to all students. It was also the first year that we did a gala fundraising dinner at the golf course and charged $175 ticket for this dinner, and I was concerned people wouldn’t buy into it, but they did, and we are going to do it again. A lot of that

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money will go straight into scholarships. It’s been really neat how the community has, in a way, gotten behind us. Last year was a big exciting step forward for us. Aside from that, we get free administrative use from the university, free rental of space and use of the hall. The other big contributor is the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Music Society. 22:40-22:59 We do feel obligated, under our agreement with Laurier, to be actively doing something that brings outside interest to our activities as a quartet. It is part of our mandate as artists in residence at Laurier to be doing something like this. 23:05-24:15 Masterclasses (abroad / traveling): We have done a ton of masterclasses in the states and in Mexico. Mexico has been really rich for us, there seems to be a wide interest in chamber music, and that’s really cool. The students always seem to excited and ready to hear from us. 24:22-26:00 There is a fever of education, and educating youth through music that has really taken off. Any city we go in Mexico, we are asked to give a masterclass, and like hundreds of kids will show up. We were in the city of Leon, and they have a newly built massive cultural centre there, and there were probably 100 kids that showed up for that masterclass, all string players, all mostly high school age. We have also given masterclasses at music festivals where we were teaching undergrads, and the level was quite high. 26:00-27:38 I would say we give around 20-25 masterclasses a year. Pretty much any time we are on tour there is some kind of masterclass. They are mostly set up through a university, but a lot of the music festivals are setting up education and situations to attract youth. Even if it just seems like a one-off concert at a festival, there is often a masterclass. It might just be kids from the local conservatory, but there seems to be a lot of effort from presenters, and festivals and universities to set up masterclasses, I mean obviously universities, but it’s really not just universities that are setting up masterclasses. These are always done as part of a larger contract, or for a small honorarium, like, would you please give this masterclass, and we always say yes. It’s usually very rich, and great to do that for students. 27:45-28:40 School Shows: We have given school shows, but we don’t have a specific “show” that we use, and sometimes I think that we are not all that good at it. In terms of playing for primary school kids, it can be really tough, and I think you have to be really good at that, have the right repertoire. It’s not enough to just show up with a Dvořák Quartet . They’ll be interested for 5 minutes or so, but then they are screwing around and stuff. 28:41-29:45 In any case, we have done a number of school shows for primary aged kids. That tends to happen more in smaller communities, we don’t do that much in larger cities. If anything, we tend to play for high school music classes from time to time, like Etobicoke, for many of the GTA schools that have a more distinctive Strings program. We do this partly out of a sense of recruiting, and partly that they asked us. 30:05-31:16 School Shows / Unconventional Rep:

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We try to show a range [of repertoire], we try to give students a broad perspective. So we would never play something that was especially esoteric because it would risk losing their attention, and it isn’t very worthwhile, so we will often play a little bit to what we anticipate is the certain medium of interest level, now maybe that’s wrong, maybe we should push the envelope a little bit more, but in any case we have played a lot of Bartók, or Canadian repertoire. Sometimes we will play just a portion of a new work, just to highlight something that is challenging to us that we have been working on, or that was specific to Bartok [or the composer]. 31:41-32:30 There are other groups out there that are doing this so well [lecturing / tailored school shows] and again, we don’t really have a specific show for high school students where we will break apart a Haydn quartet and make it really interesting. We have, from time to time, gone into a school and shown them a little bit how the theme is passed around or explain what a fugue is, stuff like that. 32:42-34:10 You tend to know when it’s going well, and when it’s not going well. We have been in situations where it felt like it was barely worthwhile. For example, there is a festival in Barrie, it was a festival that happened every September, and the man who was running the festival, he wanted all the artists to go into the high schools and public schools and give these concerts, while we were at the festival. So we had sort of limited time to think about things because we were really worried about the main concerts, which was really where our energy was spent, just getting ready to play a big piece that evening. We showed up to this random school in Barrie, not really knowing much about the school, or the program or anything, and then they have an assembly of like 400 kids, all rowdy and excitable, and we are supposed to talk about string quartet and what we are doing…. It’s a lot of them to take in, just trying to outrun their attention span. 34:21-35:31 Personal Projects: Right now, there is nothing specifically deemed “outreach” that we are pursuing from our own grass roots initiatives, we are going back to Bloomington to the string academy there, this is probably the 12th time we have been there, and stuff like that is a little bit more the norm for us, specifically pre-existing music camps and festivals. 35:32-36:14 Lack of home base / disbanding quartets 36:15-36:40 I think we are really lucky to have Laurier, this home base. There are times when we really get sucked in to the needs of the university, and it can take away from other projects, [but I think it’s a valuable partnership]. 36:41-40:26 Lack of home base / disbanding quartets 40:30-41:42 There are a handful of groups that are on the road all the time, like the Kronos quartet, or the Tchaikovsky quartet, where their only vocation is to just play concerts, they are not teaching or freelancing, they have enough concerts that they are on the road literally all the time. It’s really cool that there are groups like that, but I think when you are starting out, it’s hard to get to that level. It’s particularly hard in Canada because geographically there are challenges, our

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cities are so spread out that you can’t really tour, and the weather is risky, even just driving from Edmonton to Calgary, it’s terrifying. 42:03-43:13 Impact of the quartet (community): I think Waterloo has become a very musical city. It has a long history of music making, and I think that is a big part of why we are here at all. Why would a city the size of Waterloo consider a string Quartet-in-Residence at the university [a necessity]. I think it has to do with the rich musical history that is here. 44:01-45:08 There is a real fan base in town. The Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Music Society has really built up an audience of seasoned chamber music lovers. There is this nucleus of listeners, that are very committed and come to everything. 45:09-47:00 “Our impact has grown, and when the Perimiter Institute began, they brought in all the top quartets. They formed their own recital series, which we were part of. We had access to this new affluence and intelligencia (sic) in KW, and it has become a little centre of culture within the community, our little corner of the province, and of Canada.” 47:08-47:19 It’s kind of cool to see that chamber music can be something that is desirable as an evening out for this new demographic [middle class / educated] 48:01-49:02 Beginning inspiration: There were sort of two moments that [I took inspiration from another quartet]. Firstly, I grew up in Sudbury and my dad was running a concert series at our church, and he brought the Orford Quartet in. I was just blown away, I thought they were so amazing. I hadn’t thought very much about string quartets up until that point. We moved to Toronto, and they were on faculty with the university, and I just felt like this was really amazing. They were my idols already, then seeing them, watching them rehearse, seeing their touring schedule, it just seemed so glamorous. 49:03-49:59 Later, I was two years behind Geoff Nuttall and Barry Shiffman, and I got to see them in the early years, getting the St. Lawrence SQ together. I saw them build this thing from nothing, and watching it take off was really exciting. To see that sort of birth of the St. Lawrence String Quartet was really inspiring, and I really wanted that too. The opportunity to join Penderecki just seemed like a huge jump start into the industry. 49:59-51:45 [On interacting with the Orford SQ] I went to just a normal recital. I was probably 12 or 13 at the time. I met other quartets too, I saw the Allegri Quartet perform, and I had string quartet LPs that people had given me, like I was listening relatively early on. 53:22-55:30 The Bartók Cycle: There was one other thing we did a few years ago in terms of outreach, and I’m surprised at how well it was received. It took place at the Festival of Sound in Parry Sound Ontario, and was aided by a colleague of ours who figured out a way to demonstrate many different structural and formal aspects of the Bartók quartets by playing examples and explaining to the audience. What we did at the Festival of Sound was give a lecture recital every day at 11:00 with this guy, using examples to show how the piece was working, then at noon we would

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perform the work. It was really well attended, I mean every day people just lapped it up. There is a surprising amount of retiree population that can’t stand Bartok, they just hate it, and I have never really understood that because I think it’s pretty cool music, [but there were so many people at this concert.] 55:31-58:41 General chatting / wrap up

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Saint John String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Saint John String Quartet SQ Member: David Adams Date of Interview: May 3rd 2018 Length of Interview: 52:43 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-01:37 Chatting / catching up 01:40-03:13 Touring and Rehearsal: So, we tend to rehearse before a new program that we are planning, that usually lasts 3 weeks before, it could be 3 weeks before we perform. We present 4 concerts every year with the Symphony New Brunswick, so there are four episodes of that, we perform 5 lunch hour concerts for the University. Sometimes the repertoire is the same for that, other times we choose a new piece, but it’s only an hour long program, so it doesn’t require as much [preparation], maybe a week or two of rehearsing to get a new major work ready for the stage. For a full recital, we would be looking at two and a half to three weeks, two and a half hours a day Monday through Friday, that’s our normal pattern. 03:15-05:51 School Shows: We do 50 school shows a year, and we generally have four programs that we prepare for that, so four different kinds of programs. Making up four programs specifically for kids so there is a narrative, a theme to it, so Sonja and Dani will typically prepare those programs together, maybe a little heavier on Sonja’s end because she has done it a lot longer. Chris, our violist, would be the one that contacts the schools and books everything. I get the money to do it. That’s generally how we work things. Funding comes from all over the place, private donors, grants, all of the above. The symphony does help a little, it changes from year to year depending on what they want our services for, so we get paid for 180 services with the Symphony, some are spent with the quartet presenting the four programs for them, others are, depending on what they want us to do, the main concert series are part of our services, but typically we would do maybe 20 of those 50 school programs for the Symphony, that’s average. Some years they may only want us to do ten because they want us to do something else besides those outreach programs. 05:55-08:09 [As far as theme and narrative go], one example of a strong program that we have is the title of a Sheree Fitch book called There Were Monkeys in My Kitchen, and we actually paired music, all Canadian music, to the words of the little story for children. It’s a book, and we put music to it, and we say the poem and play the music, and it all kind of works that way. That’s one example. We

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have a number of programs [which are seasonal], for example, Christmas around the world, and we play all different kinds of Christmas music, some very familiar to the kids, but they have no idea the origin of it, like Silent Night was composed in Germany, and they just think it’s a Canadian Christmas song, but it has origins from anywhere in the world. We do quite a few like that. There are other programs where it could be the story of Mozart, and we tell the story of Mozart’s life, and we pair the time of the composition to his activities and what we are playing, so Mozart was on his way to Vienna to launch a huge career that his father had mustered up for him, and while he was in the back of the horse drawn carriage, he wrote this, then we would play an excerpt. So they get the history, they get to hear about Mozart but also get to hear the music that would relate to what they hear. 08:27-09:20 We have made maybe a hundred of these shows, I mean we have been doing this for 30 years, but we do repeat, we do recycle. They aren’t all new, we try to incorporate repertoire that we are playing on a recital. So if we are doing something on Beethoven, on his life, and we are also putting together a recital, that has that quartet on it, we try to economize the amount of rehearsal that we have to do, as best we can. 09:21-10:04 Canadian and Contemporary Music: We program Canadian and contemporary music all the time. We are constantly working with the Canadian Music Centre, bringing in music that we are interested in. We also have recorded a lot of Canadian music. 10:05-12:35 ON HOLD 13:04-15:40 School Shows: We travel outside of New Brunswick, probably as far as Orangeville, other parts of the province so St. Andrews, St. Stephen, the bulk of them are in the Saint John area, obviously Moncton, we don’t do a lot in Moncton, but we do some there. Chris, our violist, talks to the principles of the schools to set things up, but we have had schools call us too. We tend to track all our schools, we try to rotate schools every year so that every school will get the opportunity. I think out of all of them, there is only one that, for whatever reason, are not willing to have the general assembly and take kids out of class. That would just be a particular case with the one principle, but everyone else we have developed a very positive relationship with the principles and they are always more that enthusiastic for us to interrupt their day and entertain their kids for about 45 minutes. That program length is fairly consistent for us, that’s what we find works well and kids are able to keep their attention for that long quite well. We usually aim for K-5, sometimes we do some middle school and high school, but for the most part we stick to that age group. 15:43-17:28 Library Cushion Concerts: In addition to the school shows, we give Library Cushion Concerts, four programs of those a year, and we do those in Fredricton, Saint John and those are a more intimate situation. Probably under 100 people attend, and quite often it can range between 20-60. It’s right in the middle of the library and the kids sit on the floor, right next to the books, there is usually a little play area in the library, and there we will invite the kids to come up and puck the strings, look

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at the instruments. It tends to be even pre-school kids, so the programs that we develop for them are more like the Sherree Fitch one which would lend itself well, it’s a children’s book that a parent would read to a child. It’s kind of silly monkey and slightly more juvenile. It would be cool enough for the grade school kids, they are way too embarrassed to be talking about monkeys and stuff like that. We do four of those a year, and repeat it twice in Saint John and Fredericton, so there are really eight concert days. It has garnered quite a following in both centres. 17:30-19:10 New Brunswick Youth Orchestra: For quite a few decades now we have been quite involved, I have been on the board of directors for the NBYO for at least 25 years, and I also am the chairmen of the New Brunswick Youth Orchestra’s Foundation, which is a group that gives money to the youth orchestra, plus kids tuition for University, stuff like that. The quartet itself is for the large part, the sectional coaches for the youth orchestra. That may change in the next little while, but we would typically coach them 3-4 times a year, and that is quite heavily weighted at the start of the year at a music camp that they go to, so there is quite a few sessions there. The youth orchestra pays us outright for that, and the University pays us separately. 19:11-21:45 Masterclasses and the University: We give a free masterclass just before the music festival in April, so the kids can have a chance to come and play their pieces through. The University covers that through the residence proposal, so we apply for an artist in residence grant from the province and the University matches those funds, which is part of the requirement of the grant, and pretty much every year we have been successful in getting the grant, it is a juried competition. There were one or two years where we didn’t for whatever reason, just could be one of those things, but in those years we just cut back our duties at the university, just lesser activity levels. Typically we will give masterclasses together, so the second violinist Dani and myself would tag team and Chris and Sonja quite often will pair up, if there are violas, Chris will take them away and almost give them a lesson, but typically it would be them together working with the Cellos. We don’t do much chamber music coaching besides those masterclasses through the University, we have on isolated situations, if a group of ours wanted to play chamber music for the festival, we would coach them, but generally speaking it would be fairly sporadic. We don’t have a program for say just chamber music groups. 21:47-23:33 Unconventional Concerts: We quite often would be asked by singers and songwriters to accompany them, particularly at the East Coast Music Awards. This is the first year we didn’t attend actually, it’s kind of like the Junos, very closely related in the scope of it. We will collaborate with pop people who want to do a recording, they want some string tracks. Recently we worked with Jessica Ray, Canadian singer song-writer, we did a DVD with Matt Anderson, we opened for Meatloaf once, that was interesting! We played Meatloaf’s songs for a half hour before he came on, it was pretty cool, definitely our largest audience ever, over 7,000 people. And we got to meet them, talk to them, he’s kind of a weird dude.

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23:35-27:18 Recordings: So we have five recordings, and we are working on our 6th, most of our recordings have a significant amount of Canadian music on it, so we received a Juno nomination for Jacques Dupriez’s string quartet, he’s a Quebec composer. We have quite a few Canadian works on our CDs, the most recent one we recorded a bunch of Latin American songs that a Latin American composer working in St. Thomas University in Fredericton wrote and arranged for string quartet. We like them enough to put them on a CD. Our most recent endeavour which is the project under way, we have selected iconic Canadian pop songs, so like Gordon Lightfoot, you know just the top ones that we could find, and we have an arranger from Ontario who has arranged for people like David Myles and orchestral stuff. She’s doing the quartet arrangements of these iconic Canadian pop songs, so we are going to add that to our list of things. In terms of marketing, recording strategy, that kind of music is now getting a lot of air play, these kinds of songs are what people want to listen to. We have some representation at Classical Next which is happening pretty soon I think, in France. That’s part of the dialogue that we have, including this music. We would try to pair iconic pop songs which most people would know because it would get top 40 airtime for all those years, but we try to pair it with like stuff from the classical field. That’s sort of the strategy for having a touring project that has a little bit of a twist. It’s a good marketing angle that you sort of need if you want these bookings abroad. 27:19-28:46 Touring: We do tour quite a bit, we were in South America for a month, we will return to that market in 2019, but also include USA and central America. We did four countries in that last tour, Chile, Argentina, Columbia and Ecuador. So we have developed some good ties there, we could return there every year if we wanted, but we will probably decide to do every two years. Dani just had a son, so we have been trying to figure out how much she wants to do. We could always replace her on a tour, but at the end of the day, she wants to do it. We just have to see how it goes. We also tour regularly in France, again it’s a situation where we have probably a dozen venues that will take us given 8 months notice, and they are all over us. So we tour the south border between Spain and France, we can go all the way from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic. We have about a dozen places that will take us in and present us. 28:52-30:03 Teaching and Masterclasses Abroad: We do teach a little when we travel, specifically a lot of the presenters were universities and conservatories that would present us in a concert, and we would also do masterclasses for them, sometimes quite extensive ones. In Ecuador, there were quite a few days of masterclasses, there are just hoards of kids there, it’s unbelievable. These are mostly university-age kids, some conservatories had younger kids, but for the most part it was university-age kids. We would play one of the Vivaldi seasons with their university orchestra in concert, quite a bit of collaboration there. 30:05-32:06 Making a String Quartet:

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That is a project that we want to increase. There are a few things we should be doing and of course there are thousands of things one can do, but we want to increase that. We did that, we have a friend that does communications for one of the companies here, for JDI, and he’s quite good at flipping these things off, with the greatest of ease. He just did that sort of as a conversation to see if it could be useful. We do have some ideas to further that, we will make some videos of the new repertoire and use it as a marketing tool, show some iconic Maritime and Canadian scenes. Most of our branding is dealing with the fact that we are Canadian. That creates a certain amount of interest, particularly for presenters in Europe because Canada is such a jewel in their minds, tremendous wilderness, it doesn’t have Donald Trump, we are all very polite and nice, everyone wants to know something about Canada. We use that to our advantage in our soliciting concerts. 32:08-33:01 Fringe Projects: We do the low hanging fruit like weddings, we are playing at the convocations at the University of Fredericton every year. Being on the radio a lot, playing for school aged kids for 30 years, most people have heard the SJSQ at some point in their lives. 33:10-37:04 Lasting Impact: [I do feel we have a definite impact in the community]. There are stories that motivate us to continue to do so. A young school-age kid heard us play, a young girl, and she said later on in life that she had heard us play at her school and she knew from that moment on that she wanted to be a musician, she wanted to play the violin. So she set that path for herself, actually she was my student for a number of years, she went to University, got a degree, got a teaching degree as well, and now she’s teaching music in the schools here in Saint John. She always attributes her life path to us coming to her school that one day. There are others, many of the kids that I have taught 20 and 30 years ago are now in our orchestra. There’s 5 or 6 of them that are in the orchestra, and the same with Sonja, in the cello section, so it’s really quite interesting because, in Europe this is very common, you would have a concert master of the Stuttgart orchestra and they would have a whole wack of students. Over the years, his students would get jobs in the orchestra. It’s very common to have a lineage of style of playing in a community that is closely related to one person. Those people will go on to teach other kids themselves, but they teach how they are taught. We don’t often think of these things that happen, but this is how culture gets passed down through the generations and continues to, over hundreds of years, become common knowledge. It’s kind of interesting in Canada, we are so young in comparison, that this European lineage has taken place here. Most quartets do come and go, I mean they don’t tend to stay, especially this day and age, and especially young string quartets, they don’t just earn their living with touring, but also as artists in residence at universities, particularly in the states. They tend to be only 3 years at a time. Again, we don’t really have that notion that there is a lineage of playing that remains constant in any given community. 37:17-40:06 Inspiration for school shows:

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I think we always had a deep sense of commitment, you know when we first arrived here, there was the SJ Symphony, some music teachers in the community, but there wasn’t anyone here who was playing concerts for their living. We were quite a bit in demand as teachers at that point, music teachers don’t always want to have a large violin studio for example, they teach music all day, and then I don’t want to say it’s the last thing they want to do, but it’s limited. As soon as we arrived here, they were like, well you have to take all these kids, private lessons private lessons. I think right away we realized that if we didn’t do it, it just wasn’t going to happen. So I think it’s the same with [the school shows], having kids hear music, classical music on a large scale, and the only way to do that would be to go to the schools where the kids are. My feeling particularly is that so much of the music that we hear on the radio and TV scores, pop music, that the roots of that music are in Mozart and Beethoven and Bach, Haydn. How we hear harmonies, how music is phrased, the tonal system is all western music. It’s our heritage, and it’s why we hear music the way we do, why we don’t sing what a Chinese folk song would sound like, which would have a totally different tonal system. So really, it’s making the connection with what kids hear today in music to where it came from. It’s history, it’s heritage of music and in a lot of cases language. Canada didn’t invent the English language, it developed elsewhere. It’s our heritage to better understand who we are as Canadians, to know where we came from. 40:10-42:10 Benefit to the String Quartet: I think [these outreach projects are absolutely beneficial to us as a quartet]. We do about 135 concerts a year, sometimes a little bit more, a little bit less, 50 of those are in-school presentations, so it’s a little less than a third. The frequency of performing in front of people is so very important to a performer. When going up in front of people and playing is so second nature the concepts of being nervous, of stage freight, it isn’t really an issue. The frequency of performing is very critical I think, you know for any group, any ensemble. I think school concerts are low hanging fruit when it comes to playing for 500 people at a time. You just learn how to perform under those circumstances. I think it’s great for growth. 42-15-44:10 Chatting 44:15-47:40 I owe a lot of our rehearsal techniques to the Orford String Quartet. When I was at U of T, I attended their rehearsals because they were open to us. I was very much interested in the string quartet medium at that point, I had a string quartet myself. Everywhere I have lived, I had a quartet. I took it upon myself to go to rehearsals and witness how they rehearsed. I took a lot of their techniques of rehearsal away with me. One of the more basic things is, once we are at a point where we aren’t reading a quartet to decide if we want to play it but are actually at the point of learning it, which usually happens right away, is that we record ourselves quite a bit, and so we will play a quartet of a page of a Beethoven Quartet, stop, play it back and it’s a remarkable experience because we tend to be our own worst judge. You are listening to your own playing and deciding, am I with the rest of the group, are my articulations the same as others. There could be a discussion, how do you feel, do you want to play these notes long,

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with vibrato without vibrato, we don’t seem to be matching our pitches. Let’s find a solution. It’s a very fair way of rehearsing, you can hear. We have taken a photography of what’s just happened, you know the accident, and we can see exactly where it went off the rails, what can be improved. For the most part, people make their own corrections without any kind of accusations, or no nastiness. 49:03-49:17 Playing here and in the quartet, it’s a lifestyle that’s different. 49:20-52:43 Chatting and wrap up.

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Saguenay String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: Saguenay String Quartet SQ Member: Nathalie Camus Date of Interview: May 8th 2018 Length of Interview: 41:53 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-02:50 Greeting and ethics 02:51-03:36 I have been with the quartet for 29 years. Two of us, the cellist and myself, I’m second violin, [that are original members] and our second violist has been with us for 24 years. The violinist has just been recently hired, Marie Bégin is a new member in our quartet. 03:41-04:53 We rehearse every morning from 9-12, and we have an agent in Montreal for outside concerts, outside of the region. We are hired by the regional orchestra here, and the orchestra gives about six concerts a year, and we all have first chairs in the orchestra. The orchestra finds engagements in the region here, so we do some outreach and provide music and activities, but everything outside of the region is with our agent, and that gives us a chance to tour, give workshops at universities, or grade schools and high schools. 04:55-05:59 How many concerts we give varies from year to year. I would say on average we give 50 concerts. In addition to the orchestra concerts that we play, the administration of the orchestra finds other concerts for us, either in schools or remote communities, and we have an official chamber music series that we are in charge of. 06:00-08:56 Mardi Concerts: We are music directors [of this chamber music series] but it’s in the orchestra season. They are called the Mardi Concerts, Tuesday concerts, and there are four of them every year. What happens is we give two concerts on the same day at the conservatory because we like the hall, but it’s a bit small, it can hold about a hundred people, so I would say around 200 people per program. On each of those official Tuesday concerts, but of course there are many other things in between that reach more people. This concert series is funded through the orchestra, we are hired for 32 weeks, and maybe 50% of the funding is from the city of Saguenay. That’s why we have to carry the name Saguenay Quartet, and the project started off with the Alcan company giving 50%, that’s why we were called the Alcan. About 3 years ago the city took over, so we had to change names. The orchestra gets 50% from that, then the rest comes from grants from the government, different associations, as well as the ticket sales. 09:01-11:02 School shows: The orchestra finds schools that are interested in having the quartet [come play], or else we play in libraries, those would be more family oriented concerts, and sometimes we have one concert with a comedian, an actor, so there is actually a

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story that goes with the performance. We have done that arrangement many times, different concepts, but all with a plot and actors. We are not responsible for the story line, that is up to the actors, which is approved by the orchestra, then we help find the repertoire. The actors tell us, there will be say 10 interventions [musical interactions] so I need that kind of music. Or they tell us there is a concept, so we find the repertoire and we put it together. We do have some participation, a very secondary role as actors. 11:03-12:05 We get them to come up and see the instruments [and interact with us], sometimes we have the kids come up and conduct to make a comparison you know when we talk about conductors, so we give them an example and the kids come up and try to conduct us. Or we have them sing or scream or whatever, we try to get them to participate as much as possible, clap their hands. The concerts tend to last about 50 minutes. 12:23-14:33 Sometimes music we play in regular season concerts shows up in our school shows, we will do some cuts in order to vary the repertoire, you know we can play an excerpt of Shostakovich, or any classical music that we work on and try to apply it to those workshops. Sometimes we show them movie music, and we’ll play arrangements of music from movies like Star Wars or we’ll do music from shows they will recognize like the Simpsons. Mainly our age range is elementary school. [The symphony handles all the financial aspects], they get grants probably for the workshop, I mean it’s included [in what we do for them year round.] The demand for grants [is very high] and they show that through the workshops we serve the community. The school of course has to pay, but sometimes, if we are in a library, it’s just the Symphony that pays. 14:41-15:55 If we talk about kids [concerts] only, there might be somewhere between, oh I don’t know, 8 and 15? We don’t travel specifically to give school shows [outside the region], but very often, if we are on tour and we have some extra time, we try to add some kind of educational workshop, either for kids, or university level, we try to have an input in that sense as well, in addition to our official performing, it might be added to our schedule while on tour. 16:38-17:39 Private Teaching: I have 5 private students at the conservatory here, but there are other faculty members on staff as well. I don’t really give masterclasses at the conservatory, maybe once a year we will do a violin class, but we are asked more to do masterclasses outside the region, when we travel. 17:44-19:32 Masterclasses: We have given masterclasses for chamber music groups and individuals at the Bishop’s University in Sherbrooke, and Montreal University, Victoria University. For seven years we were guests once a month, every month at the Montreal University where we would teach masterclasses where all four of us would sit down next to the players and we can demonstrate quartet excerpts. It’s a thrill for the students [to sit next to us] I mean sometimes it can be a bit chaotic, because each one will be talking to the corresponding player to give advice as to what kind of sound it takes to be heard without forcing or whatever, you know the input that you have to have, even if you have a second role. I mean we will also give fingerings that work better, sometimes we will play an

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excerpt of what they are playing just as an example, so that tends to be very interesting for the students. 19:55-21:07 [Teaching together as a quartet can lead to conflicting opinions.] Sometimes we will disagree, and the students find it funny because it’s reality. That’s when we demonstrate ideas, how to solve it, how everybody needs a chance to try different ideas. We probably give around 10 masterclasses a year. The agent works on our behalf to set up opportunities to play masterclasses. 21:10-24:13 Quartet Fest West: We have probably done it, oh, five times. We would give individual classes, masterclasses, and quartet masterclasses of course. We definitely perform also. Sometimes we perform alone, sometimes we partner with the Lafayette String Quartet. The Lafayette’s have become good friends of ours, so we do some touring, and we have found some repertoire as octets, and those concerts always sell. What’s great about it, besides the fact that they are friends and we are happy to see them, play music with them, is to see people that have the same profession as you, which is so rare as a quartet, you know there is always a special dynamic. It’s fun working, you know another second violin who really understands you, it’s such a great exchange for us. <> {Sometimes there can be conflicts] but I must admit, when you are in front of people you make it productive, without people there it can be very different. I think the reason their quartet lasted for so long is that they found a way to work, so it makes all the hard times worth it. 14:38-26:31 Summer Chamber Music Festivals: We teach at several summer camps and we are sometimes invited for summer festivals. There are numerous ones, all over the country, we have taught at Domaine Forget, the Orford Arts Festival, Baleno Jazz Festival, the Lanaudiè re Music Festival and Quartet Fest of course. In the States there is a music festival in California that we went to for 5 summers, then regionally there are summer festivals where we have been involved in a lot, there is one in Port Milford Ontario and Saguenay, that is in Ontario as well. 26:33-27:20 Canadian Music: Most of the time we try to include a Canadian program, and if we go to Europe or something, it makes it much easier for grants. Our cellist [Sonja Adams] usually handles the grant writing, and she does a fantastic job. She has to do it pretty often, every time we tour, and it’s not something the agent does. 27:34-28:12 Commissioned Works: We have commissioned a few Canadian works, one that we play a lot is the quartet by Andrew P. MacDonald. 28:19-29:21 Inspiration and Lasting Results: Well the Melos Quartet from Stuttgart [were very inspirational], we did two seminars with them in Switzerland when we first started, and they were coaching us. They were, at the time, celebrating their 25th year together, so that was a big inspiration, gave me a goal, a long-term timeline. They were known internationally, and they really had a big influence on us at the beginning. 29:23-30:52 [I think the school concerts and community outreach are beneficial to us] because it is a place to experiment, and everyone gets involved to show them, it

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feels important for interactions, and it’s also fun and rejuvenating. To see the kids that are so mesmerized by what we do is really fantastic. I remember when I was a kid, it gave me a lot of impact when my school was exposed to musicians. You never know when you can really put the little seed in the kids mind, and how it can effect shorter or longer timer their love for music, they might even become musicians just because of that, so it’s a great feeling. 30:55-33:27 [I think these concerts] help in many different ways. It’s not a short term thing, I mean you can have fun at the start, but it can become something big if you have continuity, and you don’t give up. As far as goals, ambition, I think there are many ways that it effects them, when we share our experience. It makes them realize that music is just everywhere, all the time. Originally, the school show was a requirement from the orchestra, that we did that, but we always try to find ways to get involved with the community. Kids are, they absorb a lot, and they can attend concerts, help build future audiences. It’s important that they are aware of that while they are very receptive, so for us it’s something very important. [I think we are building] future concert go-ers and also hopefully players, so music, I mean there are performances and music schools, and we care that there are a lot of music students around. 33:30-36:23 Unconventional Concerts: The orchestra hired us so that we could bring music to small communities around here, of people who would not necessarily come to us, come to the big centre, like in little villages, sometimes playing in different contexts, sometimes more accessible repertoire, with more interactions, like clapping between pieces. We have a presence all over the region, we might give a kind of cabaret concert where people sit around tables, they might be used to hearing pop music, or it will be part of some kind of poetry evening, some acting or Halloween, and we bring in all kinds of music. You use your imagination, and we make sure that people around know that we are available for that kind of thing, and we enjoy doing it. We might do this a few times a year, and you know we might do some special shows around something special that the university is putting on, say a Russian event, some historic event they want to underline. Sometimes it’s our ideas, we want to talk about the second world war, so we might have a professor from the university give a lecture, which we punctuate with music. These events are 50/50 set up by us and our agent. 36:50-38:33 Within the region, the orchestra acts as our agent. There is still a lot to do, you have to communicate with the organizers, an agent, you know the repertoire, fill out grant applications, stuff like that. You can’t just sit around and wait for things to happen. In the old days, big quartets, they had agents that probably did most of it, but now you really have to be creative, come up with ideas also. It’s great to have a team that helps you, like the orchestra or the agent, or outside contacts. 40:40-42:27 Building Community: I feel a quartet really just needs stability and support from some kinds of residency. To just be on the road, maybe you can do that when you have won a competition, and hope that eventually it will lead to some kind of residency. It’s hard to have contacts to survive on. I think more and more you need to be

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involved in your own community. It can be a university, or an orchestra, before people would just tour all year long, but things are not like that now. There are great quartets all over the world, and not enough room for everybody to just perform all the time. Residency is a must at some point. You really do need stability to encourage the four players to work together, there are outside things that get in the way that are essential because it’s an income, but to really focus on quartet, you need some kind of stability. 42:30-42:53 Wrapping up, chit chat.

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St. Lawrence String Quartet: Interviewer: Gwyneth Thomson String Quartet: St. Lawrence String Quartet SQ Member: Lesley Robertson Date of Interview: June 6th 2018 Length of Interview: 01:17:40 Signed Ethics: Yes

TIME QUOTE 00:00-02:11 Chatting and hello 02:13-03:34 Bio: I am one of the founding members of the quartet. I’m not sure I can summarize anything as typical for us, but when we are in one place, when we aren’t travelling, we generally rehearse 4-5 hours a day. That has fluctuated over the years, and also fluctuates according to deadlines. With a looming project before us, the hours amp way up. We would generally meet from 3-7 or during the week when we are home, from 10-2. 03:36-04:52 I think in terms of self-preservation it’s probably best that I don’t know how many concerts we give every year. Years ago, doing taxes, you have to count up how many days you are away, you accumulate in the run of a year for tax purposes, and I know for decades that I was away 200 days a year. Now that modulates quite dramatically, however I would say that these last 5 months, January through May of 2018, have been the busiest of my entire professional life. We are busy. 04:55-06:12 University Residence: Our formal duties include teaching our own instruments, directing, co- ordinating and teaching chamber music, and we make ourselves available for collaborations with the composition team. Traditionally we have put a lot of energy into finding ways to intersect with our on-campus community. Honestly, our contract is the jumping off point, and not the feeling that we are aiming to hit from the platform from which we have jumped. 06:14-7:12 Faculty Collaborations: So over the years this has taken many different forms and formats. But we have done projects with the Law School, several projects. We have done presentations with the business school, the engineering school, medical school. Let me take a step back and tell you a little bit about why we started doing these projects. I found that touring for most of one’s life challenging and rewarding, but difficult. It’s wonderful, you meet a lot of people, have a lot of rich experiences when you are on the road. The issue I have found is that when you come home, unless you have really invested heavily in your own community, it can feel very shallow, like you don’t have a deep connection with your home community. I feel like we acknowledged this early on in our Stanford life, and took steps to somehow enrich that experience.

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7:20-10:04 These projects that we undertook were as much an effort to engage with the community as they were to attract more people to classical music. I think one of the early projects we did was with the business school, we led a discussion about a leaderless team. What I find helpful is to find a parallel between what we do and a seemingly unrelated field. Some time ago, that notion of discussing the string quartet as a model of the leaderless business team, both in terms of business or law or what have you, we realized was not a completely explored model. So we found that to be quite interesting, we connected with people who are passionate about music and passionate about their profession. What we found is that there were a lot of parallels between what we did and what they did. 10:05-11:22 That went on to inspire connections in other schools. The Law school was an ongoing connection with three or four very active amateur musicians, and that again was a discussion with people from the department. That discussion happened to be on original intent, so we talked about connections between music and interpreting the US constitution. In the engineering school we connected on the issues of structure, and with the math department we discussed the issue of fugue. So the key was to find some kind of common issue between two seemingly unrelated fields, and use that as a conduit to connect our worlds. 11:25-13:37 We just sort of descend on the classroom, or an event or forum, and we would play, do examples, play a bit more, talk. Some of us like to think of it as a thinly veiled foray into another part of the University where we might not have connected as much with music. It’s more being ambassadors for the classical music realm. We all become so incredibly isolated in a University, I mean everywhere too, but it’s easier to see in a university because it is a small microcosm, much like a small country. It’s so easy and stereotypical to become siloed in your own community, in your own field. How many we give per year depends wildly on any number of things, but probably 5 to 7, something like that. 13:44-15:52 Pegasus Writing Club: Another example of a collaborative event that we do every year is with a group of emerging writers. They have a club called the Pegasus Physician Writers Club. It’s a group of writers who come together and workshop their stories. Many of them are published, either poetry or prose or whatever. Once a year we do an event with them where we come together to discuss repertoire options, propose a piece of some kind, and the writers compose a reaction to that work. It’s usually an early evening event where they can read their work, their poems and prose, and then we perform the piece, which was the basis of the work. We have done everything from Janáček Kreutzer Sonata, that one led to some really interesting stuff, really thought provoking. So that’s one type of event that lets us connect with the community. It’s great, it takes music out of silo of the concert hall and inspires interactions between people who might not generally interact. 15:52-20:23 Chamber Music Seminar:

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It is affiliated with the university in the sense that it’s hosted there, but it is entirely self-inflicted however. Again, it’s something we created, our own concept. It is the 18th or 19th year or something like that. There is a magical cross-pollination, sort of a hybrid program combining hot-shot young professionals mixed with people who do music because they love it, what we call the adult mature world, so it could be described in many ways. We get some support, but it is mostly funded through private donations, we get a little support from various grants at the University. We have one extremely generous private donor. I think some people often tend to have the impression that there is a top-down type of leadership in terms of funding, and in terms of dictating jobs, but my experience is that it’s more the ground swelling up, not the top reaching down. We have never been presented with a budget and been told: go spend this money, or hire these people, do these projects, it’s a matter of deciding what is important, and what do you want to make happen. None of us would want a board of people dictating to us who we should hire, how often we should rehearse. That’s a very different mindset than the orchestral world for instance, I mean theirs has to be that way because there are so many moving pieces, but our ethos is very much self-employed and start up. 20:30-22:52 Emerging String Quartet Program: Like with many of the projects that we have undertaken, the motivation was to address a gap that we saw in string quartet residency programs. We invite two groups, sometimes three groups, and we have them for a week to ten days, and we try to give them a very intense experience in a very short time. It’s modeled on the experiences we had when we were young, so basically drawing them into the fire in terms of giving them experiences with some type of community engagement with the idea that when they return home, they would take those experiences and those skills and go on to form similar bonds with their own community. Many of these groups have already had very deep experiences with community engagement, so this is more a way of giving them opportunities to fine-tune those skills. For some of them, it’s all brand new, so workshopping their own presentation skills. 22:53-24:09 Within the program, we give them a lot of coaching like you would get in a regular program, but we also try to give them a lot of opportunities to present in very different forums. They might be in the school, or another typical one would be in a seniors community, but we have sent them to connect with LGBTQ communities, homeless shelters, a women’s shelter, many tech communities, we have sent them to connect with incarcerated populations at two separate institutions, many on-campus venues. It’s just a matter of exposing them to a lot of varied platforms, to find a way to practice connecting with different communities. 24:14-25:52 The school is just one of many places that they play, and some schools in this area are K through 5, the K through 2 they might go and play for 20 minutes, and have 10 minutes worked in where they can chat and interact directly with the kids. They would play smaller portions, and this is

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something they figure out as they go, in terms of how much can we ask in terms of attention span in 5-7 year-olds. Sometimes it works really well and they guess correctly coming out of the block, and sometimes they learn the hard way that 45 minutes of late Beethoven is not the way to go. But it’s meant to be a trial and error, and for the most part, people have used these groups and the interactions have been wonderfully effective. It’s really interesting watching their trajectory from the beginning of the week to the end of the week, how they fine-tune and perfect their presentations. The older kids we generally find 45 minutes is an ok length, it just depends entirely on the community. We have them play at a linear accelerator laboratory where the people are passionate musicians, or have no connection to music whatsoever. We have had them play at a hospital series over the years, you know all kinds of stuff. 25:53-29:32 Some of them come with material that they have already worked out fairly deliberately, others come with more just broad strokes and some come with nothing and make it up on the fly. The success entirely depends on the dynamic of the quartet with their audience. I have to say some of them connected really well with their partner audiences, and some you can see have to work a little harder. One group might do really well with the Incarcerated population. And then they might go to the elementary school and the kids aren’t at all interested in what they have to say. I think what is most important from my point of view is just that they get lots of opportunity to practice it, to work out the bumps and wiggles that might happen. Our program is presented to our community as a win-win situation. Our community wins because we benefit from the raw energy of these young groups, and feel their culmination. The young groups benefit from these intense and densely paced opportunities, and also give them ample coaching hours as well as a formal recital. Over the years, we have tried to connect them with various campus friends and colleagues who might be strong advisors for them. For instance I know one group has gone on to take advantage of an introduction from a colleague here who works with incarcerated populations and she introduced them to the parole officer in another city or state and through that introduction, they were able to start their own programming for incarcerated populations and persons on parole. 29:34-32:19 We do all the legwork getting these interactions set up. We do it all. In the calendar year we might bring in one group in the autumn, and one group in the spring. A lot of it depends on the availability of us, the availability of the young quartet, the availability of our partners, the funding. Sometimes things just don’t come together. We had worked to bring a young quartet here last winter and we worked on it for a month, and in the end the scheduling just did not work. We had to put them off for 12 months. It is a huge amount of leg work. On the ground, we are very grateful to connect with really generous hosts. We have a couple who really love connecting with young musicians and artists, and has been really consistently supportive in offering their homes. Usually we can put 2 people at their house for a week or ten days, and then we try to find other places locally.

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Our expenses are very much grass roots continuum. We also give each of the members an honorarium of some kind, to help pay for their travel, and we fundraise for all of those. Again, nobody presents us with a cheque, if we want to do it, we have to find the funds. That means lots of things. 32:19-35:09 Azure Concert Series: This concert series came about as a result of our good friend Stephen Prutsman. His son A.J. has Autism, and he and his wife have both been very active in advocating for families with dependant members. He proposed it to me a few years ago, and has really been the driving force behind it. We put it in our calendars as something of an experiment, and it has gone on to have a great life. I think we do 4 concerts a year here, he does in San Francisco, and all over the world now. Groups who have participated in the Azure Concert Series have gone on to create their own concert series. Emerging groups all over who have participated here are bringing it back to their own communities, there is one in Toronto, one in Austin, Texas, Newark, the Ukraine, Korea. They are all over the place, it’s really great to see. Stephen has a special magic with these kids, but the model is so easily replicated if someone has an interest in re-creating it in other parts of the world. 35:10-37:36 Steve is our touchstone for knowing what is appropriate in these concerts, he sets the tone, and we learn from him to use the phrases “all behaviors are welcome” and “Shush proof concerts” He very quickly assures caregivers that dependants are completely free to move about as they need to, to vocalize as they need to, there is no effort to constrict them in any way. From an outsider standpoint, I think the room looks like complete chaos, but it’s community where kids and dependants can express themselves as they are moved to do. It is a concert in the sense that we play real music, there are real performers. They tend to be smaller excerpts, a movement of a piece, we try to do a varied program where we might have 6 or 7 groups come out and play one movement, or sometimes we have people come out and sing. It’s very celebratory and lighthearted. Sometimes they are encouraged rather than applauding to shake hands to the side to show appreciation. He always stocks a box of little fidget toys, squishy or tactile to play with, help them concentrate. It’s the kind of thing that’s best seen. 37:40-38:40 From the ground up, we give part of the seminar. The expenses are minimal because the physical space is part of the program, so we have that at our disposal. We might pay for a tech person, but our costs are low. We use an online ticket reservation system to keep an eye on numbers, we can’t fill a house with a crowd of special needs kids. You try to keep an eye on numbers and know who is coming. We just do it, expenses are minimal and we just sort of eat the cost. 38:50-46:08 ON HOLD 46:09-50:13 Masterclasses: They are set up sometimes by us, sometimes by an institution. When we have done them, they have been organized primarily by the concert presenting organization, and any alliance they may have with the local

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music university or School. Several times we have been in touch with a friend or colleague who lives locally, it’s more likely they have contacted us directly, and they have asked if we would present a masterclass while we were in town, but for the most part, if we do them, they are organized by the concert manager. In general my experience is that there is very little co- operation between the concert presenting organization and local universities / music schools / conservatories, which is always baffling. There is very little intersect there, in my experience.” 50:15-54:06 We have done everything under the sun as far as teaching or coaching arrangements. I would say it’s challenging to do a full quartet seminar with a class, I think it’s the most interesting of the options. Personally I prefer to do one-on-one, it just feels more comfortable, but I think as a participant, having the richness of an entire group there [is interesting]. It’s tricky, it’s an art to be able to work in a co-operative manner. It’s not an obvious route to success, it’s actually pretty challenging. I think there are a lot of interesting things one can do with students on the ground, again this is just sort of how my brain works. I am personally not that interested anymore in masterclasses. I think that it’s great that they exist, and great that a lot of people do them, some of my colleagues feel very interested and excited in doing them. I prefer to think about ways that we might engage the students and explore those instead. I think in many ways, an opportunity to engage with people can be more deeply rewarding than another opportunity for them to perform. I often think, what would I have loved the opportunity to do when I was a student, and that is often where my ideas form. So for instance, the seminars that we do [feel more important]. As we were coming up, masterclasses were exciting and valuable. They were not uncommon. What I certainly never had the opportunity to do, and what I had never considered at the time, was the opportunity to really deeply engage with people who were my mentors. Having the opportunity to really get up close and personal, to get an exchange with the Guarneri Quartet, hear them talk about their life, maybe do a play by play with them, see how they really dig into concerts and projects. I think a lot of people do the masterclass thing so well, and I am particularly interested in exploring other ways of engaging. 54:11-56:25 Canadian Music: We have played a lot of Canadian music over the last 3 decades. We have worked a lot with John Adams, and the last few years we have done a lot of new works. Speaking about working with new music, whether it’s Canadian or Albanian, one of the many great takeaways is learning how a composer thinks, and learning how a piece comes to life. Learning how seeing the music on the page is not always [an accurate representation of what they intend], I mean if you let the composer sing the part or describe the par to you in the way they hear it, there is a limited amount of information they can tap in. You realize that when you see a Henle edition of a Beethoven and there is a dot on the note, it doesn’t necessarily mean one thing, there is a deep possibility of exploration. We often try to take

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lessons from living composers and apply them to music where we no longer have the ability to connect with the composer. It’s really important for any artist. 56:26-58:01 School Shows: We definitely still give school shows as part of our regular season. We try to connect as much as possible. I really dislike the term school show. In the inner circle, we use these terms like “kiddie show” or “school show” but I think like any kind of title, the sentiment leaks down into the production. I wish we could come up with new words for these events. 58:03-1:00:33 We do give educational shows still and work at connecting with kids in a concert setting. I would say we give 4 or 5 per year, it sort of depends. It even depends on what you are calling a “kiddie show”. Depending on the event, we have done everything from a highly scripted Dr. Seuss show to a completely off the cuff, make it up as you go event. It really depends. I think it is important to stress to people who are interested in engaging with kids that there is no cookie cutter. Often people put the work into developing a highly scripted show. That can be really effective, but often what is more effective is really just presenting to them, the music on a human level, so they can see the effort, so they can see the physicality of it, connect with the music physiologically. Just being able to read the room. If the kids are completely engaged, then you can go a certain direction. If you are completely losing them, you need to be able to switch it up on a dime. And if you are following a script you can’t do that. At the same time, following a script is helpful in that it helps you to flesh out ideas and experiment, which is really what you have to do. 1:00:35-1:03:34 [We set these concerts up in a variety of different ways], everything is self- driven. Now, I would say most of the school engagements are undertaken by emerging string quartet groups, just because our lives are so heavily scheduled right now. We do an annual family community concert at Stanford that is done in conjunction with a club on campus. All the emerging string quartets engaging in these events are self-driven, meaning I or somebody has contact at a particular school. Recently, we went to a school in Redwood City, which was suggested to me by an old friend who is now volunteering there, in the middle school Shakespeare program. We just did a jail visit which was suggested to me by a colleague who works in the criminal justice system. We have had groups play for a divorce recovery group, and that was a member of the community reached out and asked if they could partner with us. 80% of it is our connections we have made by reaching out, and sending one email to say “can we come play for you” never works. It’s dozens of emails, and the reassurances that there is no cost, that it’s free and fully funded program. Respecting the importance of their educational time is really critical. Some schools are under great restrictions as to what they can allow for outside presentations. Some will instantly leap to their feet and say come spend as much time as you can, and others it’s just not in the cards. Again, it’s a matter of the bottom up,

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reaching out as much as possible, pouring a lot of energy into it, not expecting anyone to do anything for you. Self-employed mentality. 1:03:46-1:06:58 Importance of Community Engagement: There is really no one answer about [why we do this and why it’s important]. There are so many strong outspoken string quartets working their way up, just a fantastic number of really strong string quartets and other ensembles. Certainly for me, a lot of the struggle when I was coming up was how to find some kind of relevance with the world. We have that conversation a lot with these young groups who are coming in. Extraordinary young hot groups, there is only so much space on the concert stage. Many of those people have to become concert presenters, they need to become educators if they want people to be interested or even care about music. We all have to wear multiple hats if we want to be in this field. For me, a big issue was finding relevance, and trying to help these young groups find a place in the world. I am a passionate believer in the power of a string quartet to be nimble, effective, economical change makers in communities. They are able to make a strong impact. A lot of it comes from the mindset of the members themselves. Some people are really just interested in playing formal concerts, and they are really not interested in doing anything that is a little off the traditional expectation of how you would develop a career. For them, doing community engagement is a checked box. Other people, that’s really what motivates them is trying to find a way that they can make an impact, but in greater terms, finding relevance in their community. 1:08:32-1:10:04 Numbers really don’t show anything. Often, my experience is that organizations might be able to apply for a grant if they show that they are doing some sort of community building or whatever, but I have seen so much lame connecting with communities. They might present 8 events every year at the local community center, but do absolutely nothing in terms of connecting that to the bigger mission. If you just put up a sign and say, this particular young piano trio, world renowned, won a big competition, and they are playing a concert at the local synagogue at 4, that’s not community engagement. It’s nice, people show up and have that experience, but in my opinion, that’s not finding relevance, it’s just [checking boxes]. I’m not saying they shouldn’t do it, it just could go that much deeper, be that much more impactful. 1:11:08-1:12:29 Non-Music Majors: One thing we didn’t talk about which I think is really important is here at Stanford where we teach, almost none of our students are music majors. Almost all are something else, and that was a huge eye-opener when I first started there. It has been very influential in the kind of program we do moving forward. Some of the students are highly accomplished, and some are not at all, but they all come to their lesson or their chamber music group, or their concerts with very open minds, uncluttered from all the other things we all know happen to music performance majors. Keeping that scope in mind that there are people in our world who even though they

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may be heavily invested in off-shore drilling research or developing new medical technology or some other vocation, they often have already very deep connections and experiences with music. It’s about forming some kind of cobweb to pull us all together and connect us. 1:14:49-1:15:59 There are so many types of engagement that are so possible anywhere. We have so many great groups and I keep hoping that more people will be involved that way. 1:16:01-1:17:29 Incarcerated Populations: We have had really fantastic experiences dealing with incarcerated populations. We did a program, a really interesting program at the women’s correctional facility, outside of Anchorage at the Hiland Correctional Facility. They have a chamber orchestra there too I think. In many ways it echoes those same elements as [Sistema or Community Music Work’s] after school programing, where it has clearly become the focus of these women’s lives. It is and can be a really positive, rehabilitative and transformative experience. Hiland Correctional actually has a chamber orchestra in the facility itself where the women are incarcerated, I think there are two ensembles that the women play in. The women who leads the local high school orchestra works with them, and the women are permitted to keep their instruments in their rooms. They have a once per year fundraising concert.

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