PORT TOWNSEND — Master chamber music ensemble Dover Quartet are providing expert guidance to two student quartets this week as a part of Centrum’s Chamber Music Intensive.
Widely acclaimed and twice grammy-nominated, Dover Quartet is composed of violinist Joel Link, violinist Bryan Lee, violist Julianne Lee and cellist Camden Shaw.
Joining the quartet for the week is Lucinda Carver on piano. Carver is the program’s artistic director.
Of 11 quartets who applied from a range of prestigious music programs across the country, two were admitted to the annual program, Program Manager Gwen Franz said.
Both undergrad and graduate students apply for the intensive, Franz said. The students present at this year’s intensive are either graduate students or doctorate level students, she added.
“They are in that realm of the hard work that it takes to become a professional musician in the classical world,” Franz said.
Admitted to the program, which is all expenses paid, including travel, was the Amnis Piano Quartet from Yale University and the Shepherd String Quartet from the Shepherd School of Music at Rice University.
The Amnis Piano Quartet includes Minyung Lee on violin, Matthew McDowell on viola, Jenny Bahk on cello and Linda Lee on piano.
The Shepherd String Quartet includes Zhengnan ‘Eric’ Wang on violin, Laura Lee on violin, Ben Martz on viola and Juliana Moroz on cello.
Martz, who attended the intensive in 2022 that was also with the Dover Quartet said the experience is unlike anything else. Martz shared a meaningful lesson from the first few days of coaching.
“It’s kind of about finding a way to be so zoomed in and focused on the smallest details,” he said. “Obsessing about it and making every little part as beautiful as possible, as well as how to get out of ourselves and stop thinking about the very thing I just mentioned, and how we want to portray this to an audience of listeners, who won’t be thinking about a particular articulation or intonation. They are just focused on the experience.”
Both ends of the spectrum compliment each other, Martz said. The small, zoomed in details contribute to the overall effect, he added.
The viola doesn’t often get melody, Martz said.
“It’s a lot about how we can compliment those who do,” Martz said. “Either contrast them, or blend with them so they sound better, that’s a lot of my job as an inner voice.”
Playing in a way that adds interest to other musician’s parts is something that the Dover Quartet does very well, Martz said.
Another lesson, provided by Shaw, reminded the students of the narrative appeal of keeping things simple.
“Camden was telling us that the simplest stories are often the most entertaining,” Martz said. “If we try to change things too much or be too black and white on opposite sides of the spectrum, it can really be jarring, sometimes, for listeners.”
Some true and obvious lessons in classical music are repeated over and over again, Martz said. Receiving the lessons under the mentorship of the Dover Quartet carries a gravity, Martz said.
“When it comes from a group like (Dover Quartet), where this is the bread and butter of what they do, there is a certain weight to what they’re saying,” he said.
The two quartets bring pieces of music to the intensive to work on, Franz said.
Much of their time is spent in rehearsals and coaching sessions, but the intensive schedule also includes a workshop on the business side of a professional life of music, Franz said.
The professional life of a quartet musician requires more than the ability to play an instrument, Franz said.
“They also are needing to learn how to navigate the relationships,” Franz said. “It’s like having three other spouses. It’s like having a marriage of four people that are rehearsing and performing and traveling together, and doing business.”
In addition to a density of learning, the week provides the musicians with plenty of time to get to know each other, Franz said.
“It’s kind of like being at camp together,” she said. “We will have meals together and evenings together.”
On Thursday night, a master workshop is open to the public at 7:30 p.m. at the Wheeler Theater, 200 Battery Way.
“Each quartet will be on the stage at the Wheeler, one at a time, and the Dover Quartet will be in the audience,” Franz said. “They will perform one movement of their piece, and then the Dovers will critique that performance. Then they might choose to have the students focus on one particular aspect that they want them to improve or fix, or embellish somehow. They’ll give them that advice, and then the quartet will play that section again.With that piece of wisdom in their minds and their ears, it comes out differently. It’s amazing to watch how it changes.”
The event is free.
On Friday night at 7:30 p.m. at the Wheeler Theater, the Shepherd String Quartet will perform String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13 by Felix Mendelssohn and String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10 by Claude Debussy.
On Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at the Wheeler Theater, Amnis Piano Quartet will perform Piano Quartet in D minor by William Walton, Piano Quartet (2005) by Steven Stucky and Piano Quartet in E-flat Major, Op. 47 by Robert Schumann.
Tickets for Friday and Saturday night’s concerts are free, but reservations are recommended.
To reserve your ticket for Friday night go to https://centrum.org/event/chamber-music-series-intensive-showcase1/.
To reserve your ticket for Saturday night go to
https://centrum.org/event/chamber-music-series-intensive-showcase2/.
On Sunday at 2 p.m. at the Wheeler Theater, Dover Quartet will perform Quartet No. 1 (“Kreutzer Sonata”) by Leoš Janáček, String Quartet No. 12 by Antonín Dvořák and Piano Quintet in E-flat major, Op. 44 by Robert Schumann.
General admission costs $45 and youth are free. Tickets can be purchased at https://centrum.org/event/chamber-music-series-dover-string-quartet/.
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Reporter Elijah Sussman can be reached by email at elijah.sussman@sequimgazette.com
