CALIDORE STRING QUARTET

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1 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Critical Acclaim In the closing stretch of the Calidore Quartet s atmospheric reading of Ligeti s String Quartet No. 1, the cello suddenly seemed to malfunction. After a line wilted downward with an exhausted slide, the cellist Estelle Choi allowed her tone to flatline. Then, gradually, the held note seemed to revive through little pulsating additions of vibrato that sounded like musical CPR. Sure enough, the work s opening motif came back to life; soon after the whole ensemble rallied and carried the piece over the finish line. The New York Times May 19, 2017 The Calidore players brought rich sound and articulate grace to the piece, which ended the final concert of the 60th season of this important series. The New York Times May 10, 2017

2 SPECIAL FOCUS ON TEEN STRING PLAYERS WIN A PIRASTRO PERPETUAL VIOLIN GIFT PACK! PREP FOR (NEAR) PERFECTION: AVOIDING MISTAKES ONSTAGE Jan Vogler Seizes the Chance of a Lifetime Kim Kashkashian Comes Back to Bach Martin Hayes Quartet: Surprises from The Blue Room The Calidore String Quartet October 2018 No. 282 StringsMagazine.com Explores Music Born of Conflict

3 EDITOR S NOTE StringsMagazine.com CONTENT DEVELOPMENT Editor Megan Westberg Managing Editor Stephanie Powell Associate Editor Anna Pulley Production Manager Hugh O Connor Contributing Editors Cristina Schreil, James N. McKean, Darol Anger, Sarah Freiberg, Inge Kjemtrup, Louise Lee, Laurence Vittes, Brian Wise, Thomas May, Patrick Sullivan, Emily Wright Creative Services Creative Director Joey Lusterman Production Designer Olivia Wise SALES & MARKETING Chief Revenue Officer Lyzy Lusterman Sales Director Cindi Olwell Sales Managers Ref Sanchez, Amy-Lynn Fischer Marketing Services Manager Tanya Gonzalez Sales Associate Vanessa Averbeck Product Marketing Manager Kelsey Holt Subscription Marketing Manager Lauren Boyd Calidore String Quartet Customer Service Representative Gaby Garcia Single Copy Sales Consultant Tom Ferruggia The Calidore String Quartet just keeps winning... and winning... and winning: an Avery Fisher Career Grant, the inaugural $100,000 M-Prize competition, a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship, the Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, a residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center s CMS Two program, the honor of being named a BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artist. And that s not to mention triumphs at so many competitions, including the Fischoff. Curious to see them in action, we invited the Calidores to film a Strings Session in 2016, and you can view the results yourself at StringsMagazine.com/sessions. In person, they are charming and serious bright, professional, devastatingly focused. During a visit with London-based contributing editor Inge Kjemtrup, they detail the inspiration for their new album, Resilience, in this issue s cover story. It is a spirited conversation that reveals their easy camaraderie and deep respect for the music they play. Whereas the Calidores met as students and are forging a career together, another ensemble featured in this issue is made up of players who came together after establishing their own careers elsewhere. The Martin Hayes Quartet made up of Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, his longtime duo partner guitarist Dennis Cahill, violist Liz Knowles, and bass clarinetist Doug Wieselman will be touring the US this fall. Here Hayes and Knowles discuss taking an improvisational approach to playing Irish fiddle tunes, with each player bringing his or her unique musical background to the mix. The results were surprising, even to Martin Hayes. Of course, you also wouldn t want to miss violist Kim Kashkashian musing upon her new recording of the Bach Cello Suites; Jan Vogler s thoughts on seizing the day (and ending up with a Strad); a few strategies for recovering after a mistake in performance; a Teen Strings special section meant to inspire young players and the wonderful people who teach them; and all of the many other stories that fill Strings pages this month. As always, I d love to know what you think. Megan Westberg Stringletter.com Publisher and Editorial Director David A. Lusterman FINANCE & OPERATIONS Chief Operations Officer Anita Evans Accounting Associate Raymund Baldoza Bookkeeper Geneva Thompson General Inquiries AdminDept@stringletter.com Customer Service StringsService@Stringletter.com Advertising Inquiries Sales@Stringletter.com Send to individuals in this format: FirstName.LastName@Stringletter.com Front Desk (510) Customer Service (800) General Fax (510) Secure Fax (510) Mail & Shipping 501 Canal Boulevard, Suite J, Richmond, CA Printed in USA MARCO BORGGREVE TO SUBSCRIBE to Strings magazine, call (800) or visit us online at StringsMagazine.com. As a subscriber, you enjoy the convenience of home delivery and you never miss an issue. You can take care of all your subscription needs at our online Subscriber Services page (StringsMagazine.com/subscriberservices): pay your bill, renew, give a gift, change your address, and get answers to any questions you may have about your subscription. A single issue costs $7.99; an individual subscription is $30.00 per year; institutional subscriptions are also available. International subscribers must order airmail delivery. Add $15 per year for Canada/Pan Am, $30 elsewhere, payable in US funds on a US bank, or by Visa, MasterCard, or American Express. TO ADVERTISE in Strings, Strings Notes, and on StringsMagazine.com and connect with more than 200,000 string players, teachers, and members of the trade, please contact sales director Amy-Lynn Fischer at (510) or amy-lynn@stringletter.com. DISTRIBUTION Music retailers please go to Stringletter.com/Retailers. Strings articles are indexed in The Music Index and The Music Article Guide. Except as noted, all contents 2018 String Letter Publishing, Inc., David A. Lusterman, Publisher. No part of the contents may be reproduced, in print or electronically, without prior written permission. 10 October 2018 / Strings

4 MARCO BORGGREVE 16GOLD STAN October 2018 / Strings

5 DARDThe award-winning Calidore String Quartet s latest album highlights art resulting from conflict By Inge Kjemtrup StringsMagazine.com 17

6 Resilience is a hot topic. We speak with admiration of the resilience of individuals who emerge with strength and dignity from traumatic experiences. We urge parents to instill resilience in their children so they can develop the inner resources to cope with life s difficulties. One cannot predict the vagaries of life, the thinking goes, and so it seems wise to develop a tough yet flexible approach. Resilience is the secret weapon that will help you survive. Resilience is also the title of a new CD from the Calidore String Quartet, a young ensemble that is not only resilient but seemingly allconquering. Since they began in 2010 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the Calidores have been winning prizes and the admiration of critics and audiences alike. Taking home the $100,000 grand prize at the inaugural M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition in 2016 brought them worldwide attention. I meet the musicians violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry, and cellist Estelle Choi in a stylish London restaurant one hot July afternoon. They have just come from two concerts at the Cheltenham Festival and are preparing for a BBC Proms concert at Cadogan Hall. My first question is about the quartet s name. They explain that it s pronounced Calli-door and the name is a portmanteau of Cali from California and doré, which means golden in French. But fans beware: The origin story they tell may vary from one day to the next deliberately so, as first violinist Myers tells me: It was originally from a Keats poem about Sir Calidore he s a chivalrous knight. We had the name for a while and one of our mentors, Arnold Steinhardt of the Guarneri Quartet, told us to make up a different story every time anybody asked us where the name came from. Second violinist Meehan volunteers, Someone after a concert once told us that in Greek it means beautiful gift. Violist Berry adds agreeably, And that works, too. The four players first joined forces as students at the Colburn School. Though they agree that their time in Los Angeles was the making of them, none are native Angelenos: Choi hails from Calgary, while Myers comes from Columbus, Ohio, Meehan from Florida, and Berry from Bellingham, Washington. Choi and Myers had played together in another MARCO BORGGREVE 18 October 2018 / Strings

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8 quartet, and pulled in Berry and Meehan, the latter a friend of Myers since high school. The quartet s resilience and determination seem to have developed early on. As Meehan tells it, A few months after we formed, we took this oath to each other that this was going to be our number one priority. Any solo engagements, anything else we had was going to be secondary, because you need that kind of commitment from all four people to be successful. At Colburn, their mentors included Quatuor Ebène, the French quartet that rocketed to the top of the chamber-music world with its exuberant yet exacting playing. Meehan recalls, They taught us a lot of the fundamentals of quartet playing, plus a lot about intonation, which explains the Calidore s noticeably in-tune sound. The two quartets performed the Mendelssohn Octet together one summer at the Verbier Festival in Switzerland. It was at Verbier where the Calidores worked with legendary chamber-music coach Gábor Takács-Nagy. He was so much about trying to find spontaneity in the music, bringing the music to life, never repeating things the same way twice, says Meehan. These are concepts that we still hold really closely to our hearts because that s the magic of his music making. They also hew to Takács-Nagy s thoughts about the life of a string quartet. Choi says, I remember one of the things he told us: Just remember if you are frustrated with someone, in all likelihood that person is equally as frustrated with you. So just keep that in mind when things start to get tense in rehearsals or if there is an argument going on, to look at it from another perspective as well. The Calidores have entered many competitions, claiming victory often. Their recent triumphs include the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, the 2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award, and the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship in the UK. They also became BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, which gave them recording opportunities, concerts, and broadcasts. Yet at the time of the M-Prize, they were, according to Myers, on hiatus from doing competitions; we had gotten a little burnt out. But when someone announces they re going to give away $100,000 for a chamber-music competition... Though now based in New York City, the quartet says that Los Angeles, where they started, will always be a part of us, as Meehan puts it. Because of the tremendous amount of support that we received from the Colburn School and our supporters in the area, we do feel a kinship with the city. So why did they leave? Myers jokes, We got sick and tired of the beautiful weather. Resilience, recorded in a quiet studio in a corner of Suffolk, came out of the quartet s experiences during the presidential election in Post-election, on a West Coast tour, they sensed the concert atmosphere had changed. All of a sudden we weren t feeling any kind of activity or very rich and powerful sound Alexander Mishnaevski, Principal Viola, Detroit Symphony Orchestra ph luisandclark.com 20 October 2018 / Strings

9 emotional response from the audience when we walked on the stage, recalls Meehan. As we played we found not only did we feel better immersed in the music, but we felt and this was verbalized after the concert from the audience, This is what I needed today. It was hard to get out of bed. Of course we were in a very liberal setting. But across the board, this election exposed a lot of the philosophical conflicts in our society. It was kind of the pinnacle of the tension, this election. Choi explains, In a time when we re so hyper aware of what s happening in the world, there is a certain feeling of powerlessness because we don t have control over so many of these elements. How do we gain control of who we are, what we do, and our place in society? What are we contributing? That s when we started thinking about music, and how the music brings the best out of people, thinking about composers themselves facing intense difficulties, whether it s inner conflict or outside conflict. They chose four pieces that show how beautiful art can emerge from conflict and tragedy: Prokofiev s Quartet No. 2, Op. 92, Janacek s Quartet No. 1 Kreutzer Sonata, Osvaldo Golijov s Tenebrae, and Mendelssohn s searing Quartet No. 6, Op. 80. Violist Berry points out the importance of the backstories for these pieces: Mendelssohn: going through a personal crisis after his sister passed away. Prokofiev: in World War II. If you listen to the Janacek and you haven t read the Tolstoy novella, you could almost write the novella yourself because the music is so incredibly clear. In Tenebrae, Golijov combines the memory of taking his son to the NYC planetarium for the first time and seeing the earth as a tiny blue dot in space with his memory of a visit to Israel during a wave of violence in that country. I think the Golijov really synthesizes the message of the album, says Meehan. Here s an instance of somebody in a really violent circumstance in the middle of a war that breaks out while he s in Israel. He finds himself a week later back in New York and seeing the awe of his child. The juxtaposition of the two that When we first started the piece, it was like trying to decipher a completely new language. It took us a while to get our footing, but once you tie in the narrative of the story, it all comes alive. Jeffrey Myers StringsMagazine.com 21

10 this can be happening while this happens is kind of the message of this album. That this art can be created amid this turmoil. Prokofiev, who evacuated in 1941 from Moscow to Kabardino-Balkar Republic, drew upon local folk sources for his Second Quartet. It would make sense for him to have written something kind of bleak, given the circumstances, says Choi, but instead he turns to the music of the people folk tunes, folk rhythms and using his own unique voice weaves something that has this optimism to it, something that can bring hope to the people. Meehan notes that optimistic exterior belies undercurrents in passages that really have a barbed sting in them... it s trying to force a smile in a way. Janacek s First Quartet, in which the composer draws parallels to his hopeless love for a young married woman and Tolstoy s Kreutzer Sonata novella, is the newest addition to their repertoire. When we first started the piece, it was like trying to decipher a completely new language, comments Myers. It took us a while to get our footing, but once you tie in the narrative of the story, it all comes alive. The Calidores had coaching on the Janacek from Eugene Drucker of the Emerson String Quartet. Gene pushed us at the beginning to really make the extreme very evident, to not shy away from the ponticello, to make that as evident as possible, says Meehan. As string players you always work so hard to make everything sound beautiful and nice but you have to know how to be raw when the composer asks for it. Mendelssohn s final completed quartet closes the CD. His Op. 13 quartet was one of the first pieces they played, so his music is almost part of our DNA says Choi. (Last year they performed the full cycle of six quartets.) I remember the first time we read Op. 80, says Meehan. I think we all had such a clear idea, after so many years of listening to it and planning to learn it, about how we wanted it to go, and we came to a collective consensus very quickly, almost within the first rehearsal, about how we wanted it to be. It was very exciting. We had it all burning in our heads about how we wanted to realize it. Then to finally play it together was cathartic. My interview with the Calidores ends as they have to leave for rehearsal. I see them next onstage at Cadogan Hall playing Schumann s Piano Quintet, with pianist Javier Perianes, and a triptych of American composer Caroline Shaw s Essays for string quartet. Choi is a longtime friend of Shaw s and the group admires and has commissioned her work. We always try to commission at least a few works a year, with a push to try to get female composers, because they are so underrepresented, says Choi. Look for the Calidore to be playing music by Anna Clyne and Hannah Lash soon. (Fanny Mendelssohn s only string quartet is in their repertory as well.) Self-assured, mutually supportive, creative, grateful for all the guidance they have had: The Calidores would seem to have the resilience they need for a long and fruitful musical career. n 22 October 2018 / Strings

11 Press Release CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Resilience DEBUT RECORDING WITH SIGNUM RECORDS TO BE RELEASED WORLDWIDE OCTOBER 12, 2018 Sergei Prokofiev String Quartet No.2 in F major, Op.92 Kabardinian Osvaldo Golijov Tenebrae Leoš Janáček String Quartet No.1 Kreutzer Sonata Felix Mendelssohn String Quartet No 6 in F minor, Op.80 We offer our performances of quartets by Mendelssohn, Prokofiev, Golijov and Janáček as a message of hope because they illuminate the human potential to create beauty, even in the darkest of circumstances. Calidore String Quartet Self-assured, mutually supportive, creative, grateful for all the guidance they have had: The Calidores would seem to have the resilience they need for a long and fruitful musical career. Strings Magazine, October 2018 New York, NY August 22, 2018 In a world of dissonance and conflict combined with omnipresent media reporting, the unrelenting noise of social and political discord seems to be ever increasing. But the power of creativity inherent in music can provide balm and respite. This is the strong belief of the young players of the celebrated Calidore String Quartet and is their motivation for selecting this compelling repertoire for Resilience, their debut CD on Signum Records to be released worldwide on October 12. The Calidore String Quartet is a recent Avery Fisher Career Grant and Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award recipient, and Grand-Prize winner of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition. The multiaward-winning ensemble is based in New York and already recognized as one of America s foremost quartets with a steadily growing reputation in Europe and the UK where it is currently part of the BBC New Generation Artists scheme and a recent winner of a Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. The players wanted to find their own musical standpoint in the current environment of unrest and division, so they identified four masterworks from great composers who, whether in the midst of personal emotional turmoil or external conflict, seemed to find a cathartic path towards optimism through music.

12 In Mendelssohn s String Quartet op. 80, composed in the wake of his beloved sister s untimely death in 1847, the turbulence of grief and anger gives way to a sense of nostalgia and tenderness in the third movement to bring some sense of consolation. Janáček poured out his tumultuous feelings of unrequited love in his first string quartet based on Tolstoy s novella The Kreutzer Sonata, a narrative that reflected his own frustration at being trapped in a loveless marriage while hopelessly in love with a younger woman. Argentine composer Golijov was inspired by two contrasting experiences - one of violence in the Middle East and another of tranquillity in a planetarium - for his quartet Tenebrae, a study of conflict between the big-picture serenity of earth viewed from space and the close-up reality of pain and discord that troubles so much of the world. Decades before during the German army s destruction of his Soviet homeland in 1941, Prokofiev was evacuated to the Kabardino-Balkar Republic, where he found a degree of emotional respite by immersing himself in the Kabardino folk rhythms and melodies to create a new palette of textures and sounds for his second String Quartet. The Calidore String Quartet s recording on Signum Records has been supported by the Borletti-Buitoni Trust. Rebecca Davis for the Calidore String Quartet T E. rebecca@rebeccadavispr.com Debra Boraston for Borletti-Buitoni Trust T. +44 (0) M. +44 (0) E. debra@henrymoorestudio.co.uk CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Jeffrey Myers violin Ryan Meehan violin Jeremy Berry viola Estelle Choi cello The Calidore String Quartet has been praised by the New York Times for its deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct and by the Los Angeles Times for its balance of intellect and expression. After their Kennedy Center debut the Washington Post proclaimed that Four more individual musicians are unimaginable, yet these speak, breathe, think and feel as one The grateful audience left enriched and, I suspect, a little more human than it arrived. The Calidore String Quartet has enjoyed an impressive number of accolades, including the 2018 Avery Fisher Career Grant, and the 2017 Lincoln Center Emerging Artist Award. The Calidore made international headlines as the winner of the $100,000 Grand-Prize of the 2016 M-Prize International Chamber Music Competition, the largest prize for chamber music in the world. The quartet was also the first North American ensemble to win the Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship and was named BBC Radio 3 New Generation Artists, an honor that brings with it recordings, international radio broadcasts and appearances in Britain's most prominent venues and festivals is the Calidore s third year in residence with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center s CMS Two program. Within two years of their founding in 2010, the Calidore String Quartet won grand prizes in virtually all the major U.S. chamber music competitions, including the Fischoff, Coleman, Chesapeake, and Yellow Springs competitions and captured top prizes at the 2012 ARD Munich International String Quartet Competition and Hamburg International Chamber Music Competition.

13 The Calidore String Quartet regularly performs in prestigious venues throughout North America, Europe and Asia such as Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Konzerthaus, Brussels BOZAR, Cologne Philharmonie, Seoul s Kumho Arts Hall and at many significant festivals, including the BBC Proms, Verbier, Ravinia, Mostly Mozart, Music@Menlo, Rheingau, East Neuk and Festspiele Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. The Calidore have given world-premieres of works by Caroline Shaw, Hannah Lash and Benjamin Dean Taylor. The Calidore has collaborated with many esteemed artists and ensembles, including Jean-Yves Thibaudet, Joshua Bell, David Shifrin, Inon Barnatan, Paul Coletti, David Finckel, Wu Han, Paul Neubauer, Ronald Leonard, Paul Watkins, and the Emerson and Ebéne Quartets, among others. The Calidore has studied closely with such luminaries as the Emerson Quartet, David Finckel, Andre Roy, Arnold Steinhardt, Günther Pichler, Guillaume Sutre, Paul Coletti, Ronald Leonard and the Quatuor Ebène. As a passionate supporter of music education, the Calidore String Quartet is committed to mentoring and educating young musicians, students and audiences. The Calidore serves as visiting guest artists at the University of Delaware School of Music and has conducted master classes and residencies at Princeton, Stanford, the University of Michigan, Stony Brook University and UCLA. Using an amalgamation of California and doré (French for golden ), the ensemble s name represents a reverence for the diversity of culture and the strong support it received from its home of origin, Los Angeles, California, the golden state. deep reserves of virtuosity and irrepressible dramatic instinct New York Times balance of intellect and expression Los Angeles Times the epitome of confidence and finesse Gramophone

14 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Daily Hampshire Gazette May 10, 2017 A new quartet ends the season for Valley Classical Concerts BY MARK MORFORD The final concert of the season of Valley Classical Concerts was given at Sage Hall of Smith College on May 6, by the Calidore Quartet, an ensemble new to the Pioneer Valley. Its members have been playing together since 2010, and they are still young (by the standards of string quartets), mature, and totally at one with their music. The audience listened in absolute silence (a rare thing as winter ends) and gave them a well-deserved standing ovation at the concert s end. The first part of the program was devoted to Dvorak and Ligeti, composers whose lives were a century apart. Dvorak s American Quartet, composed at Spillville, Iowa in 1893, is the best known of his chamber works and therefore demands perfection from its performers. From the moments when the viola (Jeremy Berry) announced the theme of the first movement, it was clear that an evening of great music-making lay ahead. The music passed from one instrument to another seamlessly, while the two inner instruments always the heart of a quartet were constantly supportive. In this quartet the cello (Estelle Choi) has several beautiful solos, which she played movingly, yet never forgetting her place in the ensemble. Ms. Choi introduced Ligeti s first quartet, composed in with the title Metamorphoses Nocturnes. Indeed, the quartet was based on a simple six-note theme, which Ligeti reshaped in many of its over 700 possible forms. The Communist regime of Horvath was at its most repressive in the 1950s and performance of the music of Bartok was forbidden, denying Ligeti any chance to hear the music of Hungary s most important composer. Yet he managed to obtain the score of Bartok s first string quartet and hear it in his head, so that Bartok strongly influenced him. After the sunny optimism of Dvorak s quartet the austere, yet rich, sounds of Ligeti s music brought home to the audience the extent to which the world had changed in the sixty years between the two works. Ligeti s music was played with sympathy and passion, and the ensuing Intermission was needed. The final work in the program was Mendelssohn s first quartet of his Opus 44, placed first, yet the last to be composed. It is a huge and joyful work, hardly anticipating Mendelssohn s tragic death nine years later, at the age of 38 in The work was introduced by Ryan Meehan, the Quartet s second violin, while his colleague and first violin, Jeffrey Myers, spoke to us rather through his many very difficult transitional and solo passages throughout the four movements of the work. Mendelssohn was master of the scherzo, literally a playful movement, usually second or third in a quartet. Yet he chose not to compose one for this quartet, and instead composed a minuet, dignified and moving quite slowly. Here and in the next movement, which was marked Andante ( walking or moving at a moderate pace ), were the highlights of the concert gentle music played as if the players were themselves part of the music. What an evening! We all forgot the world outside and were immersed in the privilege of hearing great music. Let us hope that the Calidore Quartet will return to Valley Classical Concerts.

15 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET New York Classical Review November 21, 2016 CMS reflects enjoyably on Beethoven, Mendelssohn, and Jewish themes BY DAVID WRIGHT It was best not to reflect too much on Reflections, the title the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center gave the program it performed Sunday afternoon in Alice Tully Hall. While one was puzzling over the relationship between a sonata by the young Beethoven and a string quartet by the very young Mendelssohn inspired by the very old Beethoven, one could miss some fine performances. And in the program s second half, attractive works by Bloch, Prokofiev and Paul Schoenfield demonstrated how unrelated in style three pieces based on Jewish melodies could be. No matter it all made for an agreeably diverse afternoon of chamber music, beginning, as so many programs do, with an early violin-and-piano sonata by Beethoven, in this case Op. 12, No. 3 in E-flat major. With the titanic sounds of the later Beethoven in our ears, it would be easy to think of a piece like this as a mere appetizer, instead of the ambitious, in-your-face statement it was in Violinist Ida Kavafian and pianist Anne- Marie McDermott avoided that trap, firing off the first movement s sforzandos and sudden modulations with gusto (though shortchanging the audience a bit by omitting the exposition repeat). Beethoven s slow movements in this period included some of his broadest, deepest, most heart-on-sleeve utterances ever. They can be hard to hold together in performance, and on Sunday this sonata s Adagio con molta espressione, while expressively played in its details, lacked the long line that can hold an audience spellbound. In contrast, the Rondo finale lacked nothing in wit, rhythmic verve, and yes, even the long view to the spirited conclusion. In his String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, one heard the 18-year-old Mendelssohn, aflame with the discovery of J.S. Bach and the late quartets of Beethoven, trying on those styles for size. Although we now know those clothes didn t fit him very well, he was convincing enough in this work to inspire accolades from scholars and audiences ever since. The quartet is framed at beginning and end by a vibrant Adagio in A major, in which the Calidore String Quartet Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violins, Jeremy Berry, viola, and Estelle Choi, cello demonstrated its splendidly matched tone, sounding like a single instrument instead of four. The mode shifted to minor for the first movement s Allegro vivace and stayed there for most of the rest of the work, both signaling the seriousness of the young composer s intentions and adding extra bite to his scintillating effects, deftly rendered by the group.

16 Calidore String Quartet New York Classical Review November 21, 2016 page 2 of 3 In the Adagio non lento, a sighing theme is interrupted by a disconsolate, chromatic fugue, which returns at the end for a tender reconciliation in the major key. The players caught all the swings of mood from Mendelssohnian lyricism to Beethoven-like wintry rumination. The Intermezzo offered a high-stepping little tune with pizzicato accompaniment, again in minor, that put one in mind of Bizet or Tchaikovsky in their lighter moods. Then, no doubt under Beethoven s influence, the first violin stepped forward as protagonist of the finale, with an impassioned initial recitative and later a solo cadenza to usher in the coda. In between, the stormy Presto was as clear and bracing as the winter wind. A final blessing from the opening Adagio concluded the Calidore s rich and convincing performance. There is a difference between a recital piece and chamber music, and one was reminded of it by the rather deferential treatment given by violinist Kavafian and pianist McDermott to the Nigun movement of Ernest Bloch s Baal Shem: Three Pictures of Hassidic Life. Composed by Bloch for a virtuoso colleague s recital, this boldly expressive, not to say flashy, piece seemed to call for a Heifetz, or at least some Heifetzian look-at-me attitude, rather than chamber-music collegiality. That said, the colleagues Kavafian and McDermott managed quite a forceful performance. In contrast, Prokofiev s Overture on Hebrew Themes for Clarinet, String Quartet, and Piano was chamber music through and through, composed for some of the composer s old conservatory pals who had formed a band to play Jewish music. Prokofiev, then in the midst of ambitious operatic and symphonic projects, was bemused by the success of this modest piece, in which a droll little dance and a more lyrical melody alternated until the composer declared The End in a comically abrupt coda. Except for its Middle-Eastern-tinted tunes, this music was straight-up Prokofiev, no klezmer in sight, as it stepped along with ballet-like delicacy of pace and sentiment. The tone of David Shifrin s clarinet, sounding the main theme in its lowest register, was pure chocolate cream. Shifrin then proved his versatility, to put it mildly, by growling and screeching his way through Paul Schoenfield s Trio for Clarinet, Violin, and Piano, one of that composer s characteristic mash-ups of Brahmsian chamber-music style with klezmer exuberance. In the furious first movement of this 1986 piece, Shifrin and Kavafian proved to be world-class note-benders. Alas, piano notes don t bend, but pianist McDermott did execute some nifty blurring and sliding maneuvers, especially in the second movement s march. The third movement was the second Nigun of the afternoon variously translated as song or improvisation in which clarinet and violin intertwined over a very slow beat, two to a bar. After a brief surge of passion, the music became even more languid, almost motionless by the close. McDermott s brilliant, incisive playing drove the closing Kozatske (Cossack Dance) through abruptly shifting rhythms and moods. The three players toyed with the listener, halting the music when it seemed about to run ahead, but finally delivering the coda on an exciting crescendo.

17 Calidore String Quartet New York Classical Review November 21, 2016 page 3 of 3 Meanwhile, any remaining thoughts of how Beethoven and Mendelssohn were reflected in all this seemed to fly skyward with the clarinet s wail.

18 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Los Angeles Times November 7, 2016 With remarkable concert at Soka, the young Calidore String Quartet declares: Take note BY TIMOTHY MANGAN The Calidore String Quartet gave a discerning and absorbing concert Sunday afternoon at the Soka Performing Arts Center in Aliso Viejo, concentrating on simple and direct expression and never exaggerating for drama or effect. This is an unusual accomplishment for such a young ensemble, formed just six years ago at the Colburn Conservatory of Music. These musicians Ryan Meehan and Jeffrey Myers on violin, Jeremy Berry on viola and Estelle Choi on cello have had a breakout year, winning the $100,000 M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition and launching a threeyear residency with the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, among other accomplishments. Their program Sunday featured two canonical works of the chamber music repertoire, by Beethoven and Schumann, sandwiching the world premiere of Caroline Shaw s First Essay, a co-commission of Soka and Coretet, a program encouraging the creation of new chamber music. Shaw, on hand for the occasion, was the youngest winner, at 30, of the Pulitzer Prize for music in 2013 for her far-flung Partita for 8 Voices. Her wide-ranging bio lists composer, violinist and singer among her professional pursuits, as well as collaborator with Kanye West. First Essay is her fifth work for string quartet. In spoken remarks and in a program note, Shaw said the piece was inspired by the writing of Marilynne Robinson, specifically its lilt and rhythm, which she attempted to capture in her music. She also wanted to catch something of the essayist s way of suddenly opening trap doors, of changing the subject as it were without losing the line of thought. It is difficult to say if Shaw succeeded in her quest. First Essay, on first acquaintance, at least, seems a mild and modest work, hardly the stuff of grand designs. (There is talk in the program note of the Tower of Babel, chaos and fragmentation too.) It opens with something resembling a pop tune, in fact, with a nice little catchy pulse. Soon enough, this changes direction, though, the music literally bending into another sphere, but the narrative remains melodious, tonal and even pastoral through various creative scorings. Nothing wrong with that, of course. The threat of minimalism is never far away, and parts of the score remind me of John Adams or Arvo Pärt. The piece is euphonious, affectionate and beautifully scored for strings. But at a mere eight minutes, it s not around long enough to make a huge impression. I really liked your song, one audience member told the composer after the performance. Perhaps it will eventually become the first movement of a suite. The Calidores already had it well under their fingers.

19 Calidore String Quartet Los Angeles Times November 7, 2016 page 2 of 2 They opened with Beethoven s String Quartet in D, Op. 18, No. 3, part of the set that was his first foray into the genre. Haydn was still alive and writing when Beethoven wrote them and they are very Haydnesque, on steroids almost, seemingly determined to outdo the master. The Calidore players chose to play it in the manner of Haydn rather than as a preview of Beethovenian things to come, and here it seemed the right choice, a choice that traced the composer s mastery of a style not ultimately his and from which he would turn in his next set of string quartets. That is to say that the Calidores were remarkable for the precision of their expression, their understated but relentless intensity. Dynamics were honored but never overdone. Articulations were pointed but never dry. The phrasing breathed easily. This kind of playing paid dividends in Schumann s String Quartet No. 3 as well, a piece, as it happens, that draws on the quartets of Haydn and Beethoven, though with a more lyrical bent. In these players hands, we were given the structural underpinnings of the piece as well as the songful tunes. In short, the Calidores balanced intellect and expression in such a way as to make them a pleasure to hear all afternoon. Keep your ears out for these young musicians.

20 NEWS & NOTES JEFFREY FASANO The Calidores: Cellist Estelle Choi (left), violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, and violist Jeremy Berry STRIKING GOLD The M-Prize-winning Calidore String Quartet bids Stony Brook adieu with Carnegie Hall debut By Cristina Schreil Call it a golden moment. Ending its two-year artistic residency at Stony Brook University, the Calidore String Quartet named after California and the French word for gold made its Carnegie Hall debut on May 10. The performance in Weill Recital Hall occurred as the celebrated quartet looks toward a new residency at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II this fall. Pulling together a program of chambermusic masterpieces, the quartet performed Mozart s String Quartet in D major, K. 575, Mendelssohn s String Quartet in F minor, Op. 80, and Hindemith s String Quartet No. 4, Op. 22. In an encore performance, the Calidores played the first movement of Haydn s String Quartet in C major, Op. 33, No. 3, The Bird. While at Stony Brook, the Calidore s first violinist Jeffrey Myers, second violinist Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry, and cellist Estelle Choi worked closely with the renowned Emerson Quartet and its former member, cellist David Finckel. They also mentored undergraduate students and conducted community outreach. Backstage after the concert, the Calidores say the residency afforded many of their first teaching experiences. Myers says working with Finckel and the Emerson Quartet s violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton, and cellist Paul Watkins helped them grow tremendously. Meehan reflects that the works played that evening held a special significance as U OF MICHIGAN LAUNCHES NEW DEPARTMENT Violinist-violist Matt Albert has been appointed as the chair of the University of Michigan s new chamber-music department. Albert is a founding member of sextet Eighth Blackbird, and will begin his role in September CURTIS INSTITUTE RECEIVES $55 MILLION GIFT Curtis Institute of Music board member Nina Baroness von Maltzahn has gifted the esteemed institution $55 million. The school plans to dedicate two projects to von Maltzahn: the Nina von Maltzahn String Quartet Program and Curtis on Tour, the Nina von Maltzahn Global Initiative. 10 August 2016 / Strings StringsMagazine.com

21 the ensemble ends one chapter and begins another. Of course the music continually inspires us to play our best, but something really special happened tonight. I think because of the occasion, we really found the tragedy and the sorrow in the music, Meehan says. But it was exhilarating at the same time. Like his colleagues, Meehan stresses that the Emerson members guidance was vital. They know all the pieces like the back of their hands, so they can give us fingerings for literally any piece we bring to them. It s very, very helpful the practical things, you know? he says. The Calidore String Quartet will remain at the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center II for the seasons. The program is seen as a catalyst for young artists careers in chamber-music performance, and members participate in New York concert series, tours, recordings, and concert broadcasts. Another facet of the residency will be conducting youth outreach. Choi says the quartet has seen the impact of these interactions in the past. I think what s important is being able to relate the music to everyday life, demonstrating that these composers were human beings, and they experienced life a few hundred years before us but they still went through the same emotions, she says. The students that we ve been able to play for, they re so smart, and I think we don t give them enough credit for being able to pick up on really difficult concepts that can seem complex. But they know they come along on the ride with us. A quartet of instruments by French luthier Christophe Landon Meehan notes the esteemed colleagues they ll collaborate with through the new residency, such as clarinetist David Shifrin, pianist Anne-Marie McDermott, and violist Paul Neubauer. We re really excited about meeting all of them and playing with them, he says. Berry adds, It s almost a little bit surreal, seeing our names on the program with these guys that we ve been listening to for maybe the last 15 years or so. And the Calidore members won t be saying goodbye to their Emerson mentors for long; the two ensembles will reunite for late-october concerts at Lincoln Center celebrating the Emerson Quartet s 40th anniversary. The Calidore Quartet formed at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles in Amid the top prizes received at many national chamber-music competitions, the quartet was named one of the 2016 Borletti- Buitoni Trust Award winners. And nine days after their Carnegie Hall debut, the ensemble learned it had won the inaugural M-Prize from the University of Michigan s School of Music, Theatre & Dance. The prize means $100,000 and multiple performance opportunities. Despite the numerous accolades, Meehan acknowledged that being an emerging chamber-music group is not without challenges. It s so competitive out there and it s nice to have a support network, he says. The Schumann Quartet, founded in Germany, is set to enter the program at the same time. Both ensembles were selected from an international pool of applicants. MILESTONES The copyright on Ravel s Bolero has expired. It is in public domain as of May 1. Cellist Thomas Mesa, first-place winner of the 2016 Sphinx Competition s Senior Division, has received Sphinx s inaugural Robert Frederick Smith Prize of $50,000 for professional development. Violinist Klaus Maetzel, cofounder of the Alban Berg Quartet, died on May 4. He was 75. Maetzel studied at the University of Music and Performing Arts in Vienna and was the former concertmaster of the Vienna Symphony Orchestra. THE AFVBM TALKS TRADE IN BERKELEY The American Federation of Violin and Bow Makers (AFVBM) met in Berkeley in late May to talk about all things technical and trade related. Speakers were drawn from the organization s membership, and the meeting s sessions ran the gamut from an interactive presentation from Boston-based luthier Kevin Kelly on the intricacies of soundhole design, and Northern California based luthier Andrew Carruthers talk on cello-rib repair to larger issues that concern the stringed-instrument and bow-making trade, such as new rules with regard to ivory and other regulated materials, ethical business practices, and legal issues that may arise for members of the trade handling or repairing historic instruments. The sessions were lively and well attended, seasoned with a warm sense of camaraderie it was scene of intense, but friendly discourse on the subjects that absorb instrument and bow makers every day. Love for their work, and the desire to do it well and responsibly, defined the spirit of the proceedings. Violinist Kyung Wha Chung will open Switzerland s Verbier Festival in July, and is scheduled to perform Brahms Violin Concerto on opening night followed by performances of Fauré, Prokofiev, and Franck the next day. StringsMagazine.com Strings / August

22 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET The Mercury News July 23, 2016 Review: Music at Menlo draws elegant links from Mozart to his admiring Russians BY GEORGIA ROWE This year's festival is all about Russian music, but Friday evening's concert, titled "Elegant Emotion," started with Mozart. If that seems counterintuitive, the reasons quickly became clear. Tchaikovsky's idol was Mozart, who was also a primary influence on the evening's other composers, Mendelssohn and Glinka. Making those kinds of links is par for the course at Menlo, the annual South Bay chamber music festival and institute that places high value on context and connections. The festival's founders, cellist David Finckel and pianist Wu Han, want their audiences to experience something more than beautiful sounds -- although, with the Calidore String Quartet among the featured performers, there were plenty of beautiful sounds on this splendid program at the Menlo-Atherton Center for Performing Arts. "Elegant Emotion" was an apt title for the program, which started with Mozart's String Quintet No. 5 in D Major and went on from there to illustrate how the beauty and elegance of the composer's music had a profound and lasting effect on works by Mendelssohn, Glinka, and Tchaikovsky. Even as the evening's lineup drew intriguing connections between the composers represented, the performances themselves evoked a deep well of feeling that built from one piece to the next as the concert progressed. If Finckel and Wu Han excel at assembling interesting programs, they've also proven adept at attracting top-flight artists to the festival. Dozens of acclaimed chamber musicians are on the schedule this year. But the Calidore String Quartet may prove the hottest of this year's attractions. The foursome -- violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry, and cellist Estelle Choi -- have been much in the news lately. Founded in 2010 at the Colburn School in Los Angeles, the quartet won two big awards this year: the $100,000 grand prize at the inaugural M-Prize Chamber Music competition, as well as England's coveted Borletti-Buitoni Trust Fellowship. In their Bay Area debut on Friday's program, it was easy to see what the fuss is about. In the first half, the Calidore gave a thrilling performance of Mendelssohn's String Quartet in D Major, Op. 44, No. 1. The sleek attacks and precision dynamics of the work's outer movements offered marked contrast to the spun-gold sound of Mendelssohn's inner writing. The quartet, buoyed by the warmth and eloquence of Myers' solo violin contributions, brought out the work's charms in abundance. They returned in the second half to play Tchaikovsky's First String Quartet. Tchaikovsky made this luminous 1871 score a heart-on-the-sleeve tribute to his idol Mozart, and the Calidores sounded wonderfully spontaneous in its zesty first movement. The melancholy, often-excerpted Andante cantabile, based on an old Russian folk song, famously

23 Calidore String Quartet The Mercury News July 23, 2016 page 2 of 2 brought Tolstoy to tears at one of its early performances; here, it sounded irresistible -- exquisitely shaped and filled with emotion. The low strings shone in the third movement, and the foursome blazed through the ebullient finale. If the evening's opening performance of the Mozart Quintet paled somewhat in comparison, it still got the program off to a lively start. Violinists Paul Huang and Ani Kavafian, violists Matthew Lipman and Paul Neubauer and former Tokyo String Quartet cellist Clive Greensmith wended their way through the score, from serene introduction to cascading finale, in graceful accord. Just as rewarding was the brief but beguiling appearance of pianist Michael Brown, who made a delightful traversal of Glinka's "Variations on a Theme of Mozart" in E-flat Major for Solo Piano. His account of this charming score was sweetly nostalgic and surprisingly touching. Music@Menlo's 14th season continues through August 6, with four additional mainstage concerts. And there's one more chance to catch the Calidore String Quartet, who return July 26 in a Carte Blanche concert titled "The Russian Quartet." Works by Rachmaninoff, Prokofiev, Shostakovich and Stravinsky are on that program.

24 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Detroit Free Press May 20, 2016 Calidore String Quartet wins $100K top award at M-Prize BY MARK STRYKER The Calidore String Quartet of New York won the $100,000 grand prize at the inaugural M-Prize Chamber Arts Competition at the University of Michigan on Thursday night. The prize is the most lucrative award in the world for chamber music. "My head is spinning," said the quartet's violist Jeremy Berry, on the stage of Hill Auditorium, shortly after the group's victory. "When you're trying to get a quartet off the ground, there are a lot of difficulties financially and in getting concerts. This will give us a chance to sustain a career." The Calidore quartet, which just completed a two-year residency at Stony Brook University of New York and whose members average 27 years of age, beat out two others ensembles in the Finals Concert the Kenari Quartet, a saxophone ensemble from Indiana University in Bloomington, and Yarn/Wire, a quartet of two pianists and two percussionists based in New York. The Calidore quartet which impressed the 15-member jury with its polished performances of standard repertory by Debussy, Haydn, Webern and Mendelssohn already has a reputation as a fast-rising ensemble. It plays about 60 concerts a year, has major management with Opus 3 of New York and a trail of other competition victories in its wake. Still, Berry said M-Prize will take the group to another level of prominence. In addition to the cash, the group wins performances in coming seasons on six important arts series in America and Germany, including the University Musical Society in Ann Arbor in All three of the top laureates had earlier won $20,000 first place awards in strings, winds and open divisions. The Calidore's finals victory added an additional $80,000 to its winnings. M-Prize is the brainchild of Aaron Dworkin, who last year took over as dean of the School of Music, Theater and Dance at U-M. Dworkin, best known as the highly celebrated founder of the Detroit-based Sphinx Competition for minority string players, conceived of M-Prize as a centerpiece event for the international chamber music community. But Dworkin also wanted to draw attention to U-M's desire to play a leadership role in defining the future of the genre as more diverse and inclusive The open division which included ensembles with non-traditional instrumentation like the piano-percussion grouping of Yarn/Wire, as well as groups rooted in ethnic hybrids, Americana and jazz styles is unique among major classical music competitions. It reflects the reality that chamber music today is about much more than string quartets and piano trios: Innovative contemporary music groups and mixed ensembles like Eighth Blackbird,

25 Calidore String Quartet Detroit Free Press May 20, 2016 page 2 of 2 International Contemporary Ensemble, So Percussion, Bang on a Can All-Stars and others are helping reinvent the field. M-Prize also ties into other Dworkin initiatives, including the creation of a new Chamber Music department and hiring violinist Matt Albert, a founding member of Eighth Blackbird, as its first director; and the the launch of an entrepreneurship and career services program to better prepare students for the evolving landscape of classical music,. Juries of five members each, drawn from the ranks of U-M faculty and top chamber musicians from across the country, judged the M-Prize semifinals and then combined into one 15-member panel to judge the finals. In all, the competition awarded $200,000 in prize money to groups in senior (average age no more than 35) and junior divisions. Overall, more than 170 groups applied, with 29 invited to Ann Arbor to compete during the last two days as semi-finalists.

26 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Classical Voice North Carolina January 24, 2016 Calidore: Chamber Music at its Very Best BY BARRY SALWEN For its first Wilmington concert of 2016, Chamber Music Wilmington presented a performance by the Calidore String Quartet. There was significant concern last season that Chamber Music Wilmington might cease operations; Port City concertgoers have reason to celebrate that they are with us again, reinvigorated, and as good as ever. Or perhaps even better. The Calidore is a stellar group. Among many other accolades, they are on the roster of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center Two and are currently artist-in residence at Stony Brook University outside New York City. Chronologically young (24 years old on average), they play with ripe artistic maturity combined with precision and virtuosity. University of North Carolina Wilmington's Beckwith Recital Hall was the venue for this memorable performance. The audience savored music making with great range of expression, subtlety of phrasing, tightness of rhythm, and perfection of instrumental balance. The first work was Beethoven's Op. 18, No.3 in D. From the start one could sense the level of artistry to come, as the first phrase began with a fine lyrical statement which immediately created the expression of the main material. The rhythms so important in Beethoven were dynamic. When the minor mode arrived, the change in color was palpable. A noticeable quality of the group was their ability to create a whispering soft sound. This appeared any number of times during the program to great effect, aided by the flawless acoustics of Beckwith, in which the softest tones are heard with perfect clarity. One could also hear in this movement, as throughout the program, a transparency of sound. Leading lines were always finely shaped, and so too were the inner voices, lending everything clarity and the sense of intimate conversational exchange. The second movement had a beautiful beginning, like the first. This slower music brought forth long, full phrases and another beautiful pp. One felt here that the entire group played as a single instrument. The third movement caught an infectious dance quality. The fourth also offered a delightful rhythmic character. The rhythm in the ensemble was perfectly coordinated again, with the sense that they played as one instrument. The performance was exuberant and the ending delightfully coy the embodiment of Beethoven's wonderful musical humor. The following 10-minute "Langsamer Satz" by Webern a musical love poem is in a high romantic idiom, the composer's style early in his career. There was another beautiful soft beginning and then full sustained lyricism. The phrasing together with pizzicato was most delicate and lyrical, as were the trailing off on the high pitches and the lovely ending. The lines and design of the piece seemed at every turn to be simply inevitable. The second half was taken up entirely by the intensity of Mendelssohn's Quartet No. 6 in F minor, Op. 80, inscribed "Requiem for Fanny." Fanny was his beloved sister, who died at the age of 41, a few months before this piece was written. All the qualities mentioned before came together in the performance of this technically and emotionally largescale work. The turbulent first movement carried gripping power and pathos, while keeping complete clarity of line and expressing great yearning in the gentler second theme. The second movement had strong contrasts, a wonderful pizzicato ending of the first section, and a fabulous hush at the end.

27 Calidore String Quartet Classical Voice North Carolina January 24, 2016 page 2 of 2 The sustained third movement was gentle, elegiac, and intimate. Again, there were beautiful contrasts especially the strong dotted rhythm section. The fade at the end was lovely. The final movement returned to the darkness and turbulence of the first. There were surging crescendos, still with the transparency of line which allowed the rich cello tone underneath to be fully appreciated. The coda brought forth great power; one could feel almost physically, the desperate pain the composer poured into this culminating passage. After such a program ending, it was good of the ensemble to play a lighter encore. The delightful last movement of Haydn's Op. 54 No. 1 quartet took up this position. The pathos of the previous piece was fully balanced here by Haydn's marvelous humor. Spoken comments from the stage before the Webern and Mendelssohn were concise and very well presented. This is a literate group of musicians who know how to introduce their art to audiences. If here and there in the concert a phrase could have risen to still more passionate heights, it allows us admiring listeners to realize that even great artists grow here and there. The large Beckwith audience responded with enthusiasm to this evening of consummate artistry.

28 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center March 31, 2015 The Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center, Artistic Directors, Announce CMS Two Young Ensembles Audition Winners The Chamber Music Society is pleased to announce the appointment of two outstanding young ensembles, the Calidore String Quartet, and the Schumann Quartet, to its prestigious CMS Two program beginning with the season. Chosen from an international pool of applicants by a distinguished panel of performers, educators, and artistic administrators, each quartet is an award-winning ensemble with exceptional musical training and significant careers. Appointment to the three-year CMS Two residency program affords the young members of these quartets three full seasons of potential opportunities to participate in all facets of CMS activity, such as CMS s various New York concert series, touring, recordings on both the in-house CMS Studio Recordings label and the CMS Live! digital download series, concert broadcasts on the CMS s 52-week syndicated radio series and American Public Media s Performance Today, television broadcasts on Live From Lincoln Center, and numerous educational outreach programs. The depth of involvement reflects the commitment of CMS, under the leadership of artistic directors David Finckel and Wu Han, to nurture the careers of the finest young chamber musicians, and to foster an intergenerational roster of talent. The Calidore String Quartet and the Schumann Quartet are continuing CMS s distinguished lineage of CMS Two ensembles, which include: Amphion String Quartet ( ) Danish String Quartet ( ) Escher String Quartet ( ) Jupiter String Quartet ( ) Daedalus Quartet ( ) Imani Winds ( ) Pacifica Quartet ( ) Miró String Quartet ( ) Miami String Quartet ( ) Borromeo String Quartet ( ) Brentano String Quartet ( )

29 Printed for from Gramophone (June 2015 ) at Copyright 2015.

30 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET All Things Strings March 30, 2015 The Calidore String Quartet Team Up with the Emersons Two quartets take on a powerhouse residency program at Stony Brook University BY LAURENCE VITTES At one of the Calidore String Quartet s first rehearsals in 2010, back when the three Americans and one Canadian were still students at the Colburn Conservatory of Music in Los Angeles, the parts to Mendelssohn s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, lay open on their stands. Last year, after their emotional debut at Montréal Chamber Music Festival, second violinist Ryan Meehan said that the moment they began reading through the Mendelssohn, it was as if we had played it together many times before. He points out an even stronger, more mystical connection between the then-18-year-old Mendelssohn s music and the four young Calidores: The title of the first movement s opening chorale is Ist es wahr?, which means in English, Is it true? And our answer was that it must have been meant to be. While playing through Opus 13 that first time, we realized that the Calidore String Quartet was true! We had found the right partners for our musical life together and none of us will ever forget that moment. In that moment, the four of us created a new, fifth entity. In February, the Calidore String Quartet, Colburn School alumni and current artists-in-residence at Stony Brook University, released their debut commercial album, which features a rendition of their now-signature piece, Mendelssohn s String Quartet No. 2 in A minor, Op. 13, and Haydn s String Quartet in C major, Op. 76, No. 3, Emperor. The recordings were made at Colburn s state of the art Zipper Hall. Since forming in 2010, the Calidore Quartet Meehan and Jeffrey Myers, violins; Jeremy Berry, viola; and Estelle Choi, cello has won numerous prizes and debuted on the prestigious Verbier and Ravinia festivals, Mannes College s Schneider Concert Series in New York, and American Public Media s national radio program Performance Today. In the fall of 2014, the ensemble began a two-year residency under the tutelage of the Emerson Quartet at Stony Brook University, 55 miles by Long Island Rail from New York City, where the Calidores live. Appropriately, the future is shining brightly: The ensemble s name is a portmanteau of California and doré, (French for golden ) and refers to the diversity of culture in, Los Angeles, and the strong support it received from the Golden State. Capitalizing on what violist Berry calls the amazing performing activities and opportunities at Colburn, the Calidore were selected for the first class of the Colburn Artists, a program that provides professional management services to students chosen through competition and deemed to be on the cusp of professional performing careers. When we were selected as a Colburn Artist, Meehan says, Laura Liepins, director of artistic administration and career development at the Colburn School, took us under her wing, and introduced us to Opus 3 Artists [a highpowered management company].

31 Calidore String Quartet All Things Strings March 30, 2015 page 2 of 4 As a result, this winter and spring, the Calidore Quartet will be performing on major chamber-music series in La Jolla, Malibu, Lincoln Center, Columbus, Oakmont, Three Rivers, at the Flagler Museum and Wigmore Hall, and on the Friends of Chamber Music series in Troy, New York. In some ways, the path to the concert stage has been a straight one. For cellist Estelle Choi, whose three siblings were already playing instruments, basically from the day I was born, I was a musician. One of my sisters even brought me to concerts, and sat me on the ground beside her; I would then pass out during the concert and wake up at the end without crying. A few years later, towards the end of middle school, Choi wasn t so sure. At the beginning of high school, I was thinking biology. Then, one summer, I decided just to play music for fun, it all came together for me and I realized that music was what I wanted to do. When I met Aldo Parisot several years ago at Banff, and he offered to teach me at Yale, I knew this was what I could do, she says. Choi made a surprising admission for a member of one of the world s most illustrious young quartets: When I started with Mr. Parisot, she adds, I had played in piano trios when I was a kid, but my string-quartet knowledge started at Yale! First violin Myers, who grew up in Columbus, Ohio, was already playing at five. Everyone in my family played music, and my dad took me to orchestra concerts all the time I never thought about doing anything else, he says. When I heard [violinist] Leila Josefowicz, who was then studying with Robert Lipsett in Los Angeles, play the Sibelius Concerto with the Columbus Symphony, I thought that was pretty awesome. Both of second violin Meehan s parents are lawyers, and he claims that no one in his family is musical. I was lucky to get started at all, he explains. Although my school had a violin program in kindergarten, there were only enough instruments for half the kids who wanted to take the course. Luckily, when they held a lottery my name was one of those drawn. At first Meehan dutifully did his 30 minutes of practice a day, on piano, too, and never thought much of it. But when he was 12, I got my really first great teacher, the concertmaster of the Fort Myers orchestra at the time, he recalls. It was my first encounter with a great violinist up close, it changed my perspective on what I could accomplish, gave me a goal to aim for, and fueled my desire to practice and try to get better. A year later Meehan had decided to make a go of it as a musician, but his teacher had moved away, and he had to look for a new one. Through recommendations he came in contact with Almita and Roland Vamos at Northwestern University, who were famous for teaching kids under the age of 18. They took a really huge chance on me, Meehan says, and I am indebted to them for giving me all the tools I needed to succeed, and believing in me when I didn t believe in myself. The routine was rigorous. At one point, he was going through a new concerto every lesson, as Almita threw things at him to get my fingers going. After the first six months, we started to slow down and focus we spent at least half of each lesson on the opening few measures. I learned that the opening has to be really, really great because it sets the tone for the audience and for yourself; it s about getting into the mood of the piece and capturing the essence of what the composer has to say. Unfortunately, he cautions, even when a performance warms up slowly and eventually becomes great and powerful, by then you ve lost half the audience.

32 Calidore String Quartet All Things Strings March 30, 2015 page 3 of 4 For two of the Calidores, the Takacs Quartet played a symbolically central role. For Myers, who got to see the Takacs Quartet annually, it was something he will never forget. Once they played Schubert s Death and the Maiden Quartet, which I had just fallen in love with. I went out and bought and studied the music, and I bought a regular ticket, even though I was entitled to a free student ticket onstage, because I wanted the full concert experience in the best seat I could afford. During the Schubert, Myers told me, the musical energy took my breath away I felt exhausted like small schoolgirls at rock concerts after they stop screaming. By chance, Meehan also heard the Takacs play Death and the Maiden Quartet. I bought the Takacs CD of the Schubert, he says, and I also started screaming. I thought they would come out of the loudspeakers and grab me by the throat. Violist Berry was eight when he realized that, in order to learn an instrument, he would have to work, wake up and play scales. He made slow progress until he heard Yo-Yo Ma when he was 15. Seeing him work and turn to the audience, turned on his passion. Berry was further inspired by one of his high-school teachers to get into playing chamber music at the end of high school; she lit the chamber-music program on fire. Berry joined the Calidores when violist Paul Coletti thought I d be a good match. Guillaume Sutre, former first violinist of the Ysaye Quartet and professor of violin and director of string chamber music at UCLA s Herb Alpert School of Music, mentored the Calidore Quartet when he was invited to the Colburn School, downtown, across the street from Walt Disney Concert Hall, to coach them on Haydn s String Quartet Op. 76, No. 3, the Emperor, and Mendelssohn s String Quartet, Op. 13. I had been coaching string quartets for more than 20 years, and never thought I would feel so strongly about the future of a young group, but the Calidores have rare and special qualities that enable them to learn and move forward so quickly, he says. They constantly surprise me with their subtle mix of hesitation and surge, of doubt and confidence. Of course, they are solid and flexible, inspired and profound, but they are also unpredictable when they need to be! Sutre, who described the Calidores as four branches attached to a magnificent, growing tree in the very tiny, but so prestigious, garden of the world s great string quartets, was impressed by their high level of technique, individually and as a quartet, and by their perfect ensemble and unvaryingly precise intonation. Despite, or perhaps because of their large range of string quartet specific knowledge, Sutre says, they are curious and open to new things. Sutre reserves his highest praise for how they worked together at rehearsals: I always enjoyed their reactions and interactions, he says. They were always positive and constructive, even during the most challenging moments like working on very difficult pieces or recording their first CD. In every situation, they make music the way they are themselves: inspired, intelligent, generous, and sincere. Talking to the Calidores leaves you with the impression that their approach to making music is about collaboration, preparation, and lots of work. Collaborating with other musicians, Meehan says, is important for expanding our musical horizons. In Montréal, for example, we gained so many ideas about the Brahms Sextet, and about Brahms music in general, from Benoit and Marcus. Having the opportunity to collaborate with them was like a dream come true. Preparing to play the Brahms Sextetmeant working on the piece beginning a month in advance by playing it through with colleagues at Colburn.

33 Calidore String Quartet All Things Strings March 30, 2015 page 4 of 4 We then spent several weeks refining our interpretation of the four parts, we discussed character and sound color, and we sorted out ensemble and intonation issues. We had about five hours of rehearsal the day before the concert to iron out our ideas in demonstrations and play-throughs of complete movements, and to put together the whole program, which included the string sextet from Richard Strauss Capriccio and pieces for mezzo-soprano and strings by Zemlinsky and Respighi. For the Calidores, recording the Mendelssohn was clearly an act of love after all, it had brought them together and connected them. With Mendelssohn, violist Berry explains, you don t hear compositional technique, or even instrumental technique you hear how he was feeling at a raw level. Meehan concurrs, describing the Calidores relationship with Mendelssohn as being with music in which you don t have to restrain yourself. It s ok that everything you feel in the music comes across. This quartet, Meehan says, is an epitome of love, including its most intense and feverish outpourings. The Calidores arrived at Stony Brook almost by chance, or perhaps serendipity. While working with Gilbert Kalish at the 2014 Banff String Quartet competition, the pianist mentioned Stony Brook s new program that connects young quartets on the cusp of a career with the Emerson Quartet (violinists Eugene Drucker and Philip Setzer, violist Lawrence Dutton, and cellist Paul Watkins) and their more than 30 years of playing, recording, and otherwise communicating the string-quartet repertoire. After two months at Stony Brook, Meehan reports that the Emersons always encourage our own voice to shine through; they help us refine our interpretation not reinvent it. One of the Calidores first lessons was without their instruments, Meehan says: They taught us about the thought process behind choosing the programs they play each season. They encouraged us to develop programs where each of the pieces is connected by an idea or theme. Based on the Emersons guidance, the Calidores conceived of a program of French quartets through time, including works by Hyacinthe Jadin ( ), Claude Debussy, and Henri Dutilleux. In this program, the audience not only experiences a string-quartet concert, but also leaves with a deeper understanding of how French composers wrote for the string quartet, exploring how it evolved and what commonalities remained over the course of centuries. As they go out into the world, the Calidores seem to be becoming true wherever they go. Meehan says that the entire Stony Brook University community welcomed us with open arms from our start in September. We ve had the privilege to meet and befriend many of the artist faculty, and made our debut at the university performing Schumann s Piano Quintet with piano faculty member Christina Dahl. The Calidores already are something of a legend there. On the faculty page of the Stony Brook University website, the Calidore Quartet is headlined as the Fantastic Four, talented and fun-loving. Meehan s enthusiasm for what is going on at Stony Brook mirrors what is happening with the chamber music in schools nationwide: The head of the music department, Perry Goldstein, has spent countless hours in making our residency become a reality, he says. His fantastic and progressive vision for the music department is putting Stony Brook University on the map as a powerhouse music school, and the Calidore String Quartet is proud to be a part of it!

34 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET All Things Strings January 19, 2015 Calidore Quartet Launches New CD at Colburn School BY LAURENCE VITTES To celebrate the launch of their first CD, the Calidore Quartet (violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry, cellist Estelle Choi) returned to the Colburn School in Los Angeles where it all started in Named after the state in which they were formed and its shining promises of gold, the three Americans and one Canadian played an invitational mini concert at intimate Thayer Hall to show their appreciation to family, friends, supporters and the Colburn community. The new CD, which will soon be available through itunes and Amazon, is a straight and serious dose of two major repertoire pieces with which the Calidores have become associated, Haydn's String Quartet op. 76 No. 3, "Emperor," and Mendelssohn's Quartet in A minor Op. 13. Their concert Saturday night was a frothier affair dominated by Pulitzer Prize winner Caroline Shaw's Entr acte, but still in every bar there was a unanimity of thought and an equality of voices that gave their music making line and movement. Entr'acte is structured like a minuet and trio, which Shaw describes as "riffing on that classical form but taking it a little further. I love the way some music like the minuets of Op. 77 suddenly takes you to the other side of Alice s looking glass," she said, "in a kind of absurd, subtle, technicolor transition." The impression was of a magical ten minutes of theme and variations in a 6/4 beat, rich in imaginative events taking place over a shifting tide of transcendent ambiguities, painted with a wide variety of brush strokes and occasionally illicitly close harmonies; the miraculous ending begins after an arpeggiated episode for the violins leading to the music's last riff, an extended passage for cello, entirely pizz. Entr'acte, which Shaw has already adapted for string orchestra it would mean an incredible tour de force for even a small section of cellos was written in 2011 after Shaw heard the Brentano Quartet play Haydn s Quartet Op. 77 No. 2; she was particularly impressed by the Brentano's "spare and soulful shift to the D-flat major trio in the minuet." If she hears what the the Calidores did with her Entr'acte Saturday night, Shaw might have been inspired again. Perhaps the strongest measure of Entr'acte's hold over the audience was that it came after a tremendously exhilarating, whiz-bang reading of the "Furiant" third movement from Dvorak's Piano Quintet Op. 81 for which the Calidores were joined by "special surprise guest" Jean-Yves Thibaudet, currently a Colburn School Artist-in-Residence.

35 Calidore String Quartet All Things Strings January 19, 2015 page 2 of 2 The Calidores had opened the concert with the heady first movement of Ravel's Quartet in F major, perhaps as a nod to Guillaume Sutre, first violin of the Ysaye Quartet from 1996 to 2014, who had co-produced their recording and has been a valued mentor and coach. Their playing was not noticeably French in style but developed organically out of the music's voicing and structure, its movement and coloristic devices. As it was to be for the whole concert, the seemingly spontaneous plasticity of the Calidore's playing provided an absorbed, eloquent dimensionality in which to operate. Festivities concluded with all four movements of the Mendelssohn Quartet in A minor Op. 13 which is on their CD and which was the piece the Calidores played through at their first meeting. In concert, they folded in the influence of Beethoven's Quartet in A minor Op. 132 which had been composed two years earlier in 1825, without letting it predominate, and emerged with a reading which encompassed both the gentle sentiment of Mendelssohn's character and the prodigal virtuosity of his writing. It will be interesting to see what the Calidore Quartet find at the end of their current rainbow, a two-year residency at Stony Brook University under the tutelage of the Emerson Quartet. It will be a time of increased performing and recording opportunities, intense musical flowering, heightened critical scrutiny and hopefully many happy returns to Colburn.

36 Watch the Calidore in performance at AmericanEnsemble The Calidore String Quartet has been gaining recognition ever since it formed at the Colburn School in But a young ensemble even an extraordinarily talented one can use a boost. That came when the group was named an ensemble-in-residence at Long Island s Stony Brook University, for two years starting this fall. The musicians (Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violins; Jeremy Berry, viola; Estelle Choi, cello) will teach undergraduates; and they themselves get coaching from the Emerson String Quartet, the university s longtime quartetin-residence, along with its former cellist, David Finckel. Music is so much about getting people to hear you play, says Meehan. Living in New York will help us raise our profile on the East Coast. The Emerson connection, too, is bound to attract attention. We feel like we re in good hands. It s such a crowded field right now, says violinist Arnold Steinhardt, one of the quartet s mentors. When we [the Guarneri Quartet] started, you could count the number of professional string quartets on one hand. Now they re hanging from trees. But [the Calidores] are individually terrific players; they re hard working and they have a personality when they play. They have a musical point of view. What more could you ask? Key to the quartet s success has been unyielding commitment. From the first, the four decided that the ensemble would succeed only they all treated it as their primary focus. We made a pact that this would be our number-one priority, says Meehan. Mutual respect also helps sustain the diligent effort. Sometimes we ll have a dispute in rehearsal, Meehan says. Then ten minutes later we ll say, Wasn t that funny? And true to the tradition of touring ensembles, food has become a bond. Choi and Meehan both cook, but when the quartet is on the road, finding the right restaurant can be tricky. I m always on Yelp in whatever city we re in, says Meehan. Vietnamese or Thai food is a good bet for us. I m gluten-free, and so is Estelle. Jeff is a vegetarian. And as for Jeremy he s just picky. The musicians rapport was tested when they visited Germany for the 2012 ARD Munich International String Quartet Goalkeepers Competition. They hopped on the wrong train and ended up in a small Bavarian village where nobody spoke English. Trying again the next day, they missed their stop ending up in Switzerland. It was a tense situation; but they didn t let it boil over and ultimately made it to the competition, winning a top prize. It s all about shrugging off the small things, says Meehan, and keeping our minds on the overarching goal. n calidorestringquartet.com Left to right: Myers, Berry, Choi, Meehan 33

37 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Classic 107 March 23, 2014 Review: Virtuosi Concert With The Calidore String Quartet BY SARA KRAHN Classic 107 freelance contributor Sara Krahn breaks down Saturday night's Virtusi concert. The verdict? If you weren't there, you missed out on a fantastic performance from the Calidore String Quartet! Richard Linklater s animated drama film Waking Life opens with a scene of professional string players having a practice session in someone s private home. The film uses a type of animation called rotoscoping, in which stylized lines and colors are digitally traced over footage of lives actors. This style of animation works wonders on the film s opening scene, allowing the musicians playing to look whimsical and effortless - their bows seemingly dance just above their instruments. This is the image that immediately came to mind as the Calidore String Quartet took the stage at the University of Winnipeg s Eckhardt-Grammatte Hall on March 22. The Internationally renowned and awardwinning quartet from California is made up of violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meeham, violist Jeremy Berry and cellist Estelle Choi. The group has received high praise from audiences across North America and Europe, and after Saturday evening s performance I have no skepticism towards the hype surrounding the stunning string ensemble. As the evening progressed, the initial image of animated and surreal musicianship gained further nuance. I was struck by the idea of playful drama and contrasting themes within an overarching unity. Beethoven s Op. 18 No. 1 in F Major notably displayed the interaction between playful and serious themes. The fiery motive at the opening of the first movement undergoes a remarkable transformation, becoming overlaid with a new gentler, and more syncopated voice that creates an extraordinary new dimension. Out of all the works on the program, the quartet s playing was the most interactive in Beethoven Op. 18 dancing the motivic voices between their instruments with stunning candor. This is an ensemble that truly understands the importance of theatre in musical performance. With amazing ease, their performance achieved that one thing every artist strives towards the occasion when technique is overwhelmed by the drama of a work. Osvaldo Golijov s Tenebrae followed Beethoven s Op. 18 No. 1, and turned out to be my favorite piece of the night. In his program notes, Golijov writes, I wanted to offer a piece that could be listened to from different perspectives. Carrying on the theme of disjunctive ideas within a single work, Golijov sought to portray two distinctly different realities. The first reality focused on the ethereal experience of bringing his son to the planetarium for the first time; the second reality emphasized violence, inspired by Golijov s trip to Israel. While Beethoven s Op. 18 works with spinning motives into metaphors, Golijov s Tenebrae is a classical representative of 21st C. ambient style. The contrast between these works was wonderfully captured by the quartet s onstage demeanor, which noticeably transformed for the performance of Tenebrae. The theatrical interaction demanded by Op. 18 was replaced by an introspective, contemplative style of playing. The players drew into themselves so as to achieve the raw emotion that characterized Golijov s work. This highly sensitive style of performance was carried on in Mendelssohn s Quartet Opus 13, No. 2 in A minor, which was given greater flourish. The simple idea of Mendelssohn asking his lover, Is it true if you love me? in the opening chorale spins into a frenzy of emotional turmoil. Again, the

38 Calidore String Quartet Classic 107 March 23, 2014 page 2 of 2 quartet demonstrated an intimate interaction with the piece, achieved only through their ability to play together as a unified tour de force. Linklater s whimsical animated drama, Waking Life does indeed serve to describe the magic of the evening s performance, which lay in the quartet s ability to transform beautiful music into a dreamlike space. The achievement of creating this musical space is no small feat, as it ultimately marks the difference between a technical performance and a truly artistic one.

39 CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Santiva Chronicle January 12, 2014 COMMENTARY: A Big Classical Evening at BIG ARTS BY SHANNEN HAYES The weather turned from frightful to delightful just in time for a big classical evening at BIG ARTS. I had the pleasure of attending a one-night classical event that was more than just music to my ears. The young members Calidore String Quartet performed Jan. 9 in the Schein Performance Hall with their passionate renditions of Mozart, Schubert and Golijov. The classical evening began with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's Dissonant, which premiered in 1785 in Vienna. Technically referred to as K. 465, Dissonant is the last of six Haydn Quartets that Mozart dedicated to his good friend and great composer, Franz Joseph Haydn. It quickly garnered the nickname Dissonant for the adventurous harmonic excursions of its slow introduction that is followed by brilliant Mozart melodies. Nearly 40 years after Mozart in 1824, Franz Schubert composed his D minor Quartet we know as Death and the Maiden named for the theme of the second movement. It was last on the program at BIG ARTS and one of the last pieces Schubert composed before he died from health complications. The Calidore String Quartet delivered the music its composer intended more harmony than melody with a sorrowful close. Death and the Maiden is considered the most inspiring and moving quartet Schubert ever wrote, and after hearing it, it's hard to disagree. The Calidore String Quartet gave a nod to modern chamber music by performing Tenebrae, composed in 2002 by American-immigrant Osvaldo Golijov. His music speaks in a voice that is powerful yet touching, contemporary yet timeless. His works are a combination of European, American and Latin secular cultures with a touch of deep spirituality drawn from Judaism and Christianity. Golijov composed Tenebrae after he had observed the horror of violence in Israel that continues today and a week later accompanied his young son to the planetarium in New York, where they marveled at the Earth as a beautiful blue dot. In Tenebrae, the music seems full of pain beneath the surface, while sounding lost in child-like wonderment. All three pieces were played by the Calidore String Quartet with emotion that reached out to the audience. I do not know the inspiration behind the program choices; however, as a novice chamber music listener, I found them to be perfect pieces written by gifted composers and performed by a group of gifted musicians, who bring the sentiment each note demands. The Los Angeles-based, prize-winning quartet comprised of violinists Jeffrey Myers and Ryan Meehan, violist Jeremy Berry and cellist Estelle Choi gave all its energy to this amazing Sanibel performance. If you missed it, I have provided a YouTube video of them performing Schubert on a helipad. The classical evening with The Calidore String Quartet was made possible by the sponsorship of The Family of Joe Boscov and Jim and Roz Marks, as well as grand patron sponsor The Ferguson Foundation. The next BIG ARTS

40 Calidore String Quartet Santiva Chronicle January 12, 2014 page 2 of 2 Classical Evening will be Feb. 27 with The Faure Quartet, a European ensemble that has performed on numerous internationally renowned stages. You can also enjoy a Classical Afternoon Jan. 19 with Kaleidos Duo at 3:30 p.m. in Phillips Gallery. Violinist Miroslav Hristov and pianist Vladimir Valjarevic, as Kaleidos Duo, will present a program entitled Sounds of Hungary, which is filled with principal works from classical genres as well as compositions from lesser-known regions and composers.

41 THE CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Stu News Laguna February 19, 2013 Laguna Beach Music Festival Calidore Quartet a review BY NIKI SMART Recently Laguna had the good fortune to see, and more importantly, hear, the Calidore Quartet that visited town as part of the Laguna Beach Music Festival. I suggest you admonish yourself if you missed them, because OMG people, the Calidore Quartet were truly fabulous. The ticket price could not have been an issue as the Laguna Beach Music Festival organized several chances to hear this quartet (and other superb musicians) for free. The first piece the Calidore Quartet played was Tenebrae by Osvaldo Golijov. It was explained that Golijov wrote Tenebrae as a result of witnessing two contrasting realities a visit to Israel during a time of violence, then a week later, a trip to a planetarium in New York with his son. Here they saw the Earth as a beautiful blue dot in space and Golijov wanted to compose a piece of music entwining these different perspectives - a celestial peace with moments of violence. The composition started off very quietly as a high pitched violin wavered over notes giving one the impression of what twinkling stars might indeed sound like. Then the deep bowing cello joined in (played by the incredibly talented, Estelle Choi) and the whole audience fell silent. No one moved. No one coughed. The memorizing music made you want to hold your breath for fear of disrupting the beauty of what you were hearing. Next up, the Calidore Quartet changed gears and played a pulsing, beating, tense piece, bowing their violins sideways, making the strings scratch and screech, and smacking on their instruments in a swirling frenzy of Four for Tango by Astor Piazzolla. Recognized for their breadth of musicianship and technical brilliance, the Calidore Quartet has won numerous international awards and prestigious chamber competitions. Beautifully in sync with each other, they finished out Four for Tango with a flourish, and I, for one, sat there unable to articulate anything more than Wow, wow, wow! What a treat! Thank you Laguna Beach Music Festival for bringing greatness to our doorstep.

42 THE CALIDORE STRING QUARTET Splash Magazine October 2011 Music Institute presents Calidore String Quartet Review - A Special Blend BY JONATHAN RAYFIELD Music Institute of Chicago President Mark George opened the afternoon in Evanston s lovely Nichols Hall by explaining the Music Institute s mission of educating and energizing people of all ages to engaging in music performance. The MIC boasts 5,000 students - almost 75% of which are grade K-12 from 90 Illinois communities. Their world class music education program cultivates some of the highest caliber performers. As George stated, we grow artists. The MIC s mission statement asserts love of and education and training in music will enhance your quality of life and nourish the spirit, a mission executed handily through their operation and specifically through their annual concert series showcasing national artists as well as their own homegrown talent. The Music Institute of Chicago continued its Faculty and Guest Artist concert series on Sunday with a stellar performance by the Fischoff National Chamber Competition champions the Calidore String Quartet, featuring Jeffrey Myers and Pasha Tseitlin on violin, Jeremy Berry on viola, and Estelle Choi on cello. Calidore s performance offered much more than a glimpse at a top-notch string ensemble, it was a lesson in exactly how an ensemble ought to perform, raising the bar for chamber ensembles.