The President's Page - May 17, 2000

Princeton's Quartet in-Residence: The Brentano String Quartet

We were given an extraordinary opportunity last year through a generous gift from Tony B. Evnin '62, a University trustee, and his spouse, Judy, to appoint Princeton's "first-ever" quartet in-residence. For three years, the Brentano String Quartet will come to campus on a part-time basis (they spend on average one day a week here) to coach students in musical performance, teach composition and other courses, perform for the University community, and perform original compositions by and collaborate with faculty and graduate students. Although instituted just this fall, this experiment with a musicians-in-residence program has already been an overwhelming success.

Princeton's Department of Music focuses principally on composition and musicology, but student performance opportunities-to master an instrument, to have original compositions performed, to experience music through live performances-are intrinsic to the vitality of the department. The department's increasingly popular certificate program in musical performance allows students to receive individual coaching from gifted instructors. This assures that professional musicians are a part of departmental life, and distinguished professional musicians and ensembles visit regularly for short periods of time. The appointment of a quartet in-residence gives these opportunities a new and exciting dimension.

Each of the quartet's members-Mark Steinberg and Serena Canin, violin; Misha Amory, viola; and Nina Maria Lee, cello-has been successful in his and her own right, but the quartet has gained international acclaim as a world-class ensemble. Noted critics routinely use adjectives such as "brilliant," "first-class," and "outstanding" in reviewing the quartet. This spring the quartet has played at some of the most prestigious concert halls in the world, including the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam, Wigmore Hall in London, and, just preceding their spring open concert for the Princeton University community in April, at Carnegie Hall in New York.

The quartet was formed in 1992, and its relationship to the University dates to a 1993 appearance as part of the University Chamber Masterworks Series. Members of the quartet have close ties to faculty in the Department of Music. Milton Babbitt, emeritus professor of music, wrote his Sixth String Quartet for them, and this spring they are recording quartets by Professor Steven Mackey. In the past, members of the quartet have taught the music department's music 213, "Projects in Instrumental Performance," a course they are offering again this semester. Students work in groups on a musical piece, and the final exam is a public concert. "Enthusiasm" is an understated description of student reaction to the course. Seth Baer '02, an alternate bassoonist for the Philadelphia Orchestra who would like to pursue a career as a professional musician, reflects that enthusiasm when he talks about his experience this semester. He refers to the subtlety of the lessons and the way the quartet members delve into the problems of the music.

Their energy is apparent and guides their approach to their students. According to them, everything should be possible-forget about the "buts."

Music department faculty have been invited to suggest courses that would incorporate the quartet. Professor Scott Burnham will coteach a course with the quartet next fall called "The Life and Times of a String Quartet." Professor Burnham wants to give students a deeper understanding of the string quartet as a musical genre, but also an appreciation of what it is like for four individuals to be part of a quartet's feisty marriage, spending hours of intense work interpreting new compositions and older pieces of the quartet repertoire, traveling, rehearsing, and performing together.

This past fall the quartet agreed to record a composition written by a recent graduate student, Dan Trueman. Dan came to Princeton from a conservatory background, so he was accustomed to having musicians readily accessible to interpret his original pieces. But his experience working with musicians of the caliber of the Brentano Quartet was exceptional. They gave voice to the music he had heard only in his mind's ear. In describing his experience, Dan talks about the way the quartet "dug into" his piece, bringing to it an added layer of understanding and complex interpretation that he had been unable to achieve. Members of the quartet worked closely with him to get the piece right, making suggestions on the basis of technique as well as musical interpretation.

The most important benefits of having world-class professional musicians "in residence" for a sustained period of time are not captured by counting the scheduled contact hours with students and others. The three-year appointment offers the chance to build collaborative relationships, to enter into an ongoing exchange of ideas, and to foster a learning environment of critical depth. Chair of the department, Paul Lansky, emphasizes that having a group of this caliber in residence gives students a clearer sense of the highest professional standards, of "what there is to shoot for."

One last example helps illustrate the quartet's contributions to Princeton. Emily Doolittle is a first-year graduate student whose work the Brentano quartet performed as part of a composition course last fall. Emily wants to continue to write music after finishing her degree at Princeton, but her real dream is to found an artists' colony. In her estimation, artists work better when they are free to pursue their artistic passions in a supportive community of individuals who show active interest in each other's creative work and who learn from each other. Thanks to their openness to students, their energy, clarity of instruction, and willingness to engage and experiment, members of the Brentano String Quartet are helping Princeton to create exactly that kind of community for musicians, composers, and the great many of us who appreciate music.

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