Bravo Valley Snow Day :D

I guess it's really just a snow afternoon, but we'll take it! Our duties as the young artist quartet for Bravo have come to an end, and today marks our first day of rehearsal for baroque ensembles... and by "our" I'm referring mostly to Michelle and myself, while Alan and Greg sleep in (cello parts can't easily be doubled, and let's be honest who really wrote for viola in the 17th century??) But we just received word that the wonderful people in the Bravo office have decided to cancel all rehearsing activity this afternoon, mostly because our soloist Chee-Yun is stuck in Paris for the second time - don't fly Air France - and so here I am to post lots of pictures!

and this is actually exactly where I am right now. On the patio of Michelle's and my condo :) which we are not excited about leaving on Wednesday.

Allow me to take you on a little tour of the inside also - our rehearsal space (we don't normally share just one stand between the four of us, I'm not sure what happened here)


an outdoor performance in Leadville, hiding from the elements under our massive tent. Note the tip jar - we don't get to keep that. Also the little girl on the right felt so inclined as to conduct us for Mendelssohn and Beethoven - adorable :)


still Leadville. Mt. Elbert is behind that antique store... Alan and I took a beating there on our first hike of the season (see below)

and we're not even at the summit yet.


but now we are! And we brought Bravo with us all the way up the tallest mountain in Colorado :)


More mountain pictures, because I love mountains. Up next are the twin 14ers Grays and Torreys -
not at all a necessary part of the trail, but I couldn't help it


9 AM on the summit of Grays Peak. Cowering behind a makeshift wind barrier...

pants?

freezing on top of Torreys, pointing out Grays using a borrowed sign from a heavily bundled up Japanese team. They were obviously more prepared for the weather up there than we were. When packing one suitcase for the entire summer, it comes down to concert clothes versus hiking layers. Guess which won out. But back to musical things -

around 11:30 PM in a conference room at the hotel where half of the Philadelphia Orchestra stayed. We read through a huge stack of chamber music that night, rotating players except for Alan. He was the only cellist for 3 hours... haha. I studied with Yayoi, who's peeking over Noah in the pink shirt, since I was 9!


performing in the Betty Ford Alpine Gardens. An artistic shot inside the quartet by Nate, an intern with Bravo.

Greg makes tuning a viola look good. Photo courtesy of Nate, again.

after a concert at the incredible Lodge and Spa at Cordillera, with the even more incredible Eugenia Zukerman, artistic director of Bravo. We could certainly get used to warm-up rooms that are actually private hotel suites complete with platters of fresh fruit and charcuterie - thank you Cordillera (and Bravo!) We also had the honor of performing flute quintets/quartets with Eugenia yesterday - so much fun!

Time to go hang out in the hot tub, but I'll leave you with the ever fashionable Mr. and Mrs. Luce :)

Thanks for stopping by!

Carnegie! (and one from Norway)

A few pictures from way back in May in New York. Nick has more, I promise.


Getting lost in the backstage maze at Carnegie



Weill Recital Hall... with piano tuner :)




Alan and his seatmate on their way back to Austin



aaand this has nothing to do with New York, but I found it on my camera and had to share. Here is a classic photo of Greg and our friend Live from the Nordica Quartet hanging out backstage in Norway, trying their hands at new instruments.

High Altitude

I have to be honest, I am actually writing from Vail, CO. I realize my last post may have implied that an update would be coming live from Stanford University, but here's the deal - the St. Lawrence String Quartet Seminar kept us so busy rehearsing, coaching, singing (yes, singing) and generally being elevated to a higher artistic plane that there was simply no time. BUT we do have some news - if any of you have seen us perform in the last month, you may have noticed Nick looks slightly different. A little more Korean, a little more like a girl...

introducing Michelle!

Don't worry, Nick will actually be back with us and better than ever in less than a month. Until then, Michelle has absolutely saved the day - called at the last minute, coerced by the ever persuasive Aeolus Quartet over drinks in New York City, she most likely had no idea what she was signing on to this summer... poor girl. But she has dealt with all our insanity with grace and humor, and we've been having a blast making music with her. By the way, Michelle is totally legit: working on her DMA at Indiana University, juggling a full teaching and performance load, she has also performed string quartets underwater in Korea (we couldn't believe it either) in full scuba regalia. She has fit in just fine with us :) here is a tiny representation of Greg serenading her on the lawn at Stanford:

Also, if you are anywhere remotely near the west coast, please check out our amazing friends the Hausmann Quartet! Alan, Michelle, and I crashed with Isaac and Angela of Haus for a few days in San Francisco after SLSQ, and we had the best time. 1 AM tacos at Cancun, Kingdom of Dumpling, Hot Cookies... I could go on and on, and that's just about the food..

And so here we are in Vail! It's been incredible. Arriving late last Thursday, we set foot in our lavish condos and immediately knew we were in for a different kind of experience at the Bravo! Vail Valley Music Festival. Performing every day and hot tubbing at night with friends in the Philadelphia Orchestra (which is in residence here for the next week) is not so bad. This festival also has one of the best administrative teams we've encountered yet - which means all we have to do is not get lost en route to the concert venue, and play. This is the life :) more to come soon!

New York, Seattle, Topeka and more!

This past month has been a whirlwind. Most importantly, though, Nick is now a married man!!!


All the very best to this amazing couple, and of course the other 3/4 of the quartet would like especially to wish Lexi good luck in this next chapter of her life! We've already been married to Nick for about 4 years, we know how it is. Just kidding, Nick... :)

So before Nick jetted off to Seattle to get married, we squeezed in one more little performance in none other than Carnegie Hall! Performing Bartok 5 on the stage of the Weill Recital Hall was unforgettable, and pictures will be forthcoming. A few days after, the remainder of the quartet arrived in Seattle to help with wedding preparations/ provide embarrassing stories about Nick for the entertainment of his family. The ceremony was beautiful, resplendent with musical selections befitting the marriage of a quartet violinist and a composer - Lexi walked down the aisle to Copland's Fanfare for the Common Man - if you were not lucky enough to be there, let your imagination wander...

After a couple days back in Austin to catch our breath, we piled into the car and drove 12 hours to Topeka, KS for the Sunflower Music Festival! This festival has an absolutely incredible following in the community - the hall was filled to capacity for every performance! We got a lot of good work done on Beethoven Op. 18 No. 1, and had a blast performing it on Tuesday night. Knowing that we were right smack in the middle of Tornado Alley, we even had a quartet viewing of Twister to get in the mood, and we weren't disappointed; the tornado sirens went off on campus during a thunderstorm! Thinking we were making a big deal out of nothing, our quartet went to bed, only to learn the next morning that the entire faculty and the rest of our floor had been ushered down to a fall out shelter during the night! Apparently everyone thought we were out. I don't know where they got that idea, the Æolus Quartet has a strict 9 PM bedtime... ;)

Thanks for taking the time to catch up with us! Next post will be from Palo Alto, CA!!!!

Hanging out with the Brentano Quartet.. no big deal...

Last weekend, we had the excellent fortune to be in Reading, PA (Rachel's hometown) at the same time as the Brentano Quartet! Not only did we get to hear them play some amazing concerts on the Friends of Chamber Music of Reading series - their Schubert G Major was jaw-dropping - we got to spend some quality time talking over the finer points of the quartet lifestyle. We especially had Nina Maria Lee captive, along with her husband Windsor, and their adorable daughter Anouk, as the three of them were staying at Rachel's house... along with the entire Æolus Quartet... and of course a few of our pals from the Philadelphia area dropped by too. Needless to say, floor space was prime real estate. 3 air mattresses, 2 couches, and all the beds in the house!

Mark, Nina, Drs. Tom Souders and Neil Hoffman (FOCM,) Serena, and Misha



Sightreading Schubert Cello Quintet with Nina!!! Even after performing two full programs with her quartet, she was still game to read with us :)






Anouk appears ambivalent about the prospects of a career in music... although we have been told she plays a mean cardboard violin.


Another round of amusing Alan and Rachel through the mail slot. All in a hard day's work.


With our dear friends Carlos and Ayane! CIM '09


Mother and daughter :)


Carlos doing all the grunt work for our Sunday brunch.


Ellen and John Shapiro! The merry hosts :)

Windsor and Anouk utilizing one of the eight bubble blowers provided for them at the Shapiro house.

In the Big Apple!

First off - thank you for dropping by our blog! You may have noticed our introductory video below. What was originally intended to be an assignment for Career Development seems to have taken on a life of its own :)

So we just wrapped up a week in New York at the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar! We had the incredible fortune to work with Joel Krosnick and Ron Copes of the Juilliard String Quartet for 3 hours a day, in addition to the delight of sharing one tiny hotel room among the 4 of us!! The musical experience certainly outshone the tight accommodations, however, and we will not soon forget the insightful coachings and hilarious stories shared with us by the JSQ.

It's almost as if our sound improved simply by having Mr. Krosnick stand up and wander into the middle of our quartet, gesticulating at the score and looking at each of us with twinkling eyes. Of course his advice on bow distribution and sound production also helped. And Mr. Copes' philosophical musicality, along with lessons on avoiding "splices" and unnatural dynamic progressions, left us with a lot to think about... including the fact that the Finale of any piece shall henceforth be referred to as "Fine Ale" - thank you for that and more, JSQ!

Welcome to our blog!