www.arielartists.com · [email protected]Bryant Park Quartet string quartet biography Based in New York City, the Bryant Park Quartet (Anna Elashvili and Ben Russell, violins; Adam Meyer, viola; Tomoko Fujita, cello) performs the spectrum of the string quartet repertoire to a wide audience with captivating elegance and a unique energetic style. The BPQ is the recipient of a 2008 Chamber Music America Residency Partnership Program grant and was a prizewinner in the 2010 Hugo Kauder International Music Competition. In recent seasons, the quartet has performed as soloists with the Cornell Chamber Orchestra; in recitals at Lincoln Center’s Paul Recital Hall, the Des Moines Art Center’s Levitt Auditorium, the Staller Center for the Arts Recital Hall at Stony Brook University, Azusa Pacific University’s Munson Hall, Biola University’s Crowell Hall, and on the Con Vivo Concert Series in Jersey City, NJ and the South Country Concert Series in Bellport, NY; and in collaboration with the Mark Morris Dance Group at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in Saratoga Springs, NY. In an effort to reach a uniquely diverse audience, the BPQ has also presented recitals in art galleries, such as The Lily Pad in Cambridge, MA, the Nassau County Museum of Art on Long Island, NY, and the Seaport District Cultural Association’s Space Gallery in lower Manhattan; in outdoor concerts at New York City’s Bryant Park; in community centers and in private house concerts; and live on KFMG radio in Des Moines, IA. As the first Ensemble-in-Residence at the Stony Brook University Community Music Program, the Bryant Park Quartet has spear- headed a new initiative to bring a high level of chamber music to Stony Brook’s music students and community. With this residency, the BPQ works with young musicians in Stony Brook’s Pre-College Program, presents outreach lecture/demonstrations to string pro- grams in nearby public schools, and hosts a summer chamber music camp. The BPQ has been invited as teaching artists to give master classes and seminars, in addition to coachings and lessons, at Azusa Pacific, Biola, and Cornell Universities. The quartet has led rehearsals and coached ensembles with the Greater Des Moines (IA) Youth Symphonies and the Santa Barbara (CA) Youth Sym- phony. The BPQ has developed residencies aimed at introducing chamber music concepts to string students in the Port Jefferson and Hewlett-Woodmere Public School Districts on Long Island, NY, and in the West Des Moines (IA) Community Schools. The quartet has also shared their music with thousands of school children in rural Kentucky and Ohio (under the auspices of New Performing Arts, Inc. and the Darke County Center for the Arts), in Bennington, VT, and in the city of Des Moines, IA for which they were featured on Channel 12 News. Formed in 2006 by graduates of The Juilliard School, New England Conservatory, Oberlin Conservatory and Rice University, the Bryant Park Quartet has been coached by members of the Brentano, Borromeo, Cavani, Cleveland, Emerson, and Juilliard String Quartets, Itzhak Perlman, Heidi Castleman, Colin Carr, Kathy Murdock, and Roger Tapping. The BPQ has participated in the Chamber Music Workshop at The Perlman Music Program, the Juilliard String Quartet Seminar, and The Mannes Beethoven Institute. Photo: Sergio R. Reyes
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string quartet - arielartists.comarielartists.com/epk/bpq_presskit.pdfstring quartet program offerings for 2011/12 season THE RUSSIAN AMBASSADOR Rachmaninov, String Quartet No. 1 (Unfinished)
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W.D.M. GRAD ORCHESTRATES CHANGE IN ATTITUDE TOWARD CLASSICAL MUSICBy TODD ERZEN
A New York City-based string quartet that features Valley High School graduate Adam Meyer was onhand in the West Des Moines school district last week to teach, perform and inspire.
Meyer, who graduated in 1998 and is the brother of district strings teachers Matt Meyer and Abby Crisp, said you don’t have to be a professional musician to have a life that is enriched by music.
“We’re trying to dispel the myth that classical music is stodgy and old-fashioned and boring, but that it is alive,” Meyer said. “It helps students intellectually, artistically and creatively ... there’s just something about a Beethoven symphony if you take the time to understand it.”
The Bryant Park string quartet worked with every string player in the district, from fifth grade through high school, and performed at both Stilwell and Indian Hills junior high schools early last week.
Three select chamber music ensembles, from the elementary, junior high and high school levels, were also put together to receive special training from the quartet before it headed out on community performances Friday.
The group performed at Hillside Elementary School, Blank Children’s Hospital and the Boys and Girls Club of Central Iowa.
Bryant Park’s last gift to the community Saturday was a free concert along with the three ensembles at Indian Hills Junior High School.
Stilwell seventh-grader Lexi Brennan played in the junior high ensemble and said the quartet’s members always stressed that difficult training must be balanced with keeping things fun.
“We played a challenging piece, so we had to work hard,” said West Des Moines’ Brennan. “It’s really rewarding.”
Phil Peters, Valley High School’s orchestra director and Meyer’s former teacher, said it was also rewarding for him to see his former pupil care so much about the community he came from.
“Adam was always passionate about things in high school and that capacity hasn’t diminished,” Peters said. “It is enjoyable for me to see his growth not only in terms of his professionalism and his musicianship, but in his willingness to give back.”
Meyer, 29, began taking music lessons when he was 3 years old. He had a youth filled with other activities as well, like basketball and baseball. It all made for being “a well-rounded kid,” said Meyer, whose father is former West Des Moines Mayor Gene Meyer.
Adam, a graduate of the famed Juilliard School of Music in New York City, knew early on there was something special about music and he wanted to explore it in-depth.
“I don’t remember a time when I didn’t think that,” Meyer said. “Music was always a natural part of who I am.”
That’s what he hopes for all of the students he came across last week, no matter what they decide to do for a profession. Meyer’s sister said that helping her students heighten their appreciation for music should be easier now, after the exposure they received from four people who care so much about what they do.
“I haven’t seen much motivation from my students yet this year,” Crisp said, “so this will remind them about how they need to work in order to play an amazing performance like they heard from the quartet.”
Bryant Park Quartet played Beethoven for little kids in Darke County and Greenville City Schools last week – and those kindergarten through third grade students not only enjoyed the music, they had fun! Their open minds engaged by the sound of the string quartet, the youngsters simply absorbed the joy, the beauty. They didn’t worry about how others thought they should react to the music, they simply responded – with delight!
And Adam Meyer, Tomoko Fujita, Ben Russell, and Steve Miahky were captivated and energized by their audience. When over two hundred kids sitting on the floor in a sweaty gym offer thunderous applause and lusty shouts of “Bravo,” you can be pretty sure that you’ve made a connection. When the questions from five- to eight-year olds are all about the songs and the instruments, you know that the music has captivated a new generation.
After identifying themselves and divulging their places of birth as well as their favorite things, the musicians who comprise Bryant Park Quartet began their program by displaying and explaining their instruments – two violins, a viola, and a cello. Even this segment of the program won applause as the artists demonstrated the range of notes available to the ensemble by simply playing scales – but the scales were played with skill and beauty.
Rapt attention continued to be paid as the cello laid the foundation for the next song, which one of the students immediately and surprisingly identified as “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star,” long before the melody line was played. Then, the youngsters were invited to sing along, and over 200 little voices sweetly joined the music of the strings to create a moment of magic and beauty.
The students were told that music can be listened to in many different ways. “You can sit quietly, close your eyes, open your ears, your minds, your hearts,” Tomoko said. While the youngsters did just that, the gym was initially filled with serene peaceful flowing sounds. However, the next piece featured skittering phrases and anxious rhythms, dramatically changing the room’s atmosphere. “How did that song make you feel?” Adam asked. “Mad!” “Wild” and “Scared” were the entirely appropriate responses.
Urged to use their imagination while listening, some students saw vibrant colors in the music they heard. Steve pointed out that one of the really cool things about music is that it can evoke diverse thoughts and feelings among those who are listening, but the youngsters seemed to have already figured out that part.
During a question and answer period, one of the students ask about the fragile-looking bow for Adam’s viola - “Will that thing break?” After offering a brief tutorial, Adam delighted the crowd by loosening the bow’s horsehair from the stick so that it hung free, looking exactly like – well – a horse’s tail. Then, Adam revealed that his viola had been made in 1998, and was about the same age as the older youngsters in the room, a fact which clearly impressed the students until they discovered that Tomoko’s cello had been created in 1793! Both instruments sounded full of live as another Beethoven composition closed the show.
The young musicians who make up the Bryant Park Quartet work hard to charm, entertain and educate young audiences. And they love their work, reaching out to those who are not often exposed to live performances of music by the great composers, hoping to inspire audiences to explore the wide world of wonder to be found by simply listening. The little kids in local schools went exploring last week; who knows what will come of all that they discovered?
September 14, 2007THE GREENVILLE OHIO DAILY ADVOCATE