Newsletter Fall 2004
PACIFICA QUARTET CELEBRATES
10th ANNIVERSARY SEASON
The Pacifica Quartet launches an exciting 10th anniversary 2004-2005 season this fall, with highlights including its first tour of Japan, its first appearance at London's Wigmore Hall, a concert at Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, a performance of all five Elliott Carter quartets in San Francisco, and the release of its recording of the complete Mendelssohn string quartets. The 2004-2005 season also includes debut appearances in St. Louis, Pittsburgh, and San Antonio. The season will end with a performing residency in Sibbi's Iceland, land of glaciers and great music.
 |
Before final Mendelssohn recording session
with producer Judy Sherman
and Cedille Records engineer Bill Maylone |
Pacifica Quartet Tours Japan
The Pacifica Quartet went on its first tour of Japan in September, with performances in Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, and Takaoka. The Quartet was also invited to perform a special concert for the U.S. Ambassador to Japan, Howard H. Baker, Jr., and his wife and their guests. This is the first time a young quartet has been accorded such an honor. The trip was a great success and also held some surprises! More details about the Japan tour in the next Newsletter.
|
|
 |
Premiere of Mumford Piano Quintet |
Composer Jeffrey Mumford
In October the Pacifica Quartet and pianist Amy Dissanayake gave the first performances of a new piano quintet written for them by award-winning composer Jeffrey Mumford. The work is entitled toward the deepening stillness beyond visible light and suggests the interaction between shifting layers of space (strings) and a more resonant sound world (piano). In Mumford's words, "it is a celebration of the collective talents of these amazing performers." Mumford is Composer-In-Residence at the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His solo, chamber, and orchestral works have been performed worldwide. The Washington Post featured Mumford, along with Aaron Copland, Elliott Carter, Philip Glass and John Cage, as each "stand[ing] for representative movements in an exciting century for American music." |
|
|
 |
Personal Profile
Brandon Vamos
|
What were the most important musical influences on you growing up?
Well, definitely my parents. I wasn't taking private lessons with them since they teach violin, so I had some space being a cellist. But they still influenced me a huge amount. Also my wonderful cello teacher at the time, Tanya Carey, built me up with the right fundamentals and shaped my technique. And even though I grew up in the small town of Macomb, Illinois, I had a lot of great string players around me. Most of them were college students, and I was inspired to play with them. So I had a good musical upbringing.
How did the Pacifica Quartet get started?
Simin, Sibbi, and I got know each other when we were all teenagers. They both studied violin with my parents, first at the University of Minnesota and then at Oberlin Conservatory. I think the times we got to know each other best were the summers when we all went to music festivals where my parents taught. We became really good friends there and got to play a lot of chamber music together at a relatively young age. Simin really started the quartet. She had just finished Oberlin and was back in Los Angeles. I was finishing my masters at Yale when she called me and said she wanted to start a quartet. So we got together with two other friends of hers. We were only in LA for a very brief time before coming to Chicago. Sibbi joined us a few years later. We were very lucky to have him join the Quartet because we knew him so well, we knew his playing, we knew what to expect in the Quartet. Then when we needed a violist, Sibbi called his good friend Masumi. So the chemistry of old friendships is very comfortable.
What's your favorite popular music?
Mostly I just turn on the radio and kind of fish around. I like bands from the '80s, so I guess you could say I prefer classic rock now. But I'm still interested in new music if it's good.
What are your favorite downtime activities?
If I have some free time I like to go for a bike ride or for a run. And I love going out to see a movie. I've been following the Minnesota Vikings since I was a kid, so if we ever have a Sunday when we're not playing a concert I'll sit down and watch a Vikings game. I've had a bond with that team over the years, and I get a rush out of watching them.
One of your colleagues suggested to ask you about chocolate.
Yeah, I have a little problem with chocolate. When it comes evening time I've got to have some chocolate, and sometimes if we're on the road I have to go out and find it. I'm not talking about fancy chocolate, I'll eat the really bad stuff that you find in gas stations, I don't care, it's just got to be chocolate.
Are there any special problems travelling with a cello?
Airline attendants are never happy to see me because the cello is such a hassle for them. I buy a seat on the plane for the cello, but I'm constantly switching seats and passengers have to move and wait for me to get situated before the plane can take off. Every time there's a problem with the cello, they give me a different rule about where it has to go. The worst thing is the new airport security. Sometimes they want to search my cello, and they'll pull it aside, and I'm not allowed to touch it or help open it. So these people have my 300-year-old cello, and they don't know how to handle it, and they're swabbing it with their chemical identifiers. It can be very stressful! |
|
|
 |
Taking a bow after concert for the U.S. Supreme Court
Photograph by Steven Petteway,
Collection of the Supreme Court of the United States |
|
|
|
|
|
 |
Alice Tully Hall Performance
On December 1 the Pacifica Quartet will perform in Lincoln Center's Alice Tully Hall, where they last appeared as winners of the 1998 Naumburg competition. They will be joined in concert by acclaimed pianist Gilbert Kalish. The program will include works by Mendelssohn, Ligeti, and Brahms. This performance is one in a series arranged as part of the Cleveland Quartet Award won by the Pacifica Quartet in 2002.
|
|
 |
Pacifica Quartet Inspires Young Musicians |
A moment of relaxation in Oregon
In addition to music festival performances, the Pacifica Quartet taught at several of the nation's best known music camps during its busy summer season. The Quartet worked with young musicians at Interlochen, Michigan, Madeline Island, Wisconsin, and Ashland, Oregon in programs that pass on the joy of playing music together in small groups. "Thank you for giving so much of your time to coach our group," wrote one of their students earlier this summer. "Your comments were of course extremely helpful and insightful, but what I appreciated most was your great energy level and how you made our entire group more excited to play.”
|
|
|
 |
| Seeking refreshment after a concert in Spain |
 |
| With violist James Dunham in Spain |
|
|
Masumi’s Journal
Bilbao, Spain, April 22, 2004
The world is spinning green around me. I am backstage at the Filarmonico Hall in Bilbao, Spain. I am also in a cold sweat and I feel terrible.
This is a tour we have been looking forward to for some time now. We arrived in Heidelberg, Germany last week and spent a wonderful few days drinking Heffeweisen beer and eating wiener schnitzel in biergartens while enjoying the view of one of the most stately and beautiful cities in the world…Oh, and we played some great music too!
We are here in Bilbao with our friend James Dunham, violist of the former Cleveland Quartet, to play the Dvorak viola quintet. It is an odd and nice feeling to give a cue in performance and hear a new sound that you actually know quite well - kind of like putting a stylus down on vinyl.
When we go someplace new we try to learn about the local culinary specialties and seek them out. We discover that Bilbao is considered Basque country. We read that the Basque tradition of gastronomy is fiercely competitive. They have these cooking clubs that date back many centuries whose membership is passed from father to son. So, really, what does this mean about the food? There is only one way to find out.
Brandon is perhaps the most diligent in his research and is skilled (or at least persistent!) in the art of comparing and contrasting menus. Simin brings along a tourist guide of Spain. After much careful consideration and with the aid of some helpful locals plus James' renowned navigational abilities, we find a great local Basque restaurant. We ask if there are any nice flamenco bars in the area. The waiter laughs and explains that this is not possible in the Basque region. Culturally speaking, they do not think of themselves as Spaniards. He laughs again as he walks off shaking his head. Must have been the wrong question…
We have ordered a seven course meal by accident of the bad high school Spanish, French, and pidgin Italian between us. But this is serendipity! Fanciful fish, slightly seared steaks, delectable desserts, robust riojas - OK shall I stop now? The food is fantastic! It is so fantastic that I am obliged to forgive it for the illness it has given me. Even as I lie backstage nauseous, feverish, and weak, I am still able to look back favorably on the meal from last night.
But the show must go on! I take a swig of coke and we walk out. The hall is not air-conditioned and the humid heat is overwhelming to me. After the first movement of the Haydn quartet we are playing I notice my suit is drenched with sweat. Yikes, this is just the first piece! Thankfully however, by the time James joins us onstage for the Dvorak I am feeling much better. I think I may have burned off whatever bacteria were disagreeing with me. We all seem to enjoy the Dvorak immensely.
The next day I am back at 100%. Unfortunately for Brandon and James, the food hits them just as we begin the six hour drive to Valencia…
|
|
