Newsletter Spring 2005
Japan Tour Issue
The Pacifica Quartet was enthusiastically received during its first tour of Japan in September, 2004. They also had some unexpected adventures! Read more about their trip on pages 2 & 3. After the Quartet's Tokyo performance of the complete string quartets of Elliott Carter, Kazumi Minoguchi, Director of Triton Arts Network, wrote, “I am sure that this concert will be a legend.” The performance has been included among the most notable concerts of 2004 by Japan's prestigious Classical Music Almanac, a rare honor for chamber music.
Highly Acclaimed Debut Appearances
In addition to its successful first tour of Japan, the Pacifica has made five other highly acclaimed debut appearances during the 2004-2005 season: London (“spellbinding blend of subtlety and style”), St. Louis (“superb”), Pittsburgh (“nothing short of brilliant”), San Antonio (“an exquisitely refined troupe”), and San Francisco (“a rare and stimulating event”).
Pacifica's Mendelssohn Quartet Cycle Recording Released
Pacifica Quartet's three-CD set of Mendelssohn's complete string quartets was released by Cedille Records on April 19, 2005. The CDs combine the Quartet's passionate style with Cedille's Grammy-award nominated engineering. The CDs can be ordered at www.cedillerecords.org, and they are also available from Amazon.com, Tower Records, Borders, and Barnes & Noble.
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| After visit to a Japanese school |
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Trip to Japan
September, 2004
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Brandon: We went to Japan last September for a 16-day concert tour organized by Triton Arts Network, including an Elliott Carter quartet cycle in Tokyo and a private concert for the American Ambassador. We were met at the Tokyo airport by Mai Kikuchi, our tour manager from Triton Arts. She has become a very good friend. She took us by taxi to meet with Kazumi Minoguchi, or Mino, the director of Triton Arts–we were very jet-lagged!
Simin: After a couple of days in Tokyo, we went to Nagoya for our first concert. We did an evening concert in each city we visited and the next morning we went to a school to perform. Triton Arts took great care of us and scheduled everything. We got very used to following Mai. She would start walking, we'd pick up our instruments, and we'd just go–it was very nice!
Sibbi: We were really impressed in Japan by what an incredibly polite culture they have.
Brandon: Whenever you visit anybody, there's a little ceremony. When we went to a school, the principal would take us into his office, and we'd sit down and have tea. The Japanese spirit is very welcoming.
Sibbi: When we performed at the schools, the kids listened quietly and were so well behaved. And then they would perform for us. At some schools a choir would sing for us, and at others a large group of kids would play this instrument–it has a keyboard and you blow into it–perfectly together.
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| With Mr. & Mrs. Suzuki and audience members |
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Brandon: I remember we were all quite touched by their singing because it was really beautiful. And they did it with such enthusiasm!
Sibbi: These tiny kids about six years old sang with such volume, and they would sing 20 stanza songs by heart, all harmonized.
Masumi: Before we came, Triton Arts sent information to the schools about the Quartet and the composers we played, and the kids shared these pamphlets with their parents. This creates a link with the community through music education. And when we went to the schools, the kids were so prepared!
Brandon: When we were done at a school, the whole class would follow us out and wave to us.
Simin: Our evening concerts were fun, because one of the most amazing things is that you never play a concert in Japan without doing two encores. They're very receptive! We really enjoyed the audiences.
Masumi: We were surprised by the encore situation, because we'd walk offstage after the first encore thinking OK, the concert's over, and they'd still go on clapping, so we'd walk out again, and then we'd realize that it was time to play another encore. Even after we played the second encore they'd still keep clapping. We discovered we should prepare more encores!
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| In a restaurant with Mai |
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Sibbi: Masumi impressed everyone by introducing the Quartet and our music in Japanese at the concerts.
Brandon: The audiences loved it!
Masumi: This trip was a great opportunity for me to practice my pidgin Japanese. But luckily the presenters there gave me a lot of coaching about what to say. I think my Japanese got a lot better.
Brandon: The audience was always very surprised when he would say his first few words in Japanese, and then he didn't sit right down to play but would go on and talk in Japanese for another 3 or 4 minutes.
Masumi: The thing is, though, I have the vocabulary of a 4-year old, and I think that's part of what they liked, because it's a little comical!
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| Ninja rehearsal loses focus |
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| After a concert in Nagoya with Mrs. Suzuki |
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Second Royal Philharmonic Society
Award Nomination
The Pacifica Quartet has received a second Chamber Music Award nomination from London's Royal Philharmonic Society. The Society exists to reward excellence in the field of live classical music performance, and its Music Awards are Britain's highest recognition of achievement. |
Next Season at Lincoln Center
The Pacifica has been invited to appear in Lincoln Center's Walter Reade Theater next October, and it will return again to Alice Tully Hall in April, 2006. |
4 Months in the Life….
A featured appearance on Rob Kapilow's “What Makes It Great” radio series, six residencies, and 29 concert performances, including three in New York City, participation in two Beethoven cycles, and the complete Elliott Carter quartets in San Francisco. A busy schedule since January 1st!! Pacifica's most extended residency, two weeks sponsored by the Chamber Music Society of Detroit, drew many enthusiastic comments from teachers (“wonderful and inspiring”) and students (“pixel perfect,” “cool,” “come again!”).
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Pacifica Hits the Newsstands
An article by violist Masumi Rostad appears in the April issue of Strings magazine, and the Pacifica Quartet will be featured in the June issue of The Strad. In July, watch for a cover story in Fanfare magazine, a feature article in Gramophone magazine, and their participation in Strings magazine's new Teen Strings supplement.
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| A new food experience for Simin |
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Simin: One of the things we never finished on our Japan tour was a bet we made going over. I had never tried sushi before, and I was going to try sushi if Brandon would sing karaoke in front of a lot of people.
Brandon: She's not that adventurous when it comes to food, but she dived in and had 5 or 6 pieces of raw fish, and she tried everything.
Simin: I did it, I ate my sushi, and a few days later I got appendicitis!
Brandon: I don't know if we'll ever get her to eat sushi again. But I lost the bet, and I will pay up.
Simin: Luckily, my appendicitis was near the end of the trip. I felt bad during our concert in Takaoka, and at intermission we decided it was probably because I hadn't eaten much that day. So I had some rice and tempura, but it didn't help–during the rest of the concert I just felt worse. That evening Brandon was supposed to sing karaoke, but I couldn't go, so Brandon stayed with me while Masumi and Sibbi went out for a bite with Mino and Mai. I was feeling horribly ill and trying to figure out what to do, but there was nobody available who spoke English. At 4 o'clock in the morning we went to the hospital in Takaoka. The doctors thought it might be appendicitis, but they said I should go back to Tokyo. So on September 26th I took the worst flight of my life!
Brandon: When we got to Tokyo we went right to the hospital. The doctors there thought it was appendicitis, but they weren't sure–it's very hard to diagnose. Simin had a lot of attention from a whole group of doctors, and finally the surgeon said, “I think we have to operate.” So we scheduled surgery the next day.
Simin: I was in the hospital for a total of 5 days. They took wonderful care of me. The nurses were so great–one nurse even came in to blow-dry my hair! Really, it was incredible. It was almost like a spa!
Brandon: She had a beautiful room. For me it was like a mini-vacation–even though she could barely move!–because we watched videos all day, and we didn't have to rehearse.
Masumi: Simin's surgery was the same day as our scheduled concert at the American Embassy, so meanwhile Sibbi and I frantically tried to figure out what to do.
Sibbi: We bought some duo music at a Yamaha store, and then we worked up a program for violin and viola–a Mozart G major duo, Martinu madrigals, and some unaccompanied Bach for each instrument.
Masumi: We had never practiced this music together, and we tried practicing at about 9 p.m. in our hotel room with heavy mutes on. But we only got a little bit into the Mozart when a woman banged on our door and yelled at us, “No! You can't do this! We have to sleep!” So we saved our rehearsal for the morning.
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| Performing in Japan |
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Sibbi: The Embassy was incredibly gracious about changing the program and explaining what had happened. So it all worked out.
Masumi: But we had to cancel the Carter cycle scheduled the next day in Tokyo, because it's hard to replace that with violin/viola duos!
Sibbi: Simin being the trouper she is suggested that we stay a bit longer and do the Carter cycle two or three days later–this while she was still lying in her hospital bed! But we decided the best thing was to go home and come back in December.
Everything about the tour–except Simin's illness!–worked out so well. No matter where we went, the preparation and organization were so professional and well done. It made touring there so easy. And the American Embassy was really supportive in helping us go to Japan, both in September and in December. We're looking forward to going back to Japan in February, 2007.
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| Inner voices rebel - Mai intervenes |
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