Music in Our School - The Aeolus Quartet at Shore
The players took a breath, and the residency began.
In October, Shore hosted a concert and workshops by The Aeolus Quartet through a collaboration with Rockport Music. This group of four string players hails from New York City, where they are currently the Graduate Resident String Quartet at the Juilliard School.
Since the Quartet’s inception in 2008, violinists Nicholas Tavani and Rachel Shapiro, violist Gregory Luce, and cellist Alan Richardson have won prizes at nearly every major competition in the United States and performed across the globe with showings “worthy of a major-league quartet” (Scott Cantrell, Dallas Morning News). Luke Quinton of the Austin-American Statesman wrote, “The Aeolus Quartet is a powerful and thoughtful group of young musicians who are plotting an ascending course…this vibrant group shows great promise.”
Praised by the Baltimore Sun for combining “smoothly meshed technique with a sense of spontaneity and discovery,” The Aeolus Quartet is committed to presenting time-seasoned masterworks and new cutting-edge works to widely diverse audiences with equal freshness, dedication, and fervor. They have been widely recognized for their highly innovative and engaging outreach programs.
Praised by the Baltimore Sun for combining “smoothly meshed technique with a sense of spontaneity and discovery,” The Aeolus Quartet is committed to presenting time-seasoned masterworks and new cutting-edge works to widely diverse audiences with equal freshness, dedication, and fervor. They have been widely recognized for their highly innovative and engaging outreach programs.
Performing on the stage in Shore's state-of-the-art Theatre at the evening concert, the Quartet shared a three-part program, which included Mozart’s String Quartet No. 22 in B-flat Major K 589 (1790), Schulhoff’s dramatic Five Pieces for String Quartet (1924), and Franz Schubert’s String Quartet No. 14 in D Minor, “Death and the Maiden” (1824). These pieces of contrasting works, all from very different musical eras, highlighted the range of emotion a mere four players can evoke from the listener. Listen to the complete concert below.
The quartet returned to Shore a second day for interactive presentations with our first, second, fifth, and seventh graders. Their enthusiasm for the music was palpable, and the students were enthralled as they got to share the stage with such great talent. The musicians had a fun and lively way of connecting with our students, comparing a string quartet to a pizza: the cello is the crust that lays a solid foundation for everything else, the viola is the sauce which will hold the upper and lower parts together, the second violin is the cheese - super tasty and it wouldn't be the same without it - and the first violin the toppings.
A very special moment came when our youngest students were given the opportunity to “play” the Mozart along with the quartet, internalizing the contour and rhythms of the three contrasting parts of the whole. Students were asked to close their eyes and listen to a section of a piece, then describe how it made them feel and share what colors it made them imagine.
A very special moment came when our youngest students were given the opportunity to “play” the Mozart along with the quartet, internalizing the contour and rhythms of the three contrasting parts of the whole. Students were asked to close their eyes and listen to a section of a piece, then describe how it made them feel and share what colors it made them imagine.
These rich experiences in active music listening are in perfect alignment with the goals of Shore’s music program. We want students to dig their hands into the wealth of music our world has to offer to discover just how wonderfully complex, exciting, and beautiful it all truly is.
When we meet the players and watch their fingers fly across their instruments, it all becomes real. When those musicians stop and talk to us in language we can all understand, it becomes accessible. And when we take a moment to think about how it made us feel, it becomes meaningful.
This residency provided these opportunities to our community, and even months later we are still talking about the magic moments this group of young musicians made possible.
This residency provided these opportunities to our community, and even months later we are still talking about the magic moments this group of young musicians made possible.
Shore Country Day School’s mission is to provide an education that inspires a love of learning and encourages children to embrace academic challenge. We seek to build character, cultivate creativity, and value diversity as we help our children become healthy, compassionate citizens of the world.
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