American Public Media's Performance Today features live concerts by famous artists in concert halls around the globe and from the American Public Media studios as well as interviews, news and features. Performance Today audiences, on any given day, may hear from performances in the great concert halls of New York, Prague, London, Berlin and Paris.
Tune in to Performance Today to hear Professors.Yolanda Kondonassis (harp) & Richard Hawkins (clarinet) join forces with the Jupiter String Quartet for Ravel’s ‘Introduction et Allegro’!
performances like these are what motivate me to continue playing music in times of difficulty or stress. with the right amount of sound and synergy, music can change lives. this performance surely has changed mine.
After spending some time taking the Chinatown bus that runs between New York and Boston, it’s safe to say the Jupiter String Quartet can now afford something better.
“Because it’s only $10, you don’t get a lot of perks or comfort or luxury,” said Nelson Lee, one of the quartet’s violinists. “There was this one ride in middle of winter when the front door kept opening on its own. The bus driver tied a belt from a handle to the door and it held on its own. But there was snow still blowing in.”
Those trips were made quite frequently between late 2002 and mid-2003.
That was almost 10 years ago when the group’s cellist Daniel McDonough lived in New York while Lee and sisters Megan and Liz Freivogel resided in Boston.
Now, a lot has changed. The “intimate group” is even closer as Meg Freivogel is married to McDonough. They are also a whole lot wealthier: Each is earning $70,000 to teach students and represent the School of Music and the University on a national stage.
The University of Illinois’ new quartet in residence is nicely settling into the Champaign-Urbana area. And this couldn’t have been a better match.
“When the opportunity came up and the job was announced, we leapt on it. We’ve been looking for a situation like this for a long time, and we’re really excited about this opportunity,” Lee says.
“There’s not a lot of places in the country that have a residence string quartet, in terms of public universities,” McDonough adds.
The job opened up in March as Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet announced its intentions of jumping ship to take a similar position at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
In addition to the unexpected announcement, former School of Music director Karl Kramer stepped down at the end of March to take a job in Sydney.
“Those two things made it unusual,” said Edward Rath, who is now retired after briefly serving as the school’s interim director.
This left the University of Illinois to find a replacement in a relatively short amount of time. Three prospective groups were brought to campus in April to play in front of a live audience in the spring as well as teach student chamber ensembles.
Normally, auditions would occur in February or March if the position needed to be filled next fall, and the quartet would be chosen in mid-spring.
But Jupiter String Quartet was picked in early May and only moved into the area mid-August.
The four, who are in their early 30s, played at the Allerton Music Barn Festival during the first week of school, for the first time as faculty members, in front of their colleagues.
“It seems like a really neat way to kick off the school year at the School of Music. It has a nice audience, and it’s kind of laid back. It’s a really unique place to play,” McDonough says.
The small atmosphere of the festival especially suits the quartet, which specializes in chamber music. This type of music has traditionally been performed by a small group of people, usually two to eight, typically in a small room – something aristocrats did in the 18th century.
—
Fast forward to the quartet’s first formal concert as University faculty members.
The group is now collaborating with renowned pianist Ian Hobson, who is a professor in the Center for Advanced Study. A few hundred are gathered in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts.
Even though it’s late in the evening, the quartet still keeps the audience engaged by bringing color to its music, with rhythmic toe taps and head motions. They are on the edge of their seats, precisely in sync with each other.
“We feel like it is the best of both worlds,” McDonough says.
“You have your individual personalities, but you also get to work in collaboration with others in a smaller setting. … So I’m both kind of my own person and as a whole.”
That whole is not so much like a group of professional musicians but more like a family – one that has performed on the biggest of stages.
The Jupiter String Quartet has played in many high-profiled venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Wingmore Hall, a concert venue that specializes in performances by small groups.
But Krannert is right up there.
“Having played in all those places, Krannert Center is as good – I’m not just saying that (for this interview),” McDonough says. “We’ve come here before not knowing anything of Champaign-Urbana and discovering there was this beautiful, amazing performing arts center. We were just blown away so to get to have it at our fingertips is very special.”
And the quartet could get used to this as its home venue: Its contract is renewable if both the School of Music and the Jupiters wish to, though a rolling, three-year deal will be considered next year.
—
The idea for a quartet formed in 2002, when Lee, McDonough and violinist Meg Freivogel were studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music. But the trio was still missing a piece to complete the string quartet: a violist. Meg recommended that they consider her sister, Liz, who was studying at Oberlin College, located in northwest Ohio.
“We got together and read a little bit, and it felt really good. I remember the first time we sat down and played. And it was pretty clear to me that we all had similar musical principles and ideas,” Lee recalls. “I don’t think any of us envisioned that it would necessarily be our full-time job ten years down the line. It just sort of ended up that way, and we’re really glad that it did.”
And in late 2003, the foursome enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music, where they were in the Professional String Quartet Training Program – a Master’s degree for a quartet.
“That’s such a specialized program that we sort of knew before we applied. So we already had been together for a few years. Let’s try to make this work and go to school where we can really study quartet,” McDonough says.
Located in Boston, the New England Conservatory of Music is the oldest independent school of music in the nation. And an argument could be made that it is one of the best.
“It’s great because you don’t do anything else. You concentrate solely on the string quartets,” Lee says. “There aren’t too many distractions, the schedule is very flexible. You get a lot of input from a lot of different people in the school.”
One person was Roger Tapping, who now chairs the school’s chamber music program. He has served as a mentor to the quartet. And after a position as a violist for 10 years from 1995 with the Takács Quartet, he has collaborated with the Jupiter String Quartet on multiple occasions to make a quintet, which is done by adding a viola.
“They play with an engaging intensity and sincerity. They don’t put on an artificial sense of being showy. They clearly love the music they are playing with artistry,” Tapping said.
—
McDonough was running late for the interview; he just finished up individual lessons.
“Right now, I think I’ve had to give up things like exercising and watching television. Before I had more time to relax, and now it’s very busy,” he says with a smile. “But we’ll figure it out. The job came out so late that it was tricky for this first year, but going forward we’ll be sort of manage it better.”
McDonough says he’s looking forward to attending his first Illinois football game, but he doesn’t know when that will come as doubling as a professional string quartet can make finding empty Saturdays difficult.
During the semester, the Jupiter String Quartet is scheduled to make trips to Connecticut, North Carolina and Georgia, only to name a few. But the University has been understanding of previous commitments, and the quartet is adjusting on-the-fly.
“(The University is) going to be flexible with us. And it’s possible to continue the performing career that we had before and be as active in that realm as we have been and then be very dedicated to our students at the University,” Lee says.
Depending on the day, the quartet will rehearse for about three hours and teach for a few hours – mostly private lessons. Despite their busy calendars, the Jupiters wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve got this kind of stability and this community we can be apart (of). And when we’re traveling, and they kick my cello off the plane, I don’t have to get as angry because I have a nice place to come back to,” McDonough says.
After spending some time taking the Chinatown bus that runs between New York and Boston, it’s safe to say the Jupiter String Quartet can now afford something better.
“Because it’s only $10, you don’t get a lot of perks or comfort or luxury,” said Nelson Lee, one of the quartet’s violinists. “There was this one ride in middle of winter when the front door kept opening on its own. The bus driver tied a belt from a handle to the door and it held on its own. But there was snow still blowing in.”
Those trips were made quite frequently between late 2002 and mid-2003.
That was almost 10 years ago when the group’s cellist Daniel McDonough lived in New York while Lee and sisters Megan and Liz Freivogel resided in Boston.
Now, a lot has changed. The “intimate group” is even closer as Meg Freivogel is married to McDonough. They are also a whole lot wealthier: Each is earning $70,000 to teach students and represent the School of Music and the University on a national stage.
The University of Illinois’ new quartet in residence is nicely settling into the Champaign-Urbana area. And this couldn’t have been a better match.
“When the opportunity came up and the job was announced, we leapt on it. We’ve been looking for a situation like this for a long time, and we’re really excited about this opportunity,” Lee says.
“There’s not a lot of places in the country that have a residence string quartet, in terms of public universities,” McDonough adds.
The job opened up in March as Grammy Award-winning Pacifica Quartet announced its intentions of jumping ship to take a similar position at the Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
In addition to the unexpected announcement, former School of Music director Karl Kramer stepped down at the end of March to take a job in Sydney.
“Those two things made it unusual,” said Edward Rath, who is now retired after briefly serving as the school’s interim director.
This left the University of Illinois to find a replacement in a relatively short amount of time. Three prospective groups were brought to campus in April to play in front of a live audience in the spring as well as teach student chamber ensembles.
Normally, auditions would occur in February or March if the position needed to be filled next fall, and the quartet would be chosen in mid-spring.
But Jupiter String Quartet was picked in early May and only moved into the area mid-August.
The four, who are in their early 30s, played at the Allerton Music Barn Festival during the first week of school, for the first time as faculty members, in front of their colleagues.
“It seems like a really neat way to kick off the school year at the School of Music. It has a nice audience, and it’s kind of laid back. It’s a really unique place to play,” McDonough says.
The small atmosphere of the festival especially suits the quartet, which specializes in chamber music. This type of music has traditionally been performed by a small group of people, usually two to eight, typically in a small room – something aristocrats did in the 18th century.
--
Fast forward to the quartet’s first formal concert as University faculty members.
The group is now collaborating with renowned pianist Ian Hobson, who is a professor in the Center for Advanced Study. A few hundred are gathered in the Foellinger Great Hall at the Krannert Center for Performing Arts.
Even though it’s late in the evening, the quartet still keeps the audience engaged by bringing color to its music, with rhythmic toe taps and head motions. They are on the edge of their seats, precisely in sync with each other.
“We feel like it is the best of both worlds,” McDonough says.
“You have your individual personalities, but you also get to work in collaboration with others in a smaller setting. … So I’m both kind of my own person and as a whole.”
That whole is not so much like a group of professional musicians but more like a family – one that has performed on the biggest of stages.
The Jupiter String Quartet has played in many high-profiled venues, including New York’s Carnegie Hall and London’s Wingmore Hall, a concert venue that specializes in performances by small groups.
But Krannert is right up there.
“Having played in all those places, Krannert Center is as good – I’m not just saying that (for this interview),” McDonough says. “We’ve come here before not knowing anything of Champaign-Urbana and discovering there was this beautiful, amazing performing arts center. We were just blown away so to get to have it at our fingertips is very special.”
And the quartet could get used to this as its home venue: Its contract is renewable if both the School of Music and the Jupiters wish to, though a rolling, three-year deal will be considered next year.
--
The idea for a quartet formed in 2002, when Lee, McDonough and violinist Meg Freivogel were studying at the Cleveland Institute of Music. But the trio was still missing a piece to complete the string quartet: a violist. Meg recommended that they consider her sister, Liz, who was studying at Oberlin College, located in northwest Ohio.
“We got together and read a little bit, and it felt really good. I remember the first time we sat down and played. And it was pretty clear to me that we all had similar musical principles and ideas,” Lee recalls. “I don’t think any of us envisioned that it would necessarily be our full-time job ten years down the line. It just sort of ended up that way, and we’re really glad that it did.”
And in late 2003, the foursome enrolled at the New England Conservatory of Music, where they were in the Professional String Quartet Training Program – a Master’s degree for a quartet.
“That’s such a specialized program that we sort of knew before we applied. So we already had been together for a few years. Let’s try to make this work and go to school where we can really study quartet,” McDonough says.
Located in Boston, the New England Conservatory of Music is the oldest independent school of music in the nation. And an argument could be made that it is one of the best.
“It’s great because you don’t do anything else. You concentrate solely on the string quartets,” Lee says. “There aren’t too many distractions, the schedule is very flexible. You get a lot of input from a lot of different people in the school.”
One person was Roger Tapping, who now chairs the school’s chamber music program. He has served as a mentor to the quartet. And after a position as a violist for 10 years from 1995 with the Takács Quartet, he has collaborated with the Jupiter String Quartet on multiple occasions to make a quintet, which is done by adding a viola.
“They play with an engaging intensity and sincerity. They don’t put on an artificial sense of being showy. They clearly love the music they are playing with artistry,” Tapping said.
--
McDonough was running late for the interview; he just finished up individual lessons.
“Right now, I think I’ve had to give up things like exercising and watching television. Before I had more time to relax, and now it’s very busy,” he says with a smile. “But we’ll figure it out. The job came out so late that it was tricky for this first year, but going forward we’ll be sort of manage it better.”
McDonough says he’s looking forward to attending his first Illinois football game, but he doesn’t know when that will come as doubling as a professional string quartet can make finding empty Saturdays difficult.
During the semester, the Jupiter String Quartet is scheduled to make trips to Connecticut, North Carolina and Georgia, only to name a few. But the University has been understanding of previous commitments, and the quartet is adjusting on-the-fly.
“(The University is) going to be flexible with us. And it’s possible to continue the performing career that we had before and be as active in that realm as we have been and then be very dedicated to our students at the University,” Lee says.
Depending on the day, the quartet will rehearse for about three hours and teach for a few hours – mostly private lessons. Despite their busy calendars, the Jupiters wouldn’t have it any other way.
“We’ve got this kind of stability and this community we can be apart (of). And when we’re traveling, and they kick my cello off the plane, I don’t have to get as angry because I have a nice place to come back to,” McDonough says.
The Jupiter String Quartet, which begins its tenure as Quartet-in-Residence this fall, performs Mendelssohn's Op. 80, Movement 1. Might we add: Fiercely? Tenderly? Both? Both. Definitely both. And more. Dear followers, any ideas?
The Jupiter String Quartet, who begin their two years of serving as Quartet-in-Residence this fall, practices Beethoven's Op. 59 No. 3, 1st Movement. Our only criticism: Why'd it have to end?
