Changing of the guard...

Over the past nineteen years Artaria has experienced personnel changes as career plans have developed and families have grown within the ensemble. The Quartet has travelled across the country with its performing and teaching residencies since its inception in Boston in 1986, and somewhere between competing in the Banff International String Quartet Competition and winning the 2004 McKnight Fellowship, we have said farewell to several fine colleagues and welcomed new ones.

Our cellist of the past seven years, Tom Rosenberg, who has added much to the depth of the quartet's playing and teaching, has decided to reprioritize his life and will be exploring new avenues of music making. We wish him a bon voyage and know that he now has more time to spend with his family and finish that basement addition! "Best wishes, Tom, from all of us."

In the same breath, we are delighted to welcome cellist Anna Clift to the Artaria family. In our next issue we will bring you the Clift Notes.

For now, we say "Welcome, Anna".

ARTARIA Upcoming Performances:

October 8 - ASQ Concert at the Roncalli Newman Center.
La Crosse, Wisconsin. 7:30pm

October 9 - Artaria @ Sundin Hall Concert. 7:30pm Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Mozart Quartet in G K.387, Shostakovich Quartet No.1, Dvorak Quartet in E-flat. A pre-concert featuring young artists from our coaching program begins at 7:00pm

October 10 - University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire, Wisconsin.

October 29 - Rochester Chamber Music Society. ASQ violinist Ray Shows will present a recital with pianist Horacio Nuguid. Music by Mozart, Faure and Stravinsky. Concert is at 7:30pm.

November 15 - University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. Performance of the Schumann Piano Quintet with Van Cliburn Competition Finalist and Cleveland International Piano Competition Winner
Chu-Fang Huang, China.

Chu-Fang Huang

2005, Finalist, USA Van Cliburn International Piano Competition. Winner, Cleveland Piano Competition.

2004, 4th Prize, China, Beijing International Piano Competition and 6th Prize, Australia, Sydney International Piano Competition

2003, 1st Prize, USA, Hilton Head International Piano Competition and 1st Prize, USA, Corpus Christi International Piano Competition

CORRECTION>>>Please note this Concert date change...

Artaria's January 15th, 2006 concert in Sundin Hall has been changed to Saturday, January 14th, 2006 at 7:30pm with a pre-concert by ACMS young Artists at 7:00pm. Our guest artist that evening will be Roberto Diaz, renowned solo viola of the Philadelphia Orchestra and Director designate of the Curtis Institute (our country's top conservatory). He will also be giving two masterclasses that weekend at Sundin Hall.

We will feature Mr. Diaz in the January e-newsletter.

For more detailed information see our webpage www.artariaquartet.com/concerts

ASQ latest news "bits"

Artaria enjoyed two really interesting recording projects this past year. In April we participated in an audio resolution study called the "Resolution Project" sponsored by Monster Cable, Dolby Laboratory, Genex Audio DPA Microphones, Great River Electronics, and Minnetonka Audio Software. Our responsibility was to perform a Haydn Quartet movement into an array of microphones designed by an electronics guru that would have been most at home on a SciFi movie set (I mean the mics of course). Designed by John Calder of the Generator Company, the specially designed mic stand full of expensive microphones captured our sound into varying "bit" depths (getting too complex?). Basically the manufacturers want to demonstrate how a higher bit depth will sound on the new Super Audio CD's about to hit the market. Cool.

We had fun learning and listening to these techies and they enjoyed hearing our music as well. The other group in the project was the Mary Louise Knutson Jazz Trio. These folks were recorded live using that scary mic stand. Wonder what the patrons at the club thought when they saw that thing!

The other recording Artaria did was for a Celtic R&B group that wanted some sweet string sounds under their latest tunes. It was also well planned and went smoothly. We were again impressed by the sonic capabilities these recording engineers can deliver. I didn't realize we could sound that good! Hats off gentlemen ;^)

Winterstrings takes place January 20-22, 2006. If you're an adult chamber music afficionado and would like to spend a weekend jamming with other crazy folks like yourself, send in an application and we will find a group for you to play with, or come "pre-formed". You can go to the the ACMP website to rate yourself as a player (go ahead - it won't hurt). Then go to the Winterstrings site to fill out an application and join us for a great weekend in January.

Two New Competitions

The Rochester Chamber Music Society has announced a new chamber music competition for 2006. The new competition will be held on March 11, 2006 and is open to musicians grades 9 through 12. Groups will be asked to submit a 15 minute program of chamber music on CD or tape by January 15. The application fee is $50 per ensemble. There will be five ensembles selected as finalists to appear on the March 11 subscription concert. Each final round ensemble will get $100 for performing on this program and one ensemble will be chosen that evening to receive the Grand Prize of $600. We will provide more information when the brochure arrives.

The Premiere Saint Paul String Quartet Competition will be held in Sundin Hall at Hamline University on April 30, 2006. The Competition is open to high school string quartets from anywhere in the U.S. with cash prizes totaling over $2000. The website contains all the rules and requirements, as well as contact information and the application form. Quartets, start your engines!

ACMS Quartets hit the woodshed

The music of the great masters is beginning to fill the Autumn air as the ACMS quartets start up once again at the historic Episcopal Church of St John the Evangelist here in St. Paul. There are nine quartets ready to go already with others in the works.

Many challenging chamber works will be studied and performed this year by these fine young musicians. Performance dates for the year are December 18 and April 23, and there will be Masterclasses and run-outs sprinkled throughout the season. We are planning to have the Miami Quartet give the first class in mid-October, so let's see some woodshedding!

Sundin Hall Prelude Performances

As an exciting new element of the ASQ Series @ Sundin, we will showcase some of our finest ACMS string quartets in Prelude Performances. These will occur 30 minutes prior to the ASQ Concerts and will feature a young ensemble from our mentoring program. They will present a fifteen-minute program of chamber music as our "opening act" and will introduce themselves and the works they are performing to the audience. We are very excited about this project. Come early and see the next generation of chamber musicians!!

Shop Talk - Care of the Bow

Guest Column by John Waddle

Think of your-self not as the owner or user of the bow, but as the caretaker of it. If you take good care of a bow, it might be passed on to someone else after you to be enjoyed again.  This is especially important now as the wood, Pernambuco, that bows are made of is no longer legal to sell.  This, sadly, is due to the serious deforestation of the Mata Atlantica Rainforest in Brasil.  

Don't over-tighten the bow.  I have seen bows that broke at the tip because someone tightened them too much. Remember to loosen the hair when you are done playing.  If you leave it tight, you can stretch the hair out, warp the bow, or if the weather changes from humid to dry, break the bow.  Get the bow rehaired at least once each year.  If you are practicing four hours a day, get it rehaired more often.    Don't use more rosin than you need. You don't need to rosin your bow every time you play.  Excess rosin just ends up falling off the hair and getting all over the instrument. Keep the thumb leather and winding in good shape. Both are there to protect the shaft of the bow from wearing out from your hand contacting the bow.  If your hands are sweaty, have a covering of leather or plastic put on the handle of the bow to keep it from wearing away.  Never let the bow touch the floor for any reason.  When not in use, keep the bow in your case.  Properly cared for, the bow can last many years.

Mr. John R. Waddle    
John R. Waddle Violins, inc.

Luthier John Waddle has a lovely violin shop in St. Paul which he would be delighted to have you visit. Call him up for an appointment. 651-698-4692

Feedback

The inaugural newsletter (last month) received many compliments. It is of course gratifying to make something useful for others. So please let me know if there are topics you want to see discussed, questions answered, and the like. ~ RS

Do you have any suggestions about what should be in this newsletter? Are their topics you would like to see discussed or highlighted? Contact us.

Thank you for your present interest and past support of the Artaria String Quartet. If you would rather not receive our newsletter, send an e-mail to music@artariaquartet.com and type "no newsletter please " in the Subject line.