Annalee Wolf    Nancy Oliveros    Laura Sewell    Ray Shows

ARTARIA is joined by Laura Sewell

That there are too many memories and stories to recount about the ASQ (originally called the AQB - Artaria Quartet of Boston) in a mere email goes without saying. What we can relate to our friends and well-wishers is the common purpose that has endured throughout this adventure -- a healthy sense of humor and an unbridled passion for the most intimate and expressive music around.

One of the great responsibilities that a string quartet player is charged with when he or she enjoys the fruits of chamber music, is the promise to ensure that the traditions of the art are learned well, implemented professionally, and carried forward into the next generation of players and listeners. Artaria has always met this challenge head on and endeavored to connect with our listeners in a meaningful way.

Artaria's biggest news is the addition of cellist Laura Sewell to our quartet. Laura is a terrific and enthusiastic chamber musician who was a founding member of the renowned Lark Quartet. She is well-known to Twin Cities chamber music audiences, performing with the Minnesota Chamber Music Society, with jazz pianist Butch Thompson, as a guest on Prairie Home Companion, and for the past four years has served as Chair of the Board at Chamber Music America. She welcomes the opportunity to return to string quartet playing and we are delighted to have her with us.

We wish our dear friend and colleague Anna Clift all the best as she "retires" from her cello position with the Artaria Quartet. Anna, along with former Artaria cellist, Laura Thielke of Boston, Laura Sewell, and cellist Tanya Remenikova, were part of an outstanding faculty at Stringwood this summer which also included Artaria violist Annalee Wolf and violinists Ray Shows and Nancy Oliveros. ~

ARTARIA Upcoming Performances:

October 10, 2007 - Jewish Community Center of Saint Paul. Artaria cellist Laura Sewell, violinist Michal Sobieski, and pianist Shulamit Maneev perform the music of Paul Schoenfield, a concert in honor of Daniel Pearl Day. 1375 St Paul Ave. 7:30pm.

October 27, 2008 - St. Olaf College . Artaria violinist Ray Shows and pianist John Jensen will present a faculty recital at 7:00pm in Urness Recital Hall in Northfield, MN. Reception to Follow. Free admission.

October 28, 2007 - Artaria at Unity- Unitarian Church. 9:00 and 11:00am services. Corner of Holly and Grotto Sts in Saint Paul.

October 29, 2007- Artaria @ Sundin Music Hall Concert. 8:00pm Hamline University in St. Paul, Minnesota. Also featuring a Young Artist quartet from the Artaria Chamber Music School. Tickets, on sale at the Box Office, are $15 for adults, $5 for students. Call 651-523-2459.

As our invited guest print this sentence along with the mini photo and present it for complimentary admission to our October 29, 2007 concert at Sundin Hall.

Nov. 15 - 10:30am. The Hunter-Sewell Trio, with violinist Fred Sewell, cellist Laura Sewell and pianist Thelma Hunter, perform on the Thursday Musical Artist Series at the Bloomington Center for the Arts. 1800 West Old Shakopee Road, Bloomington (35W and 98th Street Exit) Enter at Logan and 98th Street 952-563-8567.

January 19, 2008 - Artaria @ the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN. Artaria concert in conjunction with Winterstrings at 7:30pm . Contact Eagle Bluff at 1-888-800-9558 for free ticket reservations.

Artaria is preparing three classic programs to perform at Sundin Hall for our devoted chamber music audience this year >>>

October 29, 2007 at 8:00pm
"Haydn, Dvorak, Ravel "
Haydn: String Quartet in G major, Op.77 No.1
Dvorak: Terzetto in C major, Op. 74
Ravel: String Quartet in F

March 2, 2008 4:00pm

"Mozart, Dvorak, Schubert "
Mozart: String Quartet in D major, K.499
Dvorak: String Quartet in E major, Op.80
Schubert: Cello Quintet with guest artist Tanya Remenikova

March 25, 2008 at 7:30pm
"Keyboard Conversations" with Jeffrey Siegel
Mozart: String Quartet in D major, K.499 (ASQ)
Piano Solos (Jeffrey Siegel)
Shostakovich: Quintet for Piano & Strings

For more detailed information, please see our webpage.

News "bits"

One of our long-time dream projects here at Artaria & Co. has been set in motion. The "Friends of Artaria", an organization that is already beginning to lend support to the chamber music events we have been self-producing for the past 20 years, was officially launched in July.

Any tax-deductible contributions you wish to make can be earmarked for a specific area of interest, i.e. Stringwood, ACMS, Winterstrings, the Saint Paul String Quartet Competition, or the Artaria String Quartet General Performance Fund. You may flex your financial muscle to influence these and any other projects you have in mind. If you've been waiting to contribute your "two cents", you now have your chance! The FOA can be reached by contacting board President Peter Dahlen at (507) 581-6483 or by sending an email to pdahlen@laborarb.com

Other news: Artaria, along with Saint Paul Chamber Orchestra musicians Tim Paradise, Carole Mason Smith, and Gary Bordner, will be in the SPCO Center's recording studio in November. Composer Conal Boyce has engaged us to record his "Septet", composed over a decade ago here in the Cities.

Who is Conal, you ask? He says he "Grew up in Berkeley, got a Ph.D in Chinese from Harvard University and moved here to teach at the U of M (1975-1976). Some formal training in music at Los Angeles City College (1960s) and privately with Leonard Stein, who had been an assistant to Arnold Schoenberg".

Conal's Brief Biography:

The summer version of Winterstrings, our adult retreat, again took place in July and was "warmly" received by all. The beautiful and air-conditioned St John's Episcopal Church on The Hill in St Paul was the site for three days of rehearsals, coachings, masterclasses, scrumptious meals, and wonderful camaraderie among adult participants and the Artaria String Quartet. The celebration culminated in a public performance by the participant quartets at the lovely Coventry Chapel at Episcopal Homes in St Paul to a large and enthusiastic audience.

Mark your calendars for July 18-20, 2008 to join your colleagues at the next "Winterstrings in July".

Winterstrings 2008 takes place at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in Lanesboro, MN from January 18-20, 2008. This year's theme will center on the chamber music of Antonin Dvorak. Come "pre-formed" or if you're an adult chamber music aficionado and would like to spend a meaningful weekend with other folks like yourself, send in an application and we will help you make connections with others to form a group for you to play with.

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 memorable weekend in January.

Competitions '08

The Finals of the 3rd Saint Paul String Quartet Competition will take place in Sundin Hall at Hamline University on Saturday April 19, 2008 from 2:00 - 5:00pm. The Competition is open to high school string quartets from anywhere in the U.S. with cash prizes totaling over $2000.

This year's judges are the prize-winning Arianna String Quartet. The SPSQC website contains all the rules and requirements, as well as contact information and the application form. It even has some nice pics of the 2006 and 2007competition.

The Rochester Chamber Music Society has announced their 3rd annual Chamber Music Competition for musicians grades 9 through 12. The competition Finals will be held on March 8, 2008 at 7:00pm and is open to the public .

If you are interested in entering the competition or buying concert tickets, you may do so by visiting their website at www.rochesterchambermusic.org.

ACMS Quartets get underway

Schools have opened across our fair Cities and the Artaria Chamber Music School has sprung as well. Eight quartets have selected their repertoire and can be heard rehearsing in the Undercroft at St John's Episcopal Church on the Hill in Saint Paul weeknights and Saturdays in preparation for their Winter Concert on Friday December 14, 2007 @ 7:00pm.

With a record number of last year's young artists now esconced at colleges and conservatories across the country, there are many new faces in the program. Some are returning from a year away from chamber music (Why? How?) and others are diving into quartet life for the first time.

An important component of the Artaria Chamber Music School are the Prelude Performances by our superb young artists on the ASQ Series @ Sundin Hall. These performances feature an outstanding young ensemble from our mentoring program in a movement from their repertoire. As our "opening act" they introduce themselves and the works they are performing to the audience. Come see and hear the next generation of chamber musicians!

Visit the ACMS website for news about masterclasses, performances, and other public events. www.acms.artaria.us.

Shop Talk

Guest Column by Josh Sieh (ACMS young artist)

Ring Tones for String Players
(and everyone else)
Are you in need of a tuner? Then I’m sure you’ve noticed how expensive it is to get a plastic box that can generate a 12-tone scale. However, with a little effort, and a cell phone, we can make a tuner for free!

For this project you’ll need:

I. A computer (Windows or Mac).

II. A cell phone capable of playing mp3’s or other audio files*.

a) It is also necessary that your phone have the ability to repeat tracks. b) You will also need a cable or method of connecting your phone to your computer for transferring files.

Let’s begin.

1. Install Audacity on your computer a) Download and install Audacity from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/. It’s completely free, very useful and does not harm your computer. b) Download the appropriate encoder pack from this link: http://lame.buanzo.com.ar/

Extract the files to a folder where they’re not going to be deleted or renamed. For more detailed instructions, read this: http://audacityteam.org/wiki/index.php?title=Lame_Installation

2. Create a folder on your computer named “Tuning Pitches.”

3. Run Audacity and click “Generate.”

4. Select “Tone.”

5. In the pop-up, use these settings:

Waveform: Sine
Frequency: 440.00**
Amplitude: 1.00
Length (seconds): 60

6. Click “Generate Tone” and you now have a standard 440-A. Click the play button to hear it.

7. Click “File” and then “Export as mp3”. a) If this is your first time using Audacity, it may ask you to locate the “lame_enc.dll”. Click “Yes” and locate the file that you downloaded and extracted earlier.

8. Name the file you are saving “A”, and save it in the “Tuning Pitches” folder you created.

9. Repeat steps 3-8. a) Replace the “440.00” in the pop-up with frequencies from the following table for different pitches. b) When you “Export as mp3”, name the file to match the generated tone, e.g., name the tone generated at 554.366 Hz “D”.

Note that these pitches drop down an octave at G natural. This is because most phones are more capable of generating higher frequencies than lower ones. By starting in the octave that we do, and switching at this point, the pitches are loud enough to be heard over your instrument, without piercing your eardrums. Of course, not all phones (or instruments) are the same, so feel free to change the octave of various pitches.

For frequencies of notes at different octaves look here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Musical_notes. You can also just double the frequency to make the note higher, or halve it to make it lower.

10. Connect your phone to your computer (with your cable, Bluetooth, etc.).

11. Copy the “Tuning Pitches” folder to your phone. a) Your phone may have a specific directory that media files have to be placed in. Check your manual, if you aren’t sure.

12. You should be able to play the tuning pitches on your phone at a reasonably loud volume. Set your phone to repeat the track, and it should play the note continuously until the battery dies (a very long time with newer phones—at least 4-6 hours).

Variations

If you know your iPod, or technology in general, you probably know that mp3 files are not limited to being played on your phone. You can play them on your computer, if you have one in your practice space, or burn a CD of them for your stereo. The only requirement for any playback device is that it be able to repeat tracks. Also, feel free to experiment with any parts of the process. Maybe you want to generate a squarewave instead of a sine—be my guest!

*For the advanced users who require a different audio format, I highly recommend SUPER for audio and video transcoding. It should have all the formats your heart desires. Download it here, at the bottom of the page (once again, it is free, useful and not harmful to your computer): http://www.erightsoft.com/SUPER.html

**If you tune to an A-442 or any other frequency variation, you can get all the appropriate relative frequencies from this site: http://www.music.sc.edu/fs/bain/atmi02/tuning/default.html

Josh is certified to teach Ring Tones through the Universal Guild of Ring Tone-ologists(UGRTO), which maintains incredibly high standards of pitch generation. He can be reached at (507) 217-7884 for further comment on his article or by emailing him at bhop@myclearwave.net

Feedback

We try to place interesting articles in this newsletter for you to think about, so please let us know if there are topics you want to discuss, questions answered, and the like. ~ RS Contact us.

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