The Cecilia String Quartet will perform at: Dances for a Small Stage 31, part of Music on Main's Modulus Festival, Friday, Oct. 24 and Saturday, Oct. 25 at 8 p.m. at Vancouver's Ukrainian Centre; West Vancouver's Kay Meek Centre, Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m.; and three unique performances also as part of the Modulus Festival at Vancouver's Heritage Hall - Machines Think Love, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., Transfigured Night, Oct. 28 at 9 p.m., and a festival closing concert, Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. For more information visit musiconmain.ca or kaymeekcentre.com.
Members of the Cecilia String Quartet are continuing to seek out opportunities for innovative collaborations, particularly those helping to attract younger generations to the classical music genre.
Celebrating their 10th anniversary as an ensemble, their passion for the form is undeniable.
"The music for a string quartet is the ultimate expression. It's the most revered form of musical conversation. I think the four of us all agree: It doesn't get any better than this," says Min-Jeong Koh. The quartet's first violinist spoke to the North Shore News Wednesday after flying from her home base inToronto to Vancouver for the ensemble's upcoming string of seven local performances that got underway Thursday.
With the exception of their performance on Sunday, Oct. 26 at 4 p.m. at West Vancouver's Kay Meek Centre, the quartet's upcoming local appearances are all part of Music on Main's Modulus Festival, Oct 23-29.
While the award-winning, internationally renowned quartet, whose other members include violinist Sarah Nematallah, violist Caitlin Boyle and cellist Rachel Desoer, has played in Vancouver several times over the years, this is their first time working with Music on Main.
Koh is pleased with the opportunity to work with Music on Main's artistic director David Pay. "He puts on all these very innovative, radical shows all around Vancouver.. .. He's trying to really break down the barrier and make music accessible for all, especially to the younger generation," she says.
"We're all in our early-30s and we've been playing concerts for 10 years together. ... While we love and adore our audience that are loyal to us... it's probably safe to say most of them are over 60 and retired. We're starting to see some young people, but I would say it's very unusual for young people to go out to a classical music concert. I don't want them to think that it's stuffy, I want them to think it's approachable, it's cool.. .. An opportunity like this couldn't have been missed, so we just jumped at it," she adds.
The Cecilia String Quartet will be part of a three-night run of Dances for a Small Stage 31 at Vancouver's Ukrainian Centre. The first show was last night and they'll repeat the program tonight and tomorrow at 8 p.m. Dances for a Small Stage seeks to showcase dance in an unconventional venue, offering a unique, intimate and cabaret-style atmosphere.
Dances for a Small Stage 31 is a partnership with MovEnt, and in addition to being entertained by the collaborative contemporary dance and musical performances, guests are encouraged to sit back and enjoy drinks, perogies and kielbasa. Doors, bar and Ukrainian dinner will open at 7 p.m. "We're actually playing Tchaikovsky's first quartet but each movement has been choreographed with a different type of dance and a different type of dancer," says Koh.
"The first movement - the ending sounds very similar to his ballet, The Nutcracker, so we always envisioned it playing as more the back up orchestra to a group of dancers, so it's really exciting that we get to perform the work with live dancers on stage," she adds.
Koh has thoroughly enjoyed getting an insider's view into the dancers' and choreographers' creative process, noting the vast differences from the classical music world. While obviously a lot of work has been put into the choreography, the pieces are ultimately still worksin-progress, a refreshing concept.
"As we were rehearsing yesterday and the day before, they were changing so many things on the spot," says Koh.
"They're just so inspirational and in-themoment type of artists. We're doing the same show three times with them this week - Thursday, Friday, Saturday - and I bet you any money they'll probably change it every night. ... That's really exciting because being classical musicians we don't do that. I mean there are things that we will do that are a little bit different every night, but the notes are fixed, it's not improvisatory," she adds.
The second act of Dances for a Small Stage 31 will showcase the work of composer, provocateur, and plunderphonics inventor John Oswald, who will be in attendance. The Cecilia String Quartet will serve a supporting role in the performance, also showcasing Toronto-based choreographer and dancer Holly Small.
Other artists featured over the course of the evening include host Billy Marchenski, choreographer Karissa Barry, dancer Makala Wallace, choreographer and dancer Stewart Iguidez, and choreographer and dancer Vanessa Goodman.
The Cecilia String Quartet will perform three additional shows as part of the Modulus Festival at Vancouver's Heritage Hall, two of which are also collaborations.
At Machines Think Love on Tuesday, Oct. 28 at 7 p.m., they'll perform a work by Canadian composer, Michael Oesterle. They'll be joined by fellow Torontobased soprano Carla Huhtanen for the piece, entitled Sweat and Mirror notwithstanding.
"She is wild. The piece that we're doing with her has her making all sorts of peculiar sounds - some retching, some screaming," says Koh.
Later that evening at 9 p.m., at a performance called Transfigured Night, they'll perform as a sextet, joined by an additional viola player, Tawnya Popoff, and cellist Rebecca Wenham, who was a founding member of the Cecilia String Quartet, having left the ensemble four years ago after moving to Vancouver.
"We haven't collaborated with her since so it's going to be an amazing event," says Koh.
Together they'll play Arnold Schoenberg's 1899 classic Verklärte Nacht, or Transfigured Night.
The final festival concert the quartet will play features them only and is set for closing night, Wednesday, Oct. 29 at 9 p.m. Their program includes works by Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn.
At the Kay Meek Centre on Sunday, the group plans to perform: Ludwig van Beethoven's String Quartet Op. 18 No. 1: Tchaikovsky's String Quartet No. 1, which they're performing at Dances for a Small Stage 31; and Leos Janácek's String Quartet No. 1. It's nicknamed "The Kreutzer Sonata" because it's based on Leo Tolstoy's novella of the same name, says Koh, adding the sonata was featured on their last album, released on the ANALEKTA label in 2013, entitled Amoroso: Janácek, Berg, Webern.
The Cecilia String Quartet is planning to record its next album in April 2015, focusing on Mendelssohn. The following year, they hope to record a series of pieces they've commissioned by four Canadian female composers.
"It's exciting because they're going to be written just for us, but also we're using this opportunity to celebrate Canadian women composers," says Koh.