Recordpub.com - Out and About: La Catrina Quartet enriches lives ... Group adds attention to detail, Latino style, zest to KSU School of Music

By Cecil Giltz

Lifetimes staff writer

Kent State University Hugh A. Glauser School of Music is fast becoming a center for chamber music with a focus on strings. With the Miami String Quartet as artists-in-residence, chamber music has been taking on added importance and La Catrina Quartet has begun to nourish the youngest promising musicians through its "Summer String Study" held at the school.

Thirteen students, ages 11 to 15, from Portage and Summit counties sat recently under the tutelage of Jorge Martinez, viola; Daniel Vega-Albela, violin; George Figueroa, violin; and Alan Daowz, cello. The program is open to string students from beginners to advanced, ages 5 to 18.

Students Brendan Martt, Grant Wang, Sophia Zaynor, Maria Zaynor, Ronan Keane, Abby Bowser, Megan Jennings, Carly Stuneck, Matthew Stuneck, Isaac Angeletti, Kelly Gallagher, Miles Slack and Brendon Phelps performed as soloists and in groups, learning stage presence, terminology and chamber performance.

The two-week summer string program was sponsored by La Catrina Quartet, School of Music and the College of Continuing Studies. Students took part in chamber ensembles, private lessons, group lessons, ear training and theory classes, taught by La Catrina. Several events highlighted the program, including a master class with Keith Robinson and Cathy Meng Robinson, two members of the Miami String Quartet, a concert by La Catrina Quartet and the students' final recital.

Stating his perspective on the program, Dr. Josef Knott, School of Music director, said, "I view this Summer String Study as an outreach activity for the school and as a complement to what the Miami String Quartet is doing with our university students. The Summer String Study affords us another opportunity to enrich the community and to help young people prepare for careers in string music and/or to be connoisseurs of music. I feel that this type of collective outreach will do a great deal to increase the public's awareness of the overall excellence of our faculty and students, as well as demonstrate our eagerness to be a cultural resource in the area."

The program wasn't all work and no play, thanks to Jill Gallagher, activities coordinator, who organized fun events at the KSU Ice Arena and the KSU Student Recreation and Wellness Center, and thanks to the food from several local businesses, including Bistro on Main, Subway, Siciliano's, Jimmy John's and Europe Gyro. Woodsy's Music also helped to make the program successful.

After the final student recital in KSU's Ludwig Recital Hall, Vega-Albela told the students, "Working with you these few weeks reminds me how much I love to teach."

The summer program will be accepting applications and audition tapes in the spring. For further information or to be added to the mailing list, contact Lucy Zaynor, program director, at (330) 389-0346.

La Catrina Quartet has a threefold mission, which is to work closely with living composers to promote the performance of new music, to promote Mexican and Latin American music, and to perform the master works of the string quartet repertoire.

In January 2007, the quartet participated in the highly competitive Association of Performing Arts Presenters conventions, concluding with a showcase performance of the "next generation's classical music star performers" at Carnegie Hall in New York City. On March 27, the quartet was invited by the Conservatorio de Morelia in Mexico to play a recital for cellist Yo-Yo Ma, who did a fund-raising concert for that conservatory.

Reflecting back over the School of Music's relationship with La Catrina, Knott admitted, "There are no words to adequately express the extent of my appreciation and admiration for La Catrina Quartet. They have been a source of inspiration to all of us in the school. In addition, they have been an outstanding model for other students in the school who need to assimilate the best of past tradition; to scan artistic, social, and economic horizons for new opportunities; and to seize opportunities with courage, imagination and zest. The selfless sharing of their many gifts to KSU, the School of Music, and the communities in northeast Ohio have immeasurably and permanently enriched our lives."

Recipients of the Bascom Little Fund Grant, which is given to outstanding artists to promote the creative endeavor of composers from Ohio, La Catrina will release a compact disc in the fall of 2008. Since they've been in Cleveland, they have played an average of 70 concerts per year in the Akron/Kent/Cleveland area, most of which are part of their outreach program.

La Catrina will be relocating to Hickory, N.C., where it will be Quartet in Residency of the Western Piedmont Symphony and its members will be adjunct faculty of the Lenoir Rhyne College, beginning this fall.