Enso String Quartet Makes Music

With Newtown High School Orchestra Students

By Larissa Lytwyn

As the latest group to perform under Newtown Friends of Music’s ongoing outreach program with Newtown public schools, the Enso String Quartet did not disappoint.

Featuring Maureen Nelson and Tereza Stanislav on violin, cellist Richard Belcher, and Robert Brophy on viola, the Enso String Quartet is one of the nation’s leading young ensembles.

The day after giving a special, Friends of Music-sponsored performance at Edmond Town Hall last Sunday, November 14, featuring famed baritone Thomas Meglioranza, the Enso String Quartet shared a busy morning with Newtown High School orchestra students.

“Their selections of contemporary pieces are incredibly skilled and adventurous,” said Ellen K. Parella, president of Friends of Music’s board of directors. “They are markedly young and accomplished musicians.”

The quartet was formed just five years ago, in 1999.

“We met the way many groups meet,” said Mr Belcher, “through studying at university.”

That shared university was Yale’s graduate-level music program.

The quartet’s artistic promise was quantified last year, when they won the 2003 Concert Artist Guild International Competition as well as top prizes at the Chamber Music Yellow Springs and Fischoff National Chamber Music Competitions.

Ms Nelson debuted with the Philadelphia Orchestra at the tender age of 16, and was accepted into the Curtis Institute of Music the same year. She has worked with members of the Tokyo, Guarneri, LaSalle, Ysaye, American and Cleveland String Quartets.

Ms Stanislav, a Canadian native, is an acclaimed soloist and chamber musician. She has performed with the Calgary Philharmonic, as well as held performances at the prestigious Alice Tully Hall and Library of Congress.

Mr Brophy, a native of Manchester, England, has played with several orchestras in the United Kingdom, including the BBC Philharmonic, Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Hale Orchestra. In 2001, he gave the UK premiere of works by John Corigliano with the Goodburn Quartet.

“Mr Corigliano is one of today’s leading composers,” noted Ms Parella. “His music is incredibly respected for its complexity, and the Enso String Quartet has done quite an amazing job with his [work].”

He scored the respected 1999 independent art film, The Red Violin, and in 2001 received a Pulitzer Prize for his Symphony No. 2 for String Orchestra.

“We all come from diverse [geographic] backgrounds,” Ms Stanislav noted. “This could very well be reflected in the diverse choices of our music.”

Mr Belcher, a native of Christchurch, New Zealand, has performed the world over as orchestral soloist, recitalist, and chamber musician. In 2001, acclaimed New Zealand composer Patrick Shepherd’s Cello Concerto was written for and dedicated to him.

About 85 students, including 55 from orchestra and 30 from string ensemble, participated in the Enso String Quartet’s high school workshop.

Both the orchestra and string ensembles have been preparing for their upcoming winter concerts.

Orchestra director Michelle Hiscavich introduced the Enso String Quartet to students.

“This is a very special, unique opportunity that you have today,” she said, “to have these accomplished young artists both perform for you and later work with you in small groups.”

Ms Hiscavich emphasized that the quartet’s appearance was underwritten by the Newtown Friends of Music.

“It takes a lot of dedication, a lot of grant writing and effort to have this happen,” said Ms Hiscavich. “We are very fortunate to have the Enso String Quartet here with us today.”

The quartet first performed selections from their Edmond Town Hall performance, including pieces from Brahms, Bacri, Beethoven, and Messiaen, for students.

Each quartet member verbalized how his or her instrument section broke down piece by piece.

A quartet is unique because, as its name signifies, it is strictly comprised of four members; there is no head conductor.

Ms Nelson and Mr Brophy told students how each musician learned how to “cue” each other in to the next measure in terms of melody, character, and development.

Later, the students broke into small groups to work privately with the Enso String Quartet musicians.

“[The quartet] is a very technically adept group,” said Ms Parella, “and it was wonderful to see the students learning so much from them. I believe it was a successful [partnership].”