Classically Speaking

“The most important thing is that when we open our cases to play music that we are completely thrilled with the prospect of the joy of music making.”  - Jeremy Cohen, QSF

Tango, Leonard Bernstein, music from cartoons, and Dave Brubeck…just a sampling of the music that eclectic group Quartet San Franciso will be bringing for their first concert in West Virginia on Tuesday at Concord University. 

I interviewed violinist Jeremy Cohen from Quartet San Francisco a year or two ago, when their album Whirled Chamber Music was hitting the scene.  Their new album (QSF Plays Brubeck) focuses on the music of Dave Brubeck (an important addition to the “Three B’s” of music in Cohen’s upbringing).

It was really cool to catch up with Jeremy Cohen about their new album, the upcoming concert in West Virginia, and QSF’s unique brand of chamber music. 

Take a listen to our interview to catch up with Quartet San Francisco, or perhaps meet them for the first time:

You can hear QSF play in videos they have posted on their site, and you can also check out our previous interview “Giving Quartet San Francisco a Whirl.”

Quartet San Francisco performs Tuesday November 17 at 8pm at the Fine Arts Building at Concord University (which you already know about, of course, because you’ve been keeping up to date with our November classical calendar, right?) 

Dan Locklair (b. 1949) was named the Composer of the Year in 1996 by the American Guild of Organists (AGO).

Locklair is Composer-in-Residence and Professor of Music at Wake Forest University and Adult Choir Director at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, all in Winston-Salem, NC.

In 2007, his music was heard in performances broadcast by many stations, including the nationally-syndicated program, Pipedreams (PRI) and the BBC.

His Rubrics, composed in 1988 and sub-titled “A liturgical suite in five movements,” was inspired by the “instructions” in the Book of Common Prayer. It continues to be his most popular work for organ, commissioned by the Pittsburgh Organ Artists Series.

The fourth movement, “The Peace may be exchanged,” was featured on Pipedreams in January 2002; it was also performed at the funeral for former President Ronald Reagan at Washington National Cathedral.

 
Dr. Robert Parkins performed movements II (Silence may be kept), IV (The Peace …) and V (The people respond – Amen!) at the dedication of Duke University’s new organ in March of this year.

Locklair received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from Eastman School of Music in Rochester NY, so it’s no wonder it appears on the program of fellow alum Peter DuBois  this Sunday at Charleston’s First Presbyterian Church.

Starting in July, DuBois has hosted WXXI’s local 2-hour production of With Heart and Voice for Richard Gladwell who recently passed. (Click here for the Richard Gladwell Facebook Fan site.)

DuBois served as Music Director/Organist of Christ Church United Methodist in Charleston for 10 years before moving to Rochester to serve at Third Presbyterian Church there and teach at Eastman.

Also included in the Sunday program are works by J.S. Bach, Mendelssohn, Widor and Franck. The recital on the Fisk tracker organ, Opus 79 , is sponsored by the AGO’s Kanawha Chapter .

Links: Charleston Daily Mail story  - Nov. 12, 2009