VC INTERVIEW | Alexander String Quartet - Beethoven's 250th Anniversary
The ensemble will present two concerts online on November 16, and will be available through November 29 on Baruch's College's website. Admission is pay-what-you-can
The Violin Channel recently caught up with the Alexander String quartet, quartet in residence at the Baruch College, in New York, since 1986.
The program features Beethoven's quartet Op. 18 No. 1, Op 59 No. 2, Op. 135, and Op. 132, and American composer George Walker’s Lyric for String Quartet.
Tell us about your long-standing residency at the Baruch University? How do you approach your interactions with the students?
"The quartet has been spending one week each semester at Baruch College Since 1986. The plan and long term funding for this innovative residency was put together between the Quartet members and Aaron and Freda Silberman. Aaron had graduated from Baruch on the GI Bill back in 1946 after serving in WW2. He and Freda became huge patrons of music in Pittsburgh where they settled but were large donors to Baruch and wanted to endow the gift of music to the liberal arts and business students there, many of whom were usually too busy to go out to concerts while they were studying and working.
The idea has been that we go to classes in any and all of the disciplines in the liberal arts - from psychology to Mathematics, World literature to music history. Everything. We play and speak with the students - usually making connections between the subject matter they are dealing with and the music and impetus behind the creation of the music we play.
It’s been a two way street in terms of satisfaction and meaning. The appreciation we and our art form have received from the students and Baruch College faculty and community over these 34 years has been enormously rewarding.
We also take a few hours every semester to read and record compositions from the students in the harmony and composition classes with Professor Philip Lambert. It’s a blast and seeing the expression on their faces when they hear their own works being played live in front of them is priceless!" said violinist Frederick Lifsitz.
Read the entire interview at this link.