Travel

Updated: May 11, 2008 .

On the Road: Travel Stories and Projects:

2008                                                                  

April:

Kent State and Michigan: from Bartok to a kid's show

      The Euclid Quartet was formed at Kent State University while the quartet was the graduate quartet there almost 10 years ago. I actually went to audition for the quartet while they were still at Kent. This month we were in the very same room where I auditioned for the quartet in 2001. This time, to get ready for a challenging all-Bartok's program to be performed on that evening of April 10. I have to admit it is quite a lot of fun to play an all-Bartok's program, specially for the first time, but it's a heck of a lot of work! There was a great reception afterwards and I got to meet a lot of the people that were associated with the beginnings of the Euclid Quartet. They also had some really good beer (courtesy of Tom Jansen, a beer connoisseur himself).

      The children of the Bedford schools of Temperance, Michigan, along with parents and the general audience witnessed an unusual world premiere: one that involved lots of kids of different ages, a professional string quartet and a conductor. It was the world premiere of "Symphony of String Instruments" by the English composer James Leatherbarrow which features the Euclid Quartet as soloists and a large ensemble comprised by three level orchestras: elementary, middle and high school. It's the first time that something like this is done! The work dedicates a movement to spotlight every orchestra and begins and ends with everyone playing together. The experience was beautiful and unforgettable for us, the kids did such a wonderful job and Jeff Thomas did an amazing job preparing the kids and putting it all together on the day of the concert on April 15. To learn more about this fun project visit the educational section of the Euclid Quartet's website: http://www.euclidquartet.net/Ed_Side.html

      Not a quartet travel story: Also this month, I traveled to Iowa City to see the Emerson Quartet play a concert at University of Iowa (taking advantage of one of my many trips to visit my wife who is getting her Doctoral Degree in Flute from UI). I spoke to them after the concert and I got my book "The Savior" signed by its author Eugene Drucker, and talked about viola bows to Larry Dutton, and shared our new projects with Phil Setzer. I also spoke about coffee with David Finkel with whom I share a particular interest in the subject. It all started in Aspen in 2002 when I mentioned to him how much I like coffee and that I had started roasting my own coffee at home. He was very interested in the idea so I gave him a book on home coffee roasting and since then he roasts his coffee at home.

March:

James Dunham's mini residence at IUSB: 25-29 of March

      We had the privilege of playing with James Dunham, former violist of the Grammy Award winning Cleveland Quartet (also known as The Beatles of classical music). As part of a mini residency at Indiana University South Bend, he gave two masterclasses, taught some of the local students and performed the Dvorak Viola Quintet Op. 97 with the Euclid Quartet. We even took a road trip with him to play in Richmond, Indiana, which was a lot of fun specially learning travel stories from a veteran quartet traveler and his sense of humor in the company of his three colleagues, all full-equipped with luggage, instruments, music, new jokes.... He also got a taste of the Euclid's sense of humor (a similar enterprise of 4 men on the road playing concerts and having a good time when possible). During this trip he shared with us the Cleveland Quartet's outtakes (those takes that were edited out of their recordings), which he had put together over the years, just fabulous...

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February:

My first time traveling without my coffee maker!

      Ok, you probably think I'm crazy, but I have been traveling all these years with my espresso maker. I am so hooked on coffee that my everyday life is not the same without my morning cup of "marrón oscuro" (the Venezuelan way of getting your coffee to look dark brown even after putting the milk and the foam, Venezuelan coffee is great, by the way). I became very picky (no, I really mean it!) with the way I like my coffee and my wife and colleagues have witnessed my frustration whenever I go to get coffee somewhere. Those baristas looked at me as if I was coming from Mars when I've tried to explain the way I like it; regardless, they always do it how they know: A latte that's just milk and foam and has some traces of coffee which was also weakly brewed (with some few exceptions, of course, which have impressed me). Recently my wife gave me a brilliant idea: to get the milk and foam separate and I mix it up myself, but when the coffee is not brewed strong enough I'm left with literally two seeps of something that hardly resembles a "marrón oscuro." That's why I had been traveling with my espresso maker which embarked with me on trips to Japan, England, Ireland, Paris and all over this country. But carrying the extra weight and sacrificing an extra pair of shoes and jeans to make room for the coffee maker started to get a little bit weary. For that reason I decided to test it for this trip to Sioux City, Sioux Center and Vermillion and not bring the coffee maker. I traveled instead with... a bunch of tea bags. It was pretty sad, though, and I did ok with the change but there's just not comparison, no matter how good the tea, is just: not coffee. But I'm willing to try for awhile to see what happens.

 January:

New York to start 2008

      As a result of our audition for a showcase for the Chamber Music America National Conference we were invited to New York City. The conference took place at the Westin Hotel in Times Square and our showcase was programmed for noon on Sunday, January 6. We first arrived in New Jersey and stayed at my wife's parents to do some post break rehearsals and get back on shape. Martha's parents were such wonderful hosts (as always!) and made our short stay in their home very enjoyable. We all went to hang out at the Triumph brew pub in Princeton, NJ (where Martha and I went for a really fun New Year's eve party). Then we headed to New York by train and stayed at the Westin Hotel to get ready for the conference.

      We were invited to the Oberlin Conservatory by their violin faculty Greg Fulkerson to do a master class and to perform an evening concert on Jan 22. It's great  to be so close to Oberlin (just under 4 hrs driving). The groups we coached were very good and they all seemed to have enjoyed the class. I was happy to see Ms. Monique Duphil at the concert, who is a piano faculty at the conservatory, and whom I met in October when Martha and I were visiting Oberlin. I remember when I was around 10 and before I even contemplated playing an instrument, my sister (who is also a pianist) took me to see her perform in my home town. After all these years I wanted to meet her and I finally did! She also speaks perfect Spanish...

      The day after we returned from Oberlin we caught an early flight from South Bend  to Charlotte, North Carolina to play a concert there with the guys of the Degas Quartet. Yes, we played the Mendelssohn Octet and it really makes a great excuse to bring two quartets to perform together but, nevertheless, we were  once again all captivated by this all-time little gem.  It was particularly meaningful to have played it after seeing the original manuscript at the Library of Congress last spring (read entry for April 2007).  It was also a really fun trip and we together make an unbeatable "super-octet bond" personality wise and we never lack of a good laugh. Even backstage, hearing Jamie's rendition of a theme from a Tchaikovsky's quartet gone wrong, and then having everyone else trying to play it that way, was quite amusing. The concert was on January 26 at Queens College.

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2007

November and December:

Sudden repertoire change: Quintets are on the menu

      We took a little pause on the work we need for our next local concert so that we could prepare two piano quintets to be performed at the Odyssey Chamber Music Society in Columbia, Missouri. Once again, we met our dearest pianists friends, this time to perform the Shostakovich Quintet (with Ayako Tsuruta) and the Dohnanyi Piano Quintet (with Peter Miyamoto). The concert was on Sunday, Dec. 2 but we left South Bend on Thursday, Dec. 29 to get some rehearsal with them. We drove to Columbia which was a lot of fun. And also was seeing our friends Peter and Ayako who took such nice care of us (and took us to the local brewpub, which is a seemingly must-visit stop built into our schedule every town we go to across the country). Back in town, we have to immerse ourselves into our repertoire for our next IUSB concert on Dec. 7 for which we have to play Schubert's "Quartettsatz"  Mozart KV 387 and Bartok's Quartet # 2.

October:

Our debut concert at IUSB and first travel with David:

     The Euclid Quartet opened the 07-08 season with a debut performance as the faculty quartet at Indiana University South Bend on the 14th of the month, which was also our first performance with David as our new cellist. We also traveled west to perform at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota on the 26th and at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, on the 27th. We also ended up visiting our previous home, Sioux City, to visit some friends. It was weird to be back in Sioux City because it felt as I was away for a few months and then I was returning "home." But then I realized that I was not driving my own car there but a...rental van! It was great to be back there to see our friends Ken and Barb Ackermann and Joe and Hahn Shufro.

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August:

A month of changes:

     The month of August brought some changes along for us. One was the appointment of the Euclid Quartet as full-time faculty at Indiana University South Bend. This of course came with the unavoidable moving headaches but a further reward awaited. The quartet was leaving Sioux City, Iowa (but not the midwest) after 6 years to make South Bend, Indiana, their new center of operations. We also had a change of personnel, Amy announced her leaving the quartet and that also came with the unavoidable audition process that took place until mid August. After a national search we welcomed David Beem as our new cellist to join us for a new and exciting life together. To read more about David, visit our official website: www.euclidquartet.net.

July:

The lovely New York State:

     One of my favorite places  to visit is Upstate New York , far enough to the big metropolis and so full of character and surrounded by the Catskill and Adirondack mountains. I love mountains, more so than beach, it might be because I grew up in Venezuela and went to the beach quite often. But there are beautiful mountains in Venezuela too, in the state of Merida. Anyway, our visit to New York was due to a concert in Lake Luzerne, New York, at the Lake Luzerne Music Camp on July 23. This was a very well attended concert, and a fine audience too...

June:

Beverly Hills:

     After returning from Europe, and after taking a few days off, it was time to get back to work. Just a week after my return the Euclids went to take the audition for the job position at Indiana University South Bend. The following week after that we were embarking to Los Angeles, California, for a performance in Beverly Hills. The folks that we stayed with were excellent hosts (Toni Schuman and Margaret Shipman). It was our first time in the area so it was fun to go check out the Hollywood scene as well. Our concert included Beethoven 59 No.3, Mozart's Quartet KV 499 in D and Alberto Ginastera's Quartet No. 1 (for a fair chance performance of these works after playing it earlier this year with a broken hand).

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May:

A trip to London, Ireland and Paris:

      From May 14th to the 26th we traveled to London and Ireland with Morningside College's Camerata Orchestra. We had a much easier time than our usual quartet travels because we didn't have to do anything other than show up for the rehearsals and play the concerts (5 total). This is an orchestra that has no conductor and our students play alongside with the faculty (the Euclid Quartet plus Mr. Shufro on the bass). The repertoire included Bach's B minor Suite for Flute and String Orchestra with my wife Martha on the flute, Hindemith "Trauermusik" for Viola and String Orchestra with me playing the solo part, Grieg's Holberg Suite and Elgar's Serenade. The tour started in London and then we went to Ireland to the cities of Dublin, Sligo and Galway.

      After our tour with the Camerata, Martha and I spent two more days in London to visit my cousin Maria Fernanda who I hadn't seen for maybe 5 years. Then we took a trip to Paris for a short vacation (May 26-June 3). We had been in Paris in different times but not together, I had been in 1992, 93 and 95 and Martha was there in 2005. As cliché as it might sound, Paris is quite romantic. The highlight of our trip was having wine (a bottle) by Pont Neuf overlooking the Notre Dame Cathedral (see photo below). But I don't mean sitting at a restaurant, I mean actually under the bridge by the Seine! as cool as that, we also had wine by the Eiffel Tower after dark. Something different we wanted to do! But also going to the Bois de Bologna, the biggest park in Paris, was a relief from the city stress. And talking about stress, the one not-so-cool event of this trip was, guess what!?...I got my wallet stolen! credit cards, driver's license, health and car insurance cards, some cash, all gone in a matter of an eye-blink. The most painful loss, though, was: my green card! you could not imagine what a pain in the neck that has turned to be.  I got my wallet stolen the day we arrived in Paris and in the RER train from Charles de Gaulle airport (typical). So the first thing we visited in Paris was the Police station and the American Embassy (I wanted to make sure I could come back to the US without my green card and it was ok). But even with that little bothersome experience we still had a lot of fun in Paris!

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April:

Historic places and instruments:

      This was a very cool month for us! We went to Boston, Massachusetts to play a concert for the Harvard Music Association on Friday, April 13th. The program included a work by French composer André Caplet (1878-1925): Conte Fantastique after Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" for String Quartet and Harp, which we played with harpist Ursula Holliger. I liked downtown Boston a lot (I liked the Upper Crust's pizzas). The concert venue is a historic landmark and the Harvard Music Association was founded in 1837 by Harvard graduates. We met very smart and interesting people in various fields: Arts, Physics and Math Sciences, Harvard scholars, faculty and students.

      Also this month we performed at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. They have a collection of fine instruments, mostly Strads, which we got to play. They have two of Stradivarius few violas (13 total in the world I believe): the 1690 "Tuscan-Medici" and the 1727  "Cassavetti" both of which I played but the last one I used for the concert (see photo). Very beautiful instruments! I also had a chance to hang out with my sister-in-law, Sarah and her husband Bob, which is always enjoyable. We went to a cool place after the concert, the Capitol City Brewery next to the Union Station in downtown DC.

      And finally, to nicely end this busy month of April, we performed a concert for the Chicago Music Society in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, April 28th. The concert was hosted by the board of the Women's Athletic Club of Chicago, one of Chicago's North Michigan Avenue landmarks, and a very elegant modern French style building. The concert was shared by the Degas and Euclid Quartets and we ended the concert with Mendelssohn's Octet. It was the first time for the two groups to play this piece together, even though we had played Armando Bayolo's octet "Ludi" about 7 times. Just a week before, at the Library of Congress, we were shown the original score of Mendelssohn's octet (written when he was only 16). The manuscript was impressively neat and beautifully handwritten and signed by the composer.

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March:

Spring is coming!

      March was an interesting month for us. We were called by our manager to take a concert in place of a group that canceled in the last minute. It was just during the time I had decided to take a break from playing and get my hand a rest so my right hand fracture could heal sooner. This concert was hard to say no to, though. It was in Minneapolis (drivable distance from us) and we had repertoire ready to go. I saw a hand specialist two days before the concert and asked his advice, and he say "go for it and use your pinky again." This concert was on March 7th and was the first time I use my pinky since January. Since then I've been playing normally again.

      Later in March, on the 22nd, we had a performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was a great venue and very well known and the staff was very kind with us and assisted us with all of our needs.

      On March 31st we had a concert at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, which originally was on February 24th but it had to be postponed because of a huge winter blizzard that made Iowa a National Disaster area. This time the weather wasn't that great neither and as Spring arrives is time for the thunderstorms to cause problems. A huge storm and a tornado watch were getting in the way but we were able to play the concert. Another concert was happening right after so we made ours a little shorter by not doing the repeat in the first movement of Beethoven's 59 No.3 and, apparently, by me taking the last movement's fugue WAYY faster than usual!

February:

Our experience in the wine country

      This month we got another chance to get out of the cold winter, the ice and the snow. We went to the beautiful state of California (my first time visit), on Feb. 15th, to perform concerts in the wine country of Sonoma County and in Fullerton just outside of Los Angeles. The trip, once again, was hectic "thanks" to bad weather and the airline's irresponsible over-booking. Only Amy was able to board on the original flight at 6:45 am, Jacob made the list for the next flight at 9:30 while Jamie and I were not able to board a single plane at all with this airline for the rest of the day (along with other frustrated bumped passengers). We finally got on a flight with a different airline 11 hours after we've been at the airport. Only Jacob and Amy made it on time to give a master class at San Domenico School in San Aselmo, California.

      But the travel nightmare was over, the Euclid Quartet was again reunited later and were there to perform a concert on Feb. 18th in Occidental, California, a charming little town in Sonoma County near the Napa Valley and close to the coast of the Pacific Ocean (we were also interviewed on KRCB Radio) We felt like we were in paradise and our hostess and music presenter Kit Neustadter took great care of us and made our stay unforgettable. She took us to the coast to a place known to be a Harbor Seal Nursery right at the mouth of the Russian River. This phenomenon happens later in April but we were able to see some Seals sticking their heads off the sea waves seaming to have some fun. We also saw a huge Elephant Seal taking a nap on the shore (see the photo below).  Then we took a plane to LA and drove to the town of Fullerton, California for a concert at the Sunny Hills Performing Arts Center on the 19th. They offered a nice reception for us where we met very nice people. An update about my broken hand: It's still broken unfortunately, and I still have two more weeks to heal completely. I still have to play tonight (Feb 22) Hindemith's "Trauermusik" with Morningside College's Camerata String Orchestra and two more concerts in the area with the Euclid Quartet (not involving TRAVEL!).

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January:

Playing with a broken hand!

      We never stop playing, and a small fracture in my right hand (due to falling on the ice on 01/21) doesn't stop me neither. I have to say, though, it's being really hard! but thanks to pain killers and some tricks I've been able to play. Since I can't put pressure on my right hand's pinky, I've been playing holding my bow with just four fingers. That's been ok for Mozart's K. 499 quartet, but not so easy for Beethoven's Op. 59 No. 3, or the first quartets by Ginastera and Janáček. When my hand gets tired and sweaty I feel like I'm loosing the grip of the bow. But I've managed. The timing was awful though, with a few concert just followed the incident including one in Naples, Florida (01/28) and another at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York (01/31). We arrived very late in Naples and unfortunately a misunderstanding about our hotel reservation  didn't get us to bed until 3:00 am (and our concert was at 2 pm). After the concert we were able to relax and enjoy Naples's beaches (see below) not bad for a break from the cold winter, the ice and the snow. But that was over when we had to flight to New York State and deal with a terrible winter storm, and then with temperatures dropping to the 18°F (-8 °C). Now back home, we are dealing with wind-chills of -30° F (-34°C)! 

Lose your only car keys and you'll be in trouble! 

      I guess I got lucky this time, but this year started out with a stressful trip to New York City due to car key issues. The quartet went there for a CMA conference at the Westin Hotel in Time Square and we offered a panel discussion entitled "New Context for New Music" which went really well. The day we arrived I noticed I didn't have my car key in my pocket. After an extensive search and thinking all through, I realized that I might have dropped it at the security checkpoint at the airport or else it fell in one of the planes. The thing is: I only have that one key! and it's that kind which have a chip in it that needs to be programmed. I made so many phone calls to airports and the airline! I also called the dealership  and they told me that I needed to get my car towed from the airport parking to their shop in order to get a new set of programmed keys. I decided to do that as I was in New York and before I returned on Saturday the 13th (they close at 6 pm so I wouldn't have made it). I send a fax to the parking company authorizing the towing and set it all up for 1 pm on Thursday. Just 15 minutes before 1 pm I went out to eat and the doorman asked me if I had lost some car keys, I had dropped them on the street in NEW YORK! and he picked them up! I realized I could still make it before they towed my car at the airport and I canceled the whole thing and saved me a huge hassle and $200!  But the whole trip was definitely more enjoyable thanks to our friend Kathy Dalsimer, Thank you Kathy for spending a good time with us!    

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2006

October:

      On Tuesday the 24th we drove to Sioux Center, Iowa, to play at Dordt College. For this concert we included Bartok Quartet #4, along with music by Mozart, Puccini and Piazzolla. Those who have played Bartok's 4th quartet know how wild it gets in the last movement. With such lack of break in this movement, I still made it to quickly yank off a few hairs of my bow that were hanging for a long time. I think that dramatic moment caught the attention of this little girl (probably 4 years old) who was sitting with her parents in one of the fist rows. After we had ended the concert with a standing ovation and were brought onstage twice, I went just a few minutes later to get my music. When I got to my stand I saw this little girl looking for something on the floor next to my chair. Then she screamed: "I FOUND IT" holding one of the hairs that I yanked off the bow...

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September:

      We drove on a van to the southern states of Arkansas and Missouri for a week long trip performing from school classrooms to concert series. The trip started with a performance early morning at Millard North High School in Omaha, Nebraska on the 13th. Then I took the driving  and headed south and 10 hours later we arrived at Little Rock, Arkansas, for the Midwest Conference in Little Rock and just in time for a boat ride on the Arkansas River with the event's participants. The next day, the 14th  in the morning we did a mini classroom performance at the Parkview Magnet Arts High School and in the evening we performed for Little Rock Chamber Music Society at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. We spent three great days in Little Rock and our hosts were all very nice to us. Karen Seale, my hostess and who is an Orthopedic Surgeon, taught me some great massage tips for arms and shoulders (common problem areas for string players) and I thank her enormously because they've helped me a lot. On Friday the 15th we presented three independent showcases at the Midwest Conference which took place at the Convention Center attached to the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock. On Saturday the 16th we drove from Little Rock to Columbia, Missouri, where on the 17th we played a morning school performance at the Hickman High School. Then in the evening we played at the University of Missouri two piano quintets: Brahms' and Dvorak's, with our great friends, and wonderful pianist, Peter Miyamoto and his wife Ayako Tsuruta. After the concert we drove to Kansas City and the next day we finished our trip by playing for high school students at the Shawnee Mission HS in Kansas City.

      On Friday the 29th, we performed at another conference: the Performing Arts Exchange in Baltimore, Maryland, for which we were the only classical string quartet selected to perform a juried showcase. The trip was pretty short but we encountered a few problems especially on our way back. The conference was great and it was huge! I've never seen so many people together working for the arts! The flight back was a problem. First, they let us in the airplane but advised that the heater in the plane needed to be fixed and maintenance was in their way for a "quick fix" of the problem which, they say, could take just a few minutes. I was constantly checking the time to make sure we could make the connection in Memphis. Forty minutes had passed, no sign of the maintenance guy and by then we had already lost our connection flight. Then the guy shows up, did some work on it, and said "this will need a lot more time." Then they got us out of the plane. Good thing I was in the second  row, so I was one of the first of a long line of passengers that needed re-booking. Then they put the four of us (plus the cello, for which we buy a ticket every time we flight) in the next flight on another airline and through Chicago. We made it to the gate just in time for boarding but they said that we might not make it in that flight because we were "too last minute" and they said to Amy that she could not get the cello in the plane unless she bought a fist-class ticket. They also gave Jamie and Jacob a boarding pass for a later flight. The lady said to me, "get in now or you'll lose this flight" Then I asked the guys if they would be ok with me going alone because I wanted to get home early enough to celebrate my first wedding anniversary. And they were ok with that, but then I saw all of them boarding. Great, we made it!  but THEN, the pilot announced that because of bad weather in Chicago we were asked to take a detour around and southeast of Chicago to avoid the storm. I was listening to music and flipping channels when I heard in a channel a lady saying "here Kansas City" (we were not supposed to be any close to Kansas City) and realized that the detour was quite far. Later, the pilots were asking for no more delays as the plane was running low on fuel. Finally we made it in Chicago 40 minutes later than we were supposed to. Then we ran to the next gate and they announce that the flight was delayed for one hour (it was already delayed for half hour) because they were waiting for the pilot which was also late arriving in Chicago from another flight. The last thing was, they didn't allow Jamie and Jacob on that flight because they were put in a different flight. Amy and I got that flight and arrived in Omaha, however, our luggage didn't make it! Anyway, Martha and I still celebrated our first anniversary in a restaurant in Sioux City for a nice end of the day.

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August: 

      A great month for me because of my birthday (Aug. 8th). After two well-deserved  vacation weeks in July we got back to work and traveled to Michigan to perform at the Manitou Music Festival, Michigan. We had a late arrival at Traverse City airport from Detroit (after the airline was dealing with a needed crew member and had canceled the flight to the next day, but they fixed the problem). We got into town (Leland, Michigan) after driving from Traverse City on a full moon night by the lake shores of Lake Michigan and our hostess Caroline Brady was still awake. Her house was gorgeous and had a lakefront to Lake Leelanau and we felt like we were in "paradise" (at times I forgot that we were there to perform, because we were all very relaxed!). The town is very pretty and it's around the 45th parallel which is half way between the Ecuador and the North Pole.  The locals call tourists "fudgies" because they walk around town carrying bags of fudge brownies (delicious by the way and well-known apparently). We met Debra Fayorian (director of the Manitou Music Festival and retired cellist from the Detroit Symphony) and her husband Wesley who played the Tuba with the Detroit Symphony and had a great time visiting them at their new gorgeous home. Our concerts were  in Glenn Arbor on Aug. 10th and in Leland the next day and we also were interviewed at IPR Interlochen Public Radio where we played live on the radio.

      On August 12 we got on a plane from Traverse City, Michigan to Albany, New York and drove to Amy's hometown Saratoga Springs where we rested for a couple of days before our next concert.  We had a chance to check out the famous horse races of Saratoga Spring, thanks to Jennifer and Kyle (Amy's sister and her husband) who let us stay in their beautiful home which is only a few blocks from the horse tracks.  

      On August 15 we drove from Saratoga Springs to Williamstown, Massachusetts which is a very nice drive by prairies and valleys and the road cross a tiny section of Vermont before our destination. We performed that night at the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown and Jamie and I stayed at the home of John and Susan Hadfield to rest for a couple of hours (we got up at 3:30 am to drive to Albany airport and flight back home).

June: 

      The Euclid Quartet traveled in June to Aspen for a world premiere during the Aspen Music Festival (June 27th).  Ludi, which in Latin means "games," is a string octet commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival for the composer Armando Bayolo and was written for the Euclid and the Degas quartets. The program also included Mozart's String Quartet in G major K. 387 performed by the Degas Quartet and the Debussy's String Quartet No. 10 in g minor performed by the Euclid Quartet. The program closed with "Ludi" after the intermission. 

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May:

      We had a wonderful time traveling to Los Gatos, California, for a performance on May 19th. Not only was the audience so supportive, also the attention we got from Mr. Ted Lorraine was one of the best ever while on tour. We also got to meet wonderful people (like always when we are "on the road" performing) for instance, my host Mr. Ralph Hays was a wonderful company during our short visit. I loved hearing his stories from when he was in the Air Force during World War II (not every day I get a chance to meet people from that generation almost gone completely). I also was fascinated to learn about Japanese Fukusas and a beautiful private collection of those that Mr. Hays showed me (only in photos, the originals were donated to the Art Institute of Chicago). Anyway, what a wonderful visit!

      We were in New York for a couple of days for a performance at Merkin Hall on May 30th. In New York we had a chance to visit with our good friends Yabet (violinist) and Emi (pianist) which we met last summer teaching at Hartwick Festival. We also performed at the Brookhaven Laboratories in Long Island where we met very interesting people such as Dr. Geoffrey Hind with whom we had a wonderful afternoon  chatting over lunch.

April:

      The quartet drove from Sioux City to Columbia, Missouri, for a gala performance during the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition (April 1st). The road trip was nice and we enjoyed performing there (though a little too hot on stage, but we managed fine). Prior to the concert we had a nice dinner with the directors of the Plowman Competition. After the concert we were very happy to hang out with our friends the GREAT pianists (and married couple) Peter Miyamoto and Ayako Tsuruta with whom we made future plans to perform together again in the fall.

      As an update on the DVD of the Bartok's Workshop (May of 2003): It is now available but not on DVD. Carnegie Hall has finished and published a website instead which is available for everyone on the internet. The website is a guide to the String Quartets of Bela Bartok as videotaped during the Emerson String Quartet's Workshop at Carnegie Hall in May of 2003. The Euclid Quartet participated with performances of Bartok's Quartet #4. The website is: http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_performanceguide_bartok.html

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March:

      This was a busy month for us! but it was fun to travel south to Hickory, North Carolina from Washington DC with a rental car. We performed in Hickory with the Degas Quartet with whom we did a preview concert of the Octet which will be officially premiered in Aspen in the summer. Amy and I stayed with a lovely lady by the name of Nan Fanjoy. She treated us so well and made our stay in Hickory very enjoyable. Back in Washington DC we performed at the State Department (March 8th), gave a masterclass at the Levine School of Music and performed at the All Souls Church (March 9th). For this last concert we performed Beethoven's Quartet Op. 59 #1 and Schumann Quintet with pianist Ralitza Patcheva. The best of this trip was meeting (and performing) with Ralitza who is an excellent pianist and her husband, cellist Vasily Popov. They were definitely the highlight of this nearly three weeks long trip and we feel very fortunate to know them. 

      Also on this month we traveled for the second time this year to Saratoga Springs, New York for a performance and a masterclass at Skidmore College (March 24-25). We gave a lecture on string quartet technique and coached excellent young chamber groups during their Chamber Music Seminar.  This was a nice trip for us especially for Amy, who grew up in Saratoga Springs and got to see her parents. Many thanks to Amy's parents (and her sister Jennifer)  for hosting us in their houses! 

2005

October:  

      Martha and I got married! on October 1st, 2005 in Chicago. We had a wonderful wedding and we were very lucky to be  surrounded by our loved and favorite people. We also had a second ceremony in Barquisimeto, Venezuela on December 23 of 2005 for my family. We then spent some time traveling in Venezuela to the Andes (Mérida) and to the beautiful beaches and keys of Morrocoy National park. Here's a photo from the reception at my parents' home following the ceremony.

July:

      We are very excited to announce that the Euclid Quartet will be now represented by Lisa Sapinkopf Artists management services, beginning this August (2005). For more information and for booking, please visit www.chambermuse.com

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August: Working on a recording project:

Thanks to the support of the Hugo Kauder Society, a recording project is in the works. The project involves the recording of four string quartets by composer Hugo Kauder (1888-1972) who lived in Vienna and immigrated to the US .The release of this CD is projected for the end of 2006 under the label Centaur Records. To learn more about Hugo Kauder visit www.hugokauder.com, and to learn about the project keep checking our website for the latest news, www.euclidquartet.net/latest_news.html

May: 

      This past May we were in Japan for the 5th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Eight string quartets from around the world were invited to participate in the live round after going through a tape round selection. We advanced to the second and to the final rounds and were awarded the Third Prize after our performance at Osaka's Izumi Hall. For more information read our comments on our website: http://www.euclidquartet.net/latest_news.html

 DVD of Bartok’s workshop:

      We are waiting for the release of a DVD by Carnegie Hall Corporation of the recorded workshop of Bartok’s string quartets that Emerson String Quartet offered at Carnegie Hall in 2003. The Euclid Quartet as one of the three groups selected by audition to participate with a final performance at Weill Hall.

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