Ushering In the Next Generation of Chamber Musicians

The Eastman School of Music’s James E. Clark Chamber Music Residency is designed to put Eastman students in close exposure with professional chamber music groups—the kind they hope to be a part of one day. It’s not just a pipe dream for Eastman students: both of this year’s Clark Residency ensembles feature Eastman alumni among their members.

Both ensembles bring lessons they learned as students and on the road as professionals to Eastman, which they will demonstrate in masterclasses and other events with students, but also in performances open to the public.

 

The GRAMMY-nominated JACK Quartet, which performs a lunchtime recital on March 19 at 12:30 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall, includes Eastman alumni Christopher Otto ’06, ’06E, violin, and John Pickford Richards ’02E, ’04E (MM), viola. The quartet formed out of Eastman’s new music ensembles in the early 2000s, although the personnel has since shuffled due to the group’s longevity and now includes two members from outside of Eastman’s alumni network.

One of the premier new music chamber groups in the world, the quartet has a lot of experience ushering in the next generation of chamber musicians. The quartet is in a full-time residency at the New School in New York City and travels to University of Iowa for a yearly guest residency.

Of the musical topics they frequently work with students on, tuning and rhythm top the list. Although tricky rhythm is a given with the thorny new music they’re known to perform, such as the works of Helmut Lachenmann and John Cage, they’ve developed a deep understanding of intonation and a specific language with which to discuss it among themselves and with students. It’s about more than being sharp or flat: they use a concept called ‘just’ or ‘pure’ intonation, which focuses on intervals as ratios, rather than the system of equal temperament that approximates intervals in order to equalize tones across registers.

“We talk a lot about how to listen to the harmonic series and how to, you know, fuse your sound, if you want to create a really resonant, fused sonority and blend, and how to do that with intonation,” says Otto, JACK’s violinist.

Johnny Macmillan’s Songs from the Seventh Floor, one of the works they’ll perform at Eastman, uses an extended form of intonation based on the overtone series that will demonstrate how the quartet puts their ideas on tuning to practice. In addition, they perform Elliott Carter’s String Quartet No. 1, a classic in new music circles that made famous a rhythmic technique called metric modulation.

As for the Eastman influence, Otto says that in addition to being exposed to a variety of music and aesthetics, he learned the practicalities of putting on concerts and rehearsing at Eastman through ensembles like OSSIA and Musica Nova. “I was constantly working to put together concerts and just the sheer quantity of that and finding time to rehearse and how to get through pieces and refine things—there was so much that came from my Eastman experience.”

 

WindSync, the professional woodwind quintet that performs on April 9 at 2:30 p.m. in Hatch Recital Hall, might be more of an enigma. While string quartets are a common professional grouping, there are fewer touring all-woodwind groups. WindSync came to prominence after winning the Concert Artists Guild and Fischoff national competitions. In addition, their 2022 album, All Worlds, All Times, topped out at number two on the Billboard charts, beating out Yo-Yo Ma. Uniquely, they typically perform from memory and employ a lot of theatricalities, breaking the so-called “fourth wall” to interact more directly with the audience.

Currently, two members of the quintet are Eastman alumni: oboist Emily Tsai ’11, ’11E and bassoonist Kara Lamoure ’10E. 

The quintet returns for the Clark Residency after being invited in 2021, but this will be their first time physically at Eastman: the prior residency was done remotely because of the COVID-19 crisis that interrupted in-person learning.

Tsai, who also currently teaches at the University of Maryland and is the assistant principal oboe in the Washington National Opera Orchestra, remembers Eastman as a place fully invested in bringing up the next generation of musicians. During audition season, Tsai hit a snowstorm on the way up to take a lesson with Richard Killmer, Eastman’s professor of oboe, delaying her arrival for hours. Killmer promised to open the school at whatever hour she arrived to give her a lesson. Once she was at Eastman, he supported her academic pursuits along with her musical ones, which allowed her to graduate with a degree in ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of Rochester in addition to her Eastman degree.

She says the experience allows her a much more well-rounded viewpoint as a performer and teacher.

“It’s wonderful as a student to be in the practice room, to really hone your craft. But it’s also good to know the world around you. Because music, after all, is a communication device. We want to relate to people in the general population. And so, to experience other things outside of music is something I encourage my students to do now.”

On their concert here, they’ll perform a work from another Eastman alumnus, Marc Mellits ’88E, called Apollo to celebrate the total solar eclipse that will happen the day prior. Additionally, they’ll perform a new piece on their soon-to-be-released album by Seattle-based Uruguayan composer Miguel del Águila called Sambiada, which is based on Latin dances. Another work they’ll perform is by composer Viet Cuong called Flora, which was written about plants that survive in the Las Vegas desert, where the composer was gardening during the Coronavirus pandemic. Most of the program will be performed by memory except for the Cuong work, which is their newest commission, says Tsai.

All the works will feature the tightly knit ensemble work that they will be emphasizing to students during their masterclasses.

 

The community is invited to experience both of these incredible ensembles as part of the Clark Residency over the next month. Admission is free.

JACK Quartet | Thursday, March 19 | 12:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

WindSync | Tuesday, April 9 | 2:30 p.m. | Hatch Recital Hall

 

To view all upcoming events at Eastman, our Events Calendar includes the most up-to-date information.