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Borromeo String Quartet : News
Borromeo String Quartet
25 Stories
By Vivien Schweitzer
April 10, 2007

The Borromeo String Quartet, violinist Yura Lee and double bassist DaXun Zhang have been named winners of the 2007 Avery Fisher Career Grants, worth $25,000 each.

The honorees will receive their prizes at a ceremony tonight (April 10) at Lincoln Center's Kaplan Penthouse. At the same event, violinist Joshua Bell (himself a 1986 Career Grant recipient) will be presented with the 2007 Avery Fisher Prize, which was announced last month.

The ceremony, which includes performances by all the prizewinners, is being recorded by WQXR-FM for radio broadcast on April 17, from 7-8 p.m.; the program, hosted by Jeff Spurgeon, will also be nationally syndicated (for the first time) by the WFMT Radio Network. This year marks the 31st time WQXR has broadcast these festivities.

In addition, the Avery Fisher Artist program, with the aid of PBS Live from Lincoln Center executive producer John Goberman, provides recipients with a DVD of their performances at the reception.

The Borromeo String Quartet -- violinists Nicholas Kitchen and Kristopher Tong, violist Mai Motobuchi and cellist Yeesun Kim -- was formed in 1989 in Stressa, Italy and is now based at the New England Conservatory, where they are faculty quartet-in-residence.

Highlights of the group's 2007-08 season include performing the complete Shostakovich quartet cycle at Boston's Gardner Museum, artist residencies in Israel at the Jerusalem Music Academy and in France for ProQuartet, the premiere of a concerto by Lera Auerbach for String Quartet and Orchestra with the Pro Musica Chamber Orchestra in Ohio, a series of educational projects with the Library of Congress and studio recordings of music by composer Steven Mackey.

Born in South Korea in 1985, violinist/violist Yura Lee moved to the U.S. in 1994. In recent seasons she has appeared with the New York Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra, Saint Louis Symphony, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Hong Kong Philharmonic and Tokyo Philharmonic. She made her Carnegie Hall debut during the 1999-2000 season with Leonard Slatkin and the National Symphony Orchestra.

From 1994 to 2001, Lee studied at the Juilliard School under the late Dorothy DeLay and Hyo Kang; she then studied with Miriam Fried and Paul Biss at Indiana University and the New England Conservatory. She plays a 1778 Gagliano violin, on loan from the Steans Institute for Young Artists at the Ravinia Festival.

DaXun Zhang was born in Harbin, China in 1981 into a family of double bassists. In 2003 he became the first double bass player to win the Young Concert Artists International Auditions; in April 2006 he performed Bizet's Carmen Fantasy in YCA's annual Irene Diamond Concert, with Keith Lockhart conducting the Orchestra of St. Luke's.

Zhang studied at the Central Conservatory of Music in Beijing, then in the U.S. at the Interlochen Arts Academy. He received his Artist Diploma from Indiana University School of Music, where he worked with Lawrence Hurst. He is currently on the double bass faculty at Northwestern University.

Since the first Avery Fisher Career Grants were given in 1976, 105 have been awarded; former recipients include Leila Josefowicz, Edgar Meyer, Tai Murray, Christopher O'Riley, Gil Shaham and David Shifrin. Up to five Career Grants are given each year to U.S. citizens or permanent U.S. residents.

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The Borromeo Quartet's performance of Schubert's Death and the Maiden was selected as the first podcast to be issued by the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. The Gardner has the oldest museum concert series in the United States and was also the first museum in the country to get involved in podcasting.

FAST COMPANY magazine profiled the Gardner's podcasting in this article published in February 2007:

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An Unlikely Story

Boston's Gardner Museum, where not a frame has budged since 1924, is spinning out hot new podcasts.

Issue 112 | February 2007 | Page 104 | By: Kathryn Tuggle

Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, Boston, MA

Since the death of its eponymous founder in 1924, Boston's Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum hasn't moved a muscle. As per the stipulations of Gardner's will, the Raphaels and John Singer Sargents hang just where she left them. The sculptures haven't budged. Nor has the vase of dried thistle. Even the spots on the gallery wall left empty in a notorious (and unsolved) 1990 heist remain blank.

In other words, the Gardner is about the last place you'd expect to be posting big numbers in new media. But last September, this little time capsule, filled with ornate tapestries and antimacassars, began offering free podcasts of its classical concert series. From September to October, it chalked up some 40,500 downloads from 83 countries, making it one of the most popular classical podcasts to date.

Scott Nickrenz, the 69-year-old music director at the Gardner, has directed concerts there for the past 16 years. Until last year, he'd never heard of a podcast, let alone listened to one. "The young staff started whispering in my ear: 'There is something called an iPod,'" Nickrenz says. "But of course, I wouldn't know an iPod if it bit me."

Even if Nickrenz remains puzzled at the "small white things" he spots in joggers' ears and has yet to acquire an email address, he has been producing classical concerts for radio for 40 years. "When I learned that there was an addition to radio--new ways to spread the message of classical music and young artists--I became obsessed," he says. "We're aiming at a young audience, and there is a lot of very cool classical music out there that needs to be heard."

To get the program off the ground, Nickrenz enlisted Charlotte Landrum, 23, now podcast project manager, to coordinate artists and a crew of legal and tech people. They placed the series--called "The Concert," in a nod to Vermeer's painting--under the Creative Commons "Share Music" license, which allows it to be reproduced and redistributed freely on the Internet. (As Gardner's lawyer, Phil Malone, explains, three different copyrights are typically involved when sharing music online: The musicians who record the performance, the composer, and the music publisher must all give license approval. Of course, a dead composer makes the process that much easier.) The programs are available via iTunes and the museum's Web site.

"For people who are dipping their toes in the water with classical music, the Internet can be a much friendlier place than a record store," Landrum says. And "The Concert" is all the more significant given the museum's otherwise fixed space. "Because the will stipulates that things in the museum can't change," she adds, "online programming has the potential to be very important because it's the kind of green space that we can turn into anything."

And they've already turned it into something incredibly successful. "For this genre, 40,000 [downloads] a month is phenomenal," says Aaron Burcell, director of communications at PodShow, a leading national source for podcast statistics and information. Classical music shows typically generate between 5,000 and 10,000 downloads per month, he says, so "when you see such high numbers at a small nonprofit museum like this, you know it's the content that's driving the popularity, not the brand."

While a number of major museums offer music programs, most have been slow to see the Web as an additional infinite gallery for patrons. London's Tate Modern launched its program, Tate Tracks, a couple of weeks before the Gardner (it streams work inspired by pieces in the museum) but hasn't even tallied the public's response.

Meanwhile, as the Gardner continues its virtual expansion, it's exposing a younger generation to a fading genre. "Many young people haven't had access to music and arts education," says Cathy Deely, the museum's director of marketing. "People are drowning in popular culture. And while there is unlimited space on the Internet, people in museums aren't quite sure how to translate this into something good. But with music, it's very easy."

Surprisingly, the Gardner's program is opening the eyes of an older generation as well. Kati Mitchell, 60, press director at Boston's American Repertory Theatre, regularly attends the concerts and gives the museum credit for pushing her to open up the iPod she'd had for six months. "The fact that concerts like this are out there in the ether is changing the way people like me enjoy art," Mitchell says. "All the white-haired people you see attending concerts are going to be gone soon. Things like [podcasts] will keep the music alive."

That's just the way Isabella would have wanted it. After all, she hosted musicians from the Boston Symphony Orchestra on the day the museum opened, New Year's Day, 1903. As Nickrenz explains, "When people hear 'I don't want anyone to move my pictures,' it seems like [the museum] is in a straightjacket. But this place was--and is--nothing but light, movement, dancers, composers, music, literature, and discussion."

So far, the Gardner has created six podcasts with musicians from all over the world. And Nickrenz has added a new title to his business card: podcast curator. He plans to continue recording and streaming Gardner concerts for years to come, spreading what he calls the "virus Mozart."
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Using Maine's ATM network to get MUSIC, not money

The German poet Goethe described a string quartet as "a conversation with four educated people." What a conversation the Borromeo String Quartet began in May with students and teachers at nine distance-learning sites throughout Maine!

The conversation was the result of a year-long discussion between Distance Learning Network (DLN) specialists from Maine's Department of Education (MDOE) in collaboration with PCA Great Performances' 75th anniversary celebration events.

PCA Great Performances wanted to extend the reach of its educational programming as a "thank you" to its founding members and music teachers with a week-long string residency. One of the goals of the residency was to create as many opportunities as possible for students and teachers to interact with the quartet and to hear them play.

Maine's DLN wanted to push the boundaries of its Asynchronous Transmission Mode (ATM) system with a new initiative. The network includes 91 sites throughout Maine's 16 counties. Using ATM technology, people in the farthest regions of the state are linked together for meetings, professional development opportunities and academic courses.

DLN specialist Steve Vose worked with and trained PCA Great Performances' Director of Education Barri Lynn Moreau to offer this unique music education opportunity on May 9, 2006. Barbara Moody from MDOE helped set up the room for sound checks and served as assistant director for the broadcast.

Luckily, the Borromeo String Quartet has experience using this kind of technology. They presented a program over a similar network in Hawaii a few years back. Nick Kitchen, the quartet's first violin and "tekkie whiz," was eager to broadcast the history of the string quartet presentation across Maine and give students the chance to interact with the quartet.

"The danger of not doing programs like this is that there are people who might enjoy what the arts promise, but they will never know what's out there because they don't have the exposure," said Kitchen, first violinist with the Boston-based Borromeo String Quartet."

Pineland Suzuki students from around Augusta were the "in-house" audience, but the larger audience included Waterville High School, Bangor High School and Mount Desert Island High School--all linked interactively with the quartet. In addition, Lewiston Regional High School, Ellsworth High School, Narraguagus High School and Washington Academy received the broadcast. Students had opportunities to see and speak to each other in various schools around the state and were also able to talk to members of the quartet.

Although there were the usual slight technical glitches, the program was well received. Students rated it as "Great!" A 12th-grade music student from Waterville High School says, "I was very impressed with the quartet's presentation. These were clearly four musicians who loved what they do . . . and loved sharing it with others. Being exposed to this performance has helped me greatly as a musician."

Music educators were thrilled with the presentation and the opportunity for students to be coached by the string quartet. "In the Augusta area, where we have very few chances to hear such great music, it was an especially unique treat," says Betsy Kobayashi, Pineland Suzuki director.

"To have programs like this gives students the excitement to go on. Most of the students are the only one in their school who play a string instrument, and it is not always the cool thing to do. Borromeo was definitely cool. I am sure that they made many new friends for chamber music," Kobayashi says.

One parent marveled at the change in her son's technique and self-confidence after the Borromeo experience. "My 13-year-old son was able to participate in the 'studio audience' during the lecture/demonstration, and then attend a master class. He really enjoyed it, and said he couldn't wait to go to school and tell people about it."

According to this parent, the session had a real impact on her son's playing. "Yesterday afternoon at an informal solo recital, he played the Bach Gavotte he had played for the quartet earlier in the day, and he had already incorporated their suggestions regarding telling a story, leading the dance and the 'pinky circles'."

A second day of residency activities in Augusta was followed by two more days of events throughout Maine, concluding with a free Borromeo String Quartet concert in Portland's Merrill Auditorium. The auditorium was packed with 1,200 new "friends" of the Borromeo String Quartet, including residency participants from the capital area.

The entire residency was underwritten by the generosity of the Evenor Armington Fund, the Vincent B. and Barbara G. Welch Foundation and the Fisher Charitable Foundation. Based on the success of the residency, PCA Great Performances is looking forward to a future residency with the Borromeo String Quartet to support Maine ASTA string and music education programs throughout Maine.

Barri Lynn Moreau is director of education and family programming for PCA Great Performances in Portland, Maine. She is an arts advocate, former teacher-administrator and music lover.
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The internationally celebrated Borromeo String Quartet, whose "visionary" and "heart stopping" performances have established it as one of the most important string quartets of our time, welcomes a new member into the group. Violinist Kristopher Tong, a native of Binghamton, New York, replaces William Fedkenheuer as second violinist of the Borromeo String Quartet beginning on March 1, 2006. Mr. Fedkenheuer, a member of
the ensemble since 2000, is leaving to pursue other opportunities and aspirations.

Nicholas Kitchen, founding member and first violinist of the ensemble, explains about the quartet's decision to invite Mr. Tong to join the group: "When we were faced with the
prospect of trying to find a new member, Yeesun, Mai and I were amazed that each of us independently thought of Kristopher Tong as the ideal violinist to join the quartet. We
invited him to rehearse with us and felt an immediate and rare chemistry." The quartet members first met Mr. Tong at the New England Conservatory of Music in 2003.

A musician with deep insight into the complex emotional character of the music and an instrumentalist who combines exceptional skill and sensitivity with true creative flair, Mr. Tong is the perfect compliment to this already impressive ensemble. When asked for his thoughts on the new post Mr. Tong replied, "From the moment we first sat down to play I felt at home, as an instrumentalist and a musician, and as a kindred spirit in search of the same truths, and I'm looking forward to the things that we'll discover together."
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The Borromeo Quartet applies a
do-it-yourself approach to quality chamber recordings

By James Reel

Rock fans can go to a concert and, while they're there, order a CD made during the show. That kind of fast-turnaround service isn't common yet in the classical world, but the Borromeo String Quartet is leading the way in offering listeners CDs and DVDs recorded in concert.

It's a completely do-it-yourself job masterminded by the group's first violinist, Nicholas Kitchen. Since October 2003, the Living Archive project has preserved and distributed recordings of most of the Borromeo Quartet's concerts. You can go to the ensemble's website--www.borromeoquartet.org--and order a CD of a Mozart/Janácek/Beethoven recital given in Burlington, Vermont, and compare that to the same program given the following night in Montpelier. You can find a couple of cycles of the Brahms quartets, recent works by György Ligeti or Jennifer Higdon embedded in mixed programs, and much more.

Kitchen says the project developed from his determination not to let the quartet's work disappear once the notes faded from the concert hall, and a need to interact more with the audience. The next stage of development for Living Archive, says Kitchen, will be the incorporation of this raw material from live concerts into educational DVDs, as well as a kind of encyclopedia, organized by repertoire, of the ensemble's favorite versions of each movement of each piece.

Right now, the group sells anywhere from zero to 25 copies of each concert, including CDs, DVDs, and VHS/CD combos. "We've seen some people who have ordered one immediately following a concert that they attended, then many of these same people have gone on to order quite a few more concerts that they did not attend," says Kitchen.

The bad news is that Kitchen himself is the sole techie.

"Other members of the group, in addition to helping me with what is possible in the setup, handle different aspects of Living Archive," he says. "Will [Fedkenheuer, second violin] handles the website, Mai [Motobuchi, viola] handles the order forms at concerts, and Yeesun [Kim, cello] handles the sending out [of the recordings]. Joseph Correia is acting as a kind of manager for Living Archive and handles the databases of orders and calls to make preconcert arrangements for Living Archive.

"Everyone in the group tries to help."

Want to try it yourself? Here's Kitchen's description of the Borromeo chain of production:

"The sound is picked up by Schoeps stereo microphones in ORTF configuration [centered in front of the group, one mic pointing a bit to the left, the other angled to the right]. These are excellent mics ($2,500) and the fact that they are fixed in a nice stereo configuration means that even if I have an extremely pressed setup, I will not get a strange result. These mics I put onto a very thin aluminum stand that goes up to about 11 feet. Then a thin five-pin XLR high-performance microphone cable runs backstage, where a Y-cord splits the signal into left and right. Then this goes into a Digidesign Mbox [a MIDI compatible micro-music studio], which provides phantom power to the mics and converts the analog input to digital output. The output is then sent through the USB port of a Mac G4 PowerBook laptop, where the signal is recorded in ProTools LE (which comes with the Mbox in a package for around $450). Files are divided and assembled into CDs using the Jam and Toast CD-burning programs ($150).

"The video image comes off a Sony DRV-TRV 900 ($2,500), which puts the digital image onto mini-DV [digital video] tapes. These are transferred through Firewire [a peripheral connection that speeds up the movement of large multimedia images] into the program Final Cut Pro ($800). Into Final Cut Pro, I bring in a large audio file that was converted from 44.1 Hz to 48 Hz in ProTools. I synchronize the audio with the video and then divide the large file into separate movies of each movement, adding small fades to smooth the viewing. I then export these movies as QuickTime Pro files, which DVD Studio Pro ($400) will recognize and work with. I then make TIFF menus for the DVD in Photoshop, one for location, one for the movements. All these elements are brought into DVD Studio Pro and a DVD is created.

"The menus allow you to navigate to any movement, but the DVD is designed so that if you do nothing, it will simply play over and over again. Building a DVD takes five or six hours as the computer rebuilds the file into the particular format used for DVD. Then burning each DVD takes about one and a half hours, because I have learned the hard way that if you burn it at anything but real time, you will not have a reliable disc.

"Once the CDs and DVDs are done, I make labels for them using Discus Pro (it comes with Jam and Toast) and I use printable CDs and DVDs and print the label right on the disc with an Epson 900 (CD printers are quite cheap now--$150 perhaps?). I then hand these to Yeesun, who sends them out to fill the orders. In addition, we send a copy to the presenter and any guest performers, along with their percentage; each person involved gets 10 percent of the profits from sales of the discs.

"The amount of information to archive on DVD for each concert--about 25 gigabytes--means that I use six external hard drives to hold it until I have a chance to transfer it permanently to DVD. Each drive holds between 200 and 250 gigabytes of information.

"So, I would say from one point of view, anyone can do this. From another point of view, you really have to have a pretty strong commitment to the idea, and I certainly had to invest a huge effort in getting over the learning curves of the software. I couldn't be happier that I did it, but I would hate to look at an actual calculation of how much I have slept in the last eight months."

Kitchen says that because quartet members do all the work, Living Archive does turn a marginal profit. "But the motivation for Living Archive," he stresses, "is really about creating a resource for understanding string quartets, as pieces of music and as performing ensembles."

Excerpted from Strings magazine, January 2005 , No. 125.
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