JAVS Fall 2007

MD: Since the quartet starred forming when you were all fair ly young, how did irs development fit in with your own individual development? JS: Honestly, between Greenwood and the quartet, there was never very long that chamber music wasn't at or near the center of my focus. The solo stuff. a great orchestral training at Rice, these were very important and useful bur I think I tried to approach them all with a chamber music sensibiliry. Chiara took some rime off later on, but I chose to go other chamber music festivals (Yellow Barn, Norfolk, and Marlboro) during d10se times. MD: Your quartet was chosen for The Juilliard School's Lisa Arnhold Residency. What sons of opportunities and responsibilities did the quarter have in this posi tion? JS: At Juilliard we got to work closely wirh the Juilliard Quartet, who really have been our most important mentors. We also served as teaching assistants for the chamber music performance class run by Earl Carlyss. The resi dency also included a major Alice Tully Hall recital each year. It was a really important, great experi ence for us. MD: What have been the quarter's most influential experiences since leaving Juilliard? Whar are your current interests as a group, and what is the idea behind "Chamber Music in Any Chamber"? JS: The quartet has been through several stages. ~en we finished

Chiara Quartet. Photo by Anthony Hawley.

MD: How does reaching at Greenwood inspire you?

Also, I had known one of rhe violinists, Rebecca Fischer, prac tically my whole life as her par ents were close friends with my own. The summer after my fresh man year in college, I went with the group (which then consisted of Greg, Rebecca, and violinist Rachel Noyes) to a couple of fes tivals. We loved working togeth er, and even though we were spread throughout the country (Rebecca in NYC at Columbia/Juilliard, and Rachel at the Cleveland Institute) we knew that we wanted to try ro continue working rogerher. My first summer with the group was really fun. We were all just so happy to find people who cared so much about quarter playing. I think that made us feel very lucky and motivated us ro rry ro keep rhe group going. We audi tioned during the next year for the Aspen quarter program and were really flabbergasted when we were accepted!

JS: It recharges me. The kids knock rust off of their chamber music chops during the first week of camp, and then from there on our they are surging into often unexplored depths of awareness with incredible reperroire. I find that they create the standard of integriry and feeling which I spend rhe rest of my year seeking to recreate. When I ask students there ro do something in rhe music, they make it a life-or-death goal. They are dream students, and really understand the point of chamber music.

MD: Talk about the Chiara Quarter's beginnings.

JS: I joined the Chiara Quarter a couple of years after they formed at the Musicorda Festival. I had already started my undergrad degree at Rice, and gotten to know cellist Greg Beaver there.

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