Check out the Madawaska Quartet on the cover of this month's Uncharted Sounds Magazine at www.unchartedsounds.com!
The Madawaska String Quartet, based in Toronto, was formed in 2001. Their repertoire is highly diverse, with an emphasis placed on programming that explores connections between music of different styles and periods.
The Quartet first garnered attention when its programme Chasing Beethoven, later broadcast on CBC's Music Around Us, played to capacity audiences at the Glenn Gould Studio and the Art Gallery of Windsor. Since then, they have appeared many times at Toronto's Music Gallery, where they were invited to launch "Fresh Ears," a new concert series to introduce contemporary music to young audiences, and where they were Artists in Residence through 2005-06. They perform regularly in the Music Garden's summer concert series, where, in 2003, they were chosen for the series first commissioned work. The resulting catCh by composer/choreographer team John Gzowski and Julia Aplin, which has extensive movement for the players, has now been performed more than any other piece in the group's repertoire.
Festival appearances include the Festival Iberoamericano in Puerto Rico, theFestival of the Sound, New Music North in Thunder Bay, the Elora Festival, the Colours of Music Festival in Barrie, and the Celebration of the Arts in Oakville. Through the season, the Quartet frequently does run-outs to concert series in Southern Ontario such as the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society Series, Port Perry Concert series, Leith Summer Concerts, and the Uxbridge Concert Association. The ensemble has also performed with pianist/composer Diana McIntosh, and with pianists Maria Antonia Garcia and Josh Grunmann.
The Quartet regularly gives workshops for emerging composers, which have taken place at York University and the Music Gallery, and has recently launched its new initiative, Madawaska School, which brings curriculum-based performances to the classroom, for school children of all ages. The Quartet's enthusiasm for music education brought them to the attention of the Canadian Brass, who invited them to record their String Book series for children, and also led to an invitation to give a presentation at the RCM's international Art of Teaching conference, in 2005. For 2004-05, the Quartet was on faculty at the prestigious Music at Port Milford international summer chamber music camp and festival, and they're now working as chamber music coaches for the Royal Conservatory of Music's Young Artists Performance Academy.
Upcoming and recent events include a performance in last year's Toronto International Chamber Music Festival and a trip to Montreal to appear in the contemporary music series at La Chapelle du Bon Pasteur.
