A young string quartet grows and adapts
Kids just wanna have fun.
Like violinist Frantisek Soucek, who as a teen back in 1994 in Prague, formed a quartet with three of his string-playing mates, violinist David Kalista, violist Petr Holman, and cellist Vladimir Fortin. The following year on April 19, 1995, the quartet made its debut, performing works by Schubert, Borodin, Shostakovich and Schroeder.
“We were very young, (our) first violinist was 14, and at that point, we did not think about (a) professional career at all; (we) just wanted to have fun with classical music,” wrote Holman in an e-mail to The Spec last week from Frankfurt Airport just before he, Soucek, Fortin, and violinist Petr Strizek boarded a flight bound for the U.S.
And to underscore their youthful just-wanna-have-fun outlook, they would place a plush toy penguin at the feet of Soucek’s music stand at every performance.
And why, pray tell, a plush toy penguin?
Well, that’s because from their inception until 2005 they were known as the Penguin String Quartet. Cue the rim shot: badum tss.
But kids do grow up. And so did the Penguin String Quartet, who, in 2005 ditched the plush toy and the appellation, and re-branded themselves as the Zemlinsky String Quartet, after the Austrian-born composer.
“The group progressed, unexpectedly
for us, let us say, so then, we had to change the name to adapt better to the professional world,” wrote Holman.
Adapt indeed. They have over 1,200 concerts, 21 CDs, and some 250 chamber works under their belts. And they have plenty of competition hardware, too, such as their second place finish at the Banff International String Quartet
Competition in September 2007, after which they came to Hamilton to perform at the Conservatory.
The Zemlinskys return to the Hamilton Conservatory, 126 James St. S., on Sunday, Oct. 21 at 2 p.m. to open the concert season. Their all-Dvorak bill includes the “Movement for String Quartet in F Major,” the “String Quartet no.
10” nicknamed “Slavonic,” and the “Viola Quintet” with guest violist Ethan Filner.
Tickets: $25, senior $20, student $15. Call 905-528-4020.
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The sixth annual Steel City Jazz Festival, which runs from Tuesday, Oct. 23 until Sunday, Oct. 28, will feature vocalistbroadcaster-educator Heather Bambrick as its artist-in-residence.
“Heather Bambrick is a special singer,” stated jazz pianist and SCJF board member Adrean Farrugia in a press release. “Somehow she combines many paradoxical qualities that you’d find in a variety of different artists, but rarely inside of one artist. She’s both funny and light, but also at times deep and heartwrenching.”
Bambrick will appear with her quartet on Wednesday, Oct. 24 at 8 p.m. at the Artword Artbar, 15 Colbourne St., and will hold sway at the same venue with Broadway, her trio with musical gal pals Diane Leah and Julie Michels, on Friday, Oct. 26 at 8 p.m.
SCJF artistic director Chris Ferguson has lined up the Allison Au Quartet for opening night on Tuesday, Oct. 23 at 8 p.m. Vocalist Diane Braithwaite and multi-instrumentalist Chris Whiteley will follow on Thursday at 8 p.m., while Hamilton’s Brad Cheeseman appears with his group on Saturday at 8 p.m., all at the Artword Artbar.
The Jazz Connection Big Band, who played the inaugural SCJF, return for an 8 p.m. show on Saturday, Oct. 27 in the Music Hall at New Vision United, 24 Main St. W. Thompson Egbo-Egbo closes the festival on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 8 p.m. in the Artword Artbar.
For info and tickets, go to steelcityjazzfest.com.
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Symphony on the Bay is on the hunt for a new music director. For the orchestra’s season opener on Sunday, Oct. 28 at 3 p.m. in the Burlington Performing Arts Centre, 440 Locust St., Denis Mastromonaco, a music director candidate when the SotB last went a-hunting in 2015, returns to guest conduct a “French Flair” bill consisting of Debussy’s “Prélude à l’après-midi d’un faune,” Dukas’ “L’Apprenti sorcier,” Ravel’s “Bolero,” and “Piano Concerto in G” with Talisa Blackman as soloist. Tickets: $43, age 65+ $36.50, age 16 to 24 $24.50, under 16 $12. Call 905-681-6000.