Quartet members find harmony while playing as small ensemble

The members of the Cygnus Quartet aren’t strangers.

In their day jobs, violinists David Niwa and Alicia Hui, violist Ken Matsuda and cellist Pei-An Chao work together as members of the Columbus Symphony. Yet, strictly speaking, the four do not collaborate closely.

“We’re in different sections,” Hui said. “Sometimes we’re not even ... close enough together to be able to hear each other.”

That changed in the spring of 2016, when the musicians formed the Cygnus Quartet for a performance at the Refectory Restaurant & Bistro. Niwa, Matsuda org 3 p.m. Sunday $5, or free for Ohio History Connection members

and Chao had previously performed together in small ensembles, but Hui was a new addition.

“The symphony provided the gig,” Niwa said, “and then I sought out the personnel.”

This weekend, in the season finale of the music series Sunday at Central, the Cygnus Quartet will present its second performance. “A Night at the Opera,” featuring chamber-music pieces by composers known for their operatic offerings, will be performed on Sunday at the Ohio History Center.

Early on, the musicians in the quartet recognized that they were in harmony.

“Literally, we read the program for the Refectory gig, ... and we all just kind of looked at each other ... (and said) ‘Maybe we should do this more often,’” said Niwa, also the artistic director of Sunday at Central. “And, when we started actually rehearsing, it was very enjoyable.”

Niwa contributed the quartet’s name, which references the constellation Cygnus (which calls to mind a swan).

Matsuda — who formed Sunday at Central with the late Marjorie Brundage of Central Presbyterian Church in 1995 — relishes the chance to make music in a smaller setting.

“In the orchestra, even if you believe you have the better musical idea or tempi and dynamic, it’s not what counts, (for) good reason,” Matsuda said. “In chamber music, we can try this way, that way. It’s really good for mental health.”

Sunday’s program will open with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s “String Quartet in F major.” The piece was composed in 1790, three years after his opera “Don Giovanni.”

Cellist Chao appreciates

the prominence given to her instrument in the piece.

“The early Mozart quartets do not give much for the cello to do,” Chao said. “In this particular piece, the cello gets very important parts throughout — including melodies, which is not expected from my experience of Mozart quartets.”

Said Niwa: “There’s a lot of dialogue between the first violin and the cello, as if it were a soprano and a bass.”

Similarly, Verdi’s “String Quartet in E minor” (1873) highlights instrumentation typically neglected in the composer’s operas (which include “Aida” and “La Traviata”).

“In the opera, he doesn’t give viola much,” Matsuda said. “But in his quartet, I find that lots of important roles (are given to) viola.”

Verdi’s operatic background is apparent in the work.

“It’s incredibly romantic," Niwa said. "It could be an opera.”

The musicians plan to continue to collaborate as a quartet.

“We are great friends, and we’ve been collaborating in different configurations for many years,” Chao said. “We always enjoy our time together.”

“There’s a lot of dialogue between the first violin and the cello, as if it were a soprano and a bass.”

—violinist David Niwa, on “String Quartet in F major.”