*
- Funding for Music from Madeline Island
is provided by:
Focus Fund for Young Performers
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.
[waves lapping]
- There are so many things that are so special here.
[energetic fiddle music]
*
The physical beauty of the place
is really magical.
- There's nothing like going for a walk,
seeing the water,
seeing the sunshine, and feeling
the nature around you.
*
- It feels very isolated, and it's kind of
easier to focus sometimes
compared to, like,
the hustle-bustle of a city.
- The integration with nature
in the setting
is really inspiring.
- I was really looking for a summer where I could
just completely be immersed in chamber music.
*
- One of the most appealing things
about Madeline Island is how closely we work
with professional quartets, people who are
out in the world performing constantly
and have learned
how to have a career in chamber music.
- The biggest reason
why I wanted to come here
was the exposure to people of different cultures.
That kind of cultural interaction
I feel like is extremely positive in my growth
as a musician, and it's been something
that I wouldn't trade for anything.
- One more time.
You take these individuals that have
never met each other before,
coming from various parts of the world
with different backgrounds,
different ages, different interests,
and you put them in a room
together for the first time,
and...
magic happens.
["String Quartet Op. 59, No. 3" (Razumovsky IV. Allegro molto) Ludwig Van Beethoven ]
[classical string music]
*
[cheers and applause]
- Madeline Island Chamber Music
started in the mid-'80s,
as a couple people's dream
to start having music
in a music camp up here on Madeline Island.
["String Quartet No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 9: IV. Molto vivace" Diogenes Quartet ]
Now it really is
a major chamber music festival
for serious musicians.
- We have students that come
from many of the top music schools
across the country,
and also internationally.
- I think we had 225 applications
for 48 slots this year,
so it's competitive to get into this program.
- We attract a world-class faculty
that are out there performing,
and they're great role models
for our students.
- This is where you need to apply
as much possible weight.
- But timing-wise... - I think timing-wise.
- Okay. - Yeah.
- There has just been so much interaction
between the faculty and the students,
which has been very unique compared to
some other festivals I've been to.
- We arranged a piece, a medieval piece...
- They're committed to sharing
the journey that they've had,
and the life experience
that each of our faculty brings
becomes the fabric
of our program.
- We get a new string quartet every week
that has unique values
and interests and ways of playing,
and that's a really incredible experience
for all the students.
- Each coach has something extremely unique
and beneficial to bring to the table.
Experiencing that,
I feel like I've changed so much
as a player, even in a short period of time.
[warm opening notes]
- We have intense rehearsals,
we have daily
coaching sessions with the mentors,
we have lessons, performance opportunities.
- Every student gets to perform
at a master class.
Every student gets to perform
on student concerts.
- Concerts are amazing, and when you think
that they start their work together on Monday,
and then on Saturday,
they put together these performances
that could be put on in any major concert hall
around the world...
["String Quartet Op. 41, No. 1" (III. Adagio) Robert Schumann ]
[serious classical music]
*
[applause]
- This week, we have
as our ensemble-in-residence
Brooklyn Rider , which is...
probably one of the coolest
string quartets in the country right now,
if not the coolest.
- And in many ways,
they are the best role models
for today's young people.
- There should be a way
that you guys close your eyes,
and without having to cue, you should be able
to come in totally together.
- Brooklyn Rider
lives both in the traditions
of our profession,
and at the same time,
they're presenting new music
that was just written
literally yesterday.
[contemporary string music]
- One of the inherent dangers
of the string quartet tradition,
which has a few hundred years
behind it, is things
that are that old can tend
to get a little musty after a while.
- I think young people
are really inherently interested
in what makes something new
and fresh and interesting
to listen to.
- And they stand when they perform.
They read their music off of iPads.
Everything that they do
is a little nontraditional,
is sort of iconoclastic,
but then they also perform
incredibly beautifully.
- They have a very unique sound.
They like to do a lot of modern music
and nontraditional classical music
in their concerts as well
to invite in new audiences,
which I think is really wonderful.
["String Quartet in G Major, K.387" (IV Molto Allegro) Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart ]
[bright classical music]
*
[applause]
[brief musical coda]
[laughter and applause]
- Nick Cords, the violist of Brooklyn Rider ,
also was one of our students here
quite a few years ago.
- I don't remember many specifics from those days.
I remember that I developed a love
of chamber music here.
In 245, just be a real stinger, you know...
- We think it's just really special to be able
to say to those students, "Look, that could be you!"
- Can we start right on 239?
A lot of that was really good.
And I don't think this is about
mastering the art
of string quartet playing.
I think it's about being on a journey,
and, for me, I think the journey
of string quartet playing
kind of began here at Madeline Island.
["String Quartet in A Minor, Op. 29" (Rosamunde, III. Menuetto) Franz Schubert ]
[classical string music in a minor key]
*
[applause]
- Bell Street Gallery is just a wonderful
little venue for us.
- They have many local musicians
and artists that are showcased there.
- So we arrange for student quartets
to go there
during happy hour.
- A fantastic environment
for our students because it embodies
everything that this island community is.
It's a little bit indoors, a little bit outdoors.
- I've never really done
something quite like this before,
so I think it's really neat.
- You're surrounded by art.
There's beautiful pottery
and paintings
and just beautiful art all around.
- They're interacting with the audience
in a different way, rather than being
in a really formal setting.
- And we kind of get to feel
a different vibe from the audience
and see what they're responding to.
We get to talk to them a little bit,
introduce the piece.
- It's really relatable.
That sort of exposure
is great for classical music.
[energetic string music]
- It's kind of cool to go from just being
another person in the gallery,
and then, suddenly,
you assume the role of the performer.
- And they also have to be ready for anything
that's gonna happen outdoors,
whether it's a siren or...
a crazy windstorm.
[ambulance siren blaring]
They just have to deal with it,
and that's what makes it really unique.
["String Quartet in F Major" (IV. Vif et agité) Maurice Ravel]
[tranquil music]
*
[cheers and applause]
- The students
studying chamber music
learn lifelong skills.
If you think about a chamber ensemble,
there's incredible commitment to collaboration,
responsibility to communicate,
problem-solving, and
there's incredible dedication that is required
in order to make the ensemble work.
- Starting off the first week,
we had to figure out
how each person in the quartet works,
'cause we all come from very different places
and different backgrounds.
- The hardest part about being
in a quartet is working together,
and when we criticize each other,
it's really hard
not to offend them.
We're supposed to be able to take criticism well
but also be able
to say them well.
- I've learned a lot about
how to incorporate the techniques that I'm working on
into a group setting...
how to use those techniques to work with other people
and come together to create
a big group sound from four people.
[serious classical music]
- You have to learn how to work with people.
It's not just about yourself, but it's about
this collaboration, the collaborative aspect
of performing,
which is listening to your peers,
getting insight from them,
learning how to play with others--
all those people skills
that also come into play when you play chamber music.
I think that's a very unique thing about it.
["String Quartet Op. 18, No. 2" (II. Adagio cantabile) Ludwig Van Beethoven ]
[sprightly chamber music]
*
[applause]
- We're really lucky to have one of our staff members
be sort of an expert
on physiology
and on wellness and injury prevention.
- Musicians are athletes of the micro-muscles.
I do injury prevention and group fitness,
and I do that
usually outdoors,
where we can just
enjoy the scenery.
- We're kind of athletes in our own way,
and so we have to condition,
just as a normal athlete would.
- What Meghan is striving to do
is to help these students learn
how to take care of their bodies
in good ways, so that they don't
become injured.
- I use
a combination
of dynamic stretches,
dynamic movements,
and resistance band strengthening movements.
Overhead.
- Sometimes, when you're
playing solo or chamber,
if your body isn't balanced,
the sound can kind of waver.
We all think about our own hands,
but we also have to think about our whole body,
and her exercises
helped us a lot with that.
- No matter
how great you are on your instrument,
if you don't do things
to compensate for the imbalances
that are in your body
after eight hours of playing,
you risk getting injured.
[warm string music]
- So even just, like, sitting with good posture
in the same place for, like, five, six hours--
that's really tiring for your body...
[laughter]
And, like, holding your instrument up--
like, she's got guns from that.
[laughter]
["String Quartet in G minor, Op. 10" (IV. Très modéré) Claude Debussy ]
*
[cheers and applause]
- Madeline Island Chamber Music
commissioned a piece to be written
by the composer Caroline Shaw
for Brooklyn Rider .
Caroline Shaw is this incredible
young composer.
She is the youngest recipient of the Pulitzer Prize
for Music.
- So I've actually known her
since she was about that tall,
and she would come to our concerts.
I mean, she's just a-- an amazing composer
who has, I think, at her
very heart-- her very
compositional heart-- is a string quartet.
- And Brooklyn Rider thought
that it would be meaningful
in the context today,
to engage new composers
and get them to write
with their perspectives on healing
in music.
- It's a project called "Healing Modes"
and it's using Beethoven's Opus 132 ,
his great, late string quartet.
We have five composers
who are writing for this project
to shed light
on what healing in music means in today's context.
- First of all,
it was just great having her here
because we got to play it for her
before the performance and have her
do some last-minute tweaks
based on how it was coming across to her,
so that's the lab aspect of having
a living composer there.
- We only got the piece on Tuesday,
and so there truly was
a wet-ink feeling to what was going on,
but actually,
that is totally a part of the tradition--
you know, playing the music
while the ink is still drying on the page.
- They are fearless as a group.
Brooklyn Rider is just fearless
and very, very good with contemporary music,
so I know it's gonna be terrific.
[ Brooklyn Rider plays "Schisma" by composer Caroline Shaw ]
[chromatic contemporary music]
*
[tapping reverberating]
*
[cheers and applause]
- These students are unbelievably remarkable.
They're also
regular kids, and that's what's fun,
is to see them just being regular kids.
They're encouraged to get to know the island,
to go into town...
- We go to town
a lot on the weekdays
during free time.
- We went to the beach
and went canoeing one day.
- There's a lot of walking, more walking than I've done,
like, in my entire...
life, probably. [laughs]
- We've walked downtown to get ice cream
quite a number of times. [laughs]
Probably too many.
- And the ice cream is really good
on this island too. [laughs]
[energetic rustic music]
- The parade is an incredible tradition
on the island here.
- It's probably
the most amount of people we see
on the island ever
in the year.
[cheering]
- This is a different setting for performance
because we'll have students that are on a trailer.
- We go down the main street and we play
fun music on the float all the way down
the street.
[woman cheers]
- Everyone walks along, sharing
and celebrating with the community here.
* - Whoo!
- Well, of course, Ping-Pong
is what rules here
at Madeline Island Chamber Music .
- Definitely a lot of Ping-Pong at this festival.
- We've been doing a lot of doubles games,
a lot of singles games, so that's been pretty fun.
- All of our coaches so far have been
able to just completely destroy us.
- Oh. - Whoo-hoo!
- I learned I need to work on my Ping-Pong game.
- Something is clearly lacking there.
[laughs] - Oh!
- And they're regular kids during the day,
and then when they get on stage
and start performing,
they just blossom and mature
right in front of your eyes
into these incredible performers,
and it is really fun to see that.
["String Quartet No. 1 in D major, Op. 25" (IV. Molto vivace) Benjamin Britten ]
[sprightly music]
*
[cheers and applause]
[energetic classical string music]
- Funding for Music from Madeline Island
was provided by:
Focus Fund for Young Performers
and Friends of Wisconsin Public Television.