Travel

Updated: August 05, 2010 .

On the Road: Travel stories, projects and other stories:

(New updates for 2010 soon to come)

2010

2009

November:

Martinů Concerto and final concert of the Beethoven Cycle

      The experience of listening to a string quartet perform live is quite unique. If you have not had a chance to live it yet, go listen to one (or come listen to us when we are visiting your hometown). Generally, there are the audiences who would prefer going to chamber music concerts and there are others who would prefer the symphony concerts or large opera productions (I love all of the above). But very few times you get to hear compositions that would combine both, a string quartet and a symphony orchestra. The Euclid Quartet was finally ready to break into the new experience of playing a concerto for string quartet and orchestra which we performed with the South Bend Symphony Orchestra on November 14. The piece we performed was by Czech composer Bohuslav Martinů (1890-1959). For this we decided to perform standing up, which I much prefer, with the cellist sitting in a podium. The work is exactly the kind of piece my quartet likes to play to showcase our energy and intensity but also the tenderness of our playing. We also played Vaughn Williams "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" which we played sitting. For a sound sample of the piece click here.

      This month we finished our Beethoven Cycle which has been the best thing we could have done as a quartet. These challenging yet magnificent works are as a whole, according to musicologists, a sort of biography of the composer. Among string quartet players we like to call them the "bible of string quartet playing" and, apparently, they never get easier or feel comfortable to play (as told by Earl Carliss, former member of the Julliard Quartet and who played them all many times). For our Beethoven Cycle Final Concert we performed the shortest program of the cycle with only two quartets: OPP. 59 #2 and 135 (the latter being the shorter of the late quartets and one of the shortest of all). All of these concerts of the cycle took place at Indiana University South Bend were we hold a residency and were we teach since 2007.

October:

Beethoven's Grosse Fuga and Portland

      For our Beethoven Cycle Concert #5 we performed OPP. 18 #1, 130 and 133 "Grosse Fuga." This was by far the toughest program to put together of the whole season. We had performed 133 before at the Osaka Competition in Japan in 2005 but it was the first time for Si-Yan. Op. 18 #1 was new to me to perform but I had coached it many times to student quartets. As for Op. 130, it was brand new for three of us so we had to give it our best shot. I think this concert went really well. We were all very exhausted near the end; this program proved to be a real challenge to our stamina!

      Then a change of pace came along. We had a brief change of repertoire to learn a new piece by our resident composer Jorge Muñiz called "Lamentations of the Prophet Jeremiah" for soprano and string quartet which we played during the College Music Society Conference in Portland, Oregon. It was not my first time in Portland; I had been there in 2003 and I really liked the city. This time we got to visit the brewery where they make the Rogue Stout which we like. The place was a bit  ran down but we didn't care.

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September:

Welcome, Si-Yan, our new cellist!

      Over the summer we had to take cello auditions because David had to stepped down due to his hand injury. We are happy to announce that Si-Yan Darren Li accepted the position of Cello in  the Euclid Quartet and Lecturer at Indiana University South Bend. We are very excited about our new season with Si-Yan, because he is such a great player and brings a lot to the group with his solid intonation and healthy sound. Our first concert with Si-Yan was nothing more than the Beethoven Cycle Concert #4 which included OPP. 18 #5, 74 "The Harp" and 59 #1. We play very well together and our sound is the best we've ever had plus the usual excitement that characterizes our performances.

May:

Fresh air of the west coast and Schubert Quintet.

      May was a cool month; we got to hang out with our buddy Phil Von Maltzahn who gladly accepted to be our cello sub for May. Everything except our travel was just great. Traveling was a nightmare just as many other times  (you can read all about it  here in my blog where I complain about how airplane traveling has become a real pain in the rear nowadays). This time I'll save the energy to talk about the positive stuff. We played in Occidental, California in a series that wanted us "back by public demand" as they stated on their website. A short Questions & Answers session was to follow immediately after the concert, I guess the people from the audience were intrigued about us. The program was Beethoven op. 18 #6, Mathew Hindson "Industrial Night Music" and the quartet in d minor by Edvard Grieg. Just as it was announced, they asked us to come out to the stage after we finished and the people asked questions (job related, personal, etc). I really enjoyed doing that because we can be seen as real people and not stuffy classical musicians that don't want to be bothered. I REALLY love it when people talked to us after concerts and I wish people did that more often. 

      On the same trip we played at the UCLA Center for the 17th and 18th Century Studies at the Clark Library in Los Angeles, California. This place is a beautiful venue that, while it was a little too hot to play, it offers great acoustics. The program was very similar to the Occidental's but instead of Grieg we played the Schubert Cello Quintet with Jennifer Culp, former cellist of the Kronos Quartet. We really enjoyed playing with Phil and Jennifer as the cello powers. Jennifer is really cool and we found out that she really likes Star Wars stuff, something in common with Jamie, except that she did NOT like the drunken Yoda video on YouTube. It was cool to hang out with Phil and his friends in Hollywood after the concert.

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April:

More Beethoven!

      For our Beethoven Cycle Concert #3 on April 26 we invited our friend Brant Taylor as a cello sub. Once again we had to do some rehearsing in Chicago at Brant's beautiful apartment right downtown. Brant is a member of the Chicago Symphony and has a busy schedule but we were very excited that he accepted to play with us. The program was even harder this time with OPP. 18 #4, 18 #6 and 131. I think Beethoven's Op.131 is the hardest one of all of them (since I'm writing this journal entry after we had played all six I can safely say that). The day of the concert I woke up feeling sick in my stomach. I thought it was just nerves but then I started feeling feverish and took some acetaminophen which allowed me to feel OK while I was playing. During 131 my shoulder rest fell off and there was no time to put it back on because there's no pause between movements. I played the last two movements without my shoulder rest in place. This in addition to the fact that I was felling feverish again (the effect of the acetaminophen was starting to decay) made it even harder. It turns out that I had the flu, bad timing!

March:

Spring break and starting seeds indoors, and more Beethoven.

      March was a busy month for us  with lots of school presentations back home, competition screening for Jacob and me and concerts. The first concert in March we played with Norbert again and this time it was at Taylor University in Upland, Indiana. The drive was much easier compared to our last drive with Norbert.  The concert was shorter too with Haydn's Op. 33 #5 titled "How Do you Do?" Hindson's "Industrial Night Music" and Beethoven 59 #3. The audience was very nice and I enjoyed talking to a few students afterwards, some which we had seen earlier in the day when we observed and coached the school's student orchestra. 

      We don't get a spring break in my quartet (we always seem to be busy around that time)but since the school was in break I decided to start some seeds indoor to transplant later to the garden. I wish I knew what I was doing and I'm kind of embarrassed of this story  but what the heck! I got one of those peat pellets kits in the store and got some seeds. The package said to keep them in a dark, warm and draft-free place and covered. I did not see a better spot in the whole house with that description than... the oven! You see, this was actually a brilliant idea and it really worked! the plants were sprouting in with 3 days. It was definitely working EXCEPT that I forgot to cue my wife into what I was doing. So, one evening she got a... PIZZA! and proceeded to preheat the oven along with the baby seedlings. When she opened the oven she was very confused with this melting plastic thing inside of the oven. With no time to explain I had to try to save this little seedlings that endured a 400 degree temperature.  You will not believe it, they survived! soon after that they were growing again! I couldn't believe it. But don't hold your excitement because eventually they died because both my wife and I were too busy traveling and the plants did not get water :(  So, they died. Sad story.

      Anyhow, for our next concert we were joined by our cellist friend Patrick Jee for our Beethoven Cycle concert # 2 on February 26th. For this we had to do some rehearsing in Chicago because of Patrick's busy schedule with the Chicago Lyric Opera. This concert was hard! we played OPP. 18 #3, 95 "Serioso" and, one of my favorites, 132. I definitely felt the crunch of time for this concert and was relieved when it was over. But Patrick did a fabulous job putting together such a difficult program in a short time.

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February:

La Bohème, Beethoven Cycle, subs and snow:

      What a nice start of the year! My wife and I went to see Puccini's "La Bohème" at the MET (the Metropolitan Opera in New York City) on January 3rd. La Bohème is our favorite opera ever, it was magnificent and it featured Franco Zeffirelly's old-time famous set. Back home things are not quite as pretty as an opera. With David's hand issue aggravating we are going to need subs for al the concerts of the rest of the season and be prepared in case we need to open auditions for cello.

      For our first concert of 2009 on January 8th, we played with our friend Hannah Holman from the Maia Quartet. This was the first concert of a whole Beethoven Cycle which we'll be playing in six concerts throughout 2009. We played OPP. 127, 18 #2 and 59 #3. The concert with Hanna went really well and we really enjoyed playing with her and she was a lot of fun.

      Winter has been rough this season with many days below zero (Celsius) and very snowy. For our next concert on February 22nd we traveled to Traverse City, Michigan with our friend Norbert Lewandowski as our cello sub. We did this trip by car which is usually a lot of fun, but in winter... not so fun! The trip on the way there was OK. We were given a place to rehearse at the Interlochen public radio station for as long as we wanted since no one was there. We rehearsed our program for the concert which was Beethoven Op. 59 #3, Mathew Hindson's "Industrial Night Music" and Schubert Cello Quintet which we played with Debra Fayroian (former member of the Detroit Symphony). We took a quick bite to eat at lunch time and realized that the weather has gotten bad and a lot of snow had fallen. Then we got back to do more rehearsal. At the end of the rehearsal, so much snow had fallen (14 inches) that our rental SUV was completely stuck. I had the easiest part on this because I was the driver and I just sat in the car while the others pushed as hard as they could to get the car moving (it would have been so much easier if we had shovel!). So, the funniest thing (to me at least) then happened: After a few tries the car was finally moving but since I didn't want it to get stuck again I kept the car running down this small road, looked back, the guys are running on the trails the car was leaving on the snow. When they got closer I opened both back doors (car in motion) and the guys simply jumped into the car one by one. That was just awesome! What an adventure! The rest of the story is not as fan but we got back in the hotel safe.

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2008

November:

In the nation's capital after the presidential election:

      The month of November was more fun than usual: we returned to our all-time favorite crowd of Sioux Center, Iowa, for a concert at Dordt College, we played a concert for our local crowd of South Bend at IUSB and we traveled to Washington, DC to perform at the National Gallery of Arts. The trip to DC was especially fun (except for the actual travel) and there was a particularly good spirit in the capital since the elections, and a general feeling of hope and "can't-wait-for-January-20th" when the new President (elect) Barack Obama is inaugurated. Moving trucks were parked around the Capitol for the old guys to move out and the new guys to move in. It was during those days that the rest of the world had its eyes on the economic summit  or G-20. Jamie and I went for a nice walk of the monuments(Capitol to Lincoln Memorial) with an unusually perfect weather that drastically changed later. We stopped for lunch at Potbellys and when we got out there were people everywhere: some standing, some holding flags of China; and it suddenly got pretty dark. We got to the corner of Constitution and 7th Streets and the police was clearing the road of cars and people, no one was allowed to cross the street. Then a caravan of the presidents attending the G-20 summit drove by coming from the Capitol. After the caravan had passed a few people attempted to cross the street and were followed by dozens, then the whole multitude ran across the street and immediately started to pour rain quite massively. Jamie and I ran to get cover at the National Gallery because the umbrella I had was pretty useless. Pretty fun. That was the day before our concert and we had a dress rehearsal at 5 pm back at the National Gallery.

      For the concerts in November we had a sub for David because of an injury, and Phil Von Maltzahn, cellist from the Degas Quartet, filled in for David for those concerts. Phil is quite a good old friend of us and it just happens that he finds our estrange humor as funny as we do. After our dress rehearsal we went to eat at an awesome Korean  restaurant called Mandu highly recommended by Phil (and now highly recommended by me). The restaurant was a couple of blocks away from the famous Adams Morgan a major night life area in DC, so we went to a couple of bars for some good beers.

     The concert at the National Gallery was on Sunday, November 16 and it was very well attended. My favorite memory of the concert was, actually,  the "green room" which was just one of the gallery's exhibition rooms (Flemish Baroque painters). I was warming up just minutes before the concert staring at a painting by Rubens next to some other great paintings by Van Dyck, truly special! After the concert we went to our usual post-DC-concert place: Capitol City Brewery, next to the Union Station.

     Traveling back was not so fun. Just an hour before departing from Baltimore/DC airport to Cincinnati I went to request a seat change and the lady said "sorry, but this plane is not going  anywhere, you should consider re-routing through Atlanta but there won't be any flights to South Bend tonight because they are full so you should stay in Atlanta tonight and flight tomorrow morning." I said that I needed to consult with my colleagues and tried to get their attention from the podium since there was already a line behind me. The guys were not looking. I went to tell them what was going on and the people around us heard the story and ran up to the podium. By the time I went back to the line there were ten angry travelers demanding an explanation and asking why there hasn't been any official announcements (yep, the word got around that fast). Finally, she made the announcement that the plane came with some mechanical problems and said that every passenger will be called and taken care of one by one. A few minutes later she announced "we'll be boarding in 5 minutes" (so much for the "technical problems"). The plane left and arrived to Cincinnati just fine. Then we boarded another plane to South Bend. The captain announced that the flight was going to be short, 35 minutes, and that the weather in South Bend was not looking good and that a snow storm was approaching. Just as we were approaching SB the captain announced that the weather got worth and, therefore, the plane had to be returned back to Cincinnati (and my wife was waiting at the airport to pick me up). The airline refused to cover hotels for the passenger since it was a weather related problem. I wonder what really goes on behind everyone's back: my wife said that the snow was not that bad and that there was not an appreciable difference in 35 minutes. Was it that the the captain was inexperienced landing in snow?  If that's the case it was safe to return the plane but I highly doubt that the airline will hire inexperienced pilots. The next morning I heard the same captain's voice and he landed the plane just fine in SB when it had been snowing considerably harder through the night and there was about 9 inches of snow on the ground. I don't get it!       

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 September:

Another season starts:

      A long way has passed since the month of September and I have to do a little catching up with things. As usual, a season begins to wind up slowly and this month of September was not an exception. After a well deserved post-recording-mini-vacation we were ready to get started our work at Indiana University South Bend by the end of August. The first thing in our agenda for the month of September was a trip to Seattle, Washington. The quartet auditioned to showcase at the Western Arts Alliance Annual Conference, sponsored by Chamber Music America, and was selected as one of a handful of groups to perform as part of the conference. This year's conference took place at the Sheraton Seattle Hotel (September 1-5) and our performance took place at Seattle's Town Hall which was open to the public. Amongst the great things of this trip was our performance at Town Hall on September 4, which drew a large enthusiastic audience that was thrilled to be there (a usual audience at this conferences consist of just people in the music business, so this was particularly special).

Sometimes, we get a little extra time during our travels to relax (not all the time, unfortunately). Since we got a free afternoon and a relatively good weather we went to check out the Space Needle and we decided to walk there. Watching the four of us walk together is quite a sight: Jacob is usually ahead of us since most of the time he has researched the many ways to get anywhere including subways, busy streets, airports, you name it. Just behind are the other three just barely catching up (usually just making jokes that Jacob wouldn't be interested in hearing anyway). Some other times we walk all together but so fast to make people wonder where could four handsome guys be going to in such a hurry. Anyway, we got to the Space Needle, went up to the top and hung out there for about an hour. The view of Seattle from the top is breathtaking but they also have all sorts of fun stuff up there to kill time while learning about the city and its landmarks.

If you have read about us you would know by now that we love brewpubs and that we try to visit local ones wherever we go and when time allows. In Seattle we didn't go to a brewpub per se but we did go to the Tap House Grill, just a block away from the hotel, which is a bar that has 160 beers on tap... Good enough!                                                                                                                                                                                   Back to top   

 May:

Back to the land of wines and pacific ocean breeze... and some remarks on Hugo Kauder

      We took a flight to San Francisco on May 1, rented a van and drove a couple of hours north to Santa Rosa, California, going through the big city and the Golden Gate Bridge. We'll have a long drive to do for the next few days heading even further north to Gualala, California and Corvalis, Oregon. For our first stop, Santa Rosa, we arrive late and Jamie was falling asleep (we had a three hour jetlag and he had been up since 4 am Eastern time). Kerry Campbell-Price (with whom Jamie stayed) was so kind to wait late for us, she gave us maps of the town and all the directions we needed in Santa Rosa and drove us around to where we were staying. Anna Harriette, Jacob's host, received us with a heartwarming Tomato Soup. Corrick and Norma Brown received David and I in their home and they were such wonderful hosts (both of them are musicians, she is a pianists and he is a conductor).  We played a concert in Santa Rosa Junior College on May 2. We were invited back to KRCB Radio (see Feb 07 entry), for a radio interview, there we talked about the concert and they played some of our Kauder CD. Then the radio host asked me about the Kauder viola: The composer Hugo Kauder was a violist (no wonder why his most tender musical moments in his first four quartets, which we recorded, he gave to the viola). When the quartet won the top price at the Hugo Kauder Competition the son of the composer, Otto Kauder, invited me to join the Hugo Kauder Society. We had a special connection since he also played the viola. Towards the end of his live Otto asked me if I would take the viola that he inherited from his father. I, with most honor, accepted and I now think of all those tunes Kauder had in his mind which he played on this instrument. Corrick, my host, told me that his teacher was a pupil of Hugo Kauder. He also told me that he knew the violinist Roni Rogoff, from whom I learned so much in the years he visited Venezuela to work with my orchestra, and that he had stayed in their home.

      The day after the concert, we drove to Gualala, through the Sonoma Valley and into the Redwood forest of the Lake Sonoma Recreation Area. We passed lots of wineries through the valley and then the way through the woods had lots of switchbacks. It was a hard drive for Jamie, but well worth it. Gualala is just at the coast of California and we stayed at the Sea Ranch off of California's Route 1, which is is just 2 miles from Gualala. The homes at the Sea Ranch were the first eco-communities established in the late 60s, they are surrounded by dramatic ocean views, and  forest. Upon our arrival we were taken for dinner by Ann and Alex Long at the beautiful Sea Ranch Lodge. The concert space where the quartet was performing the next day, on May 4, was built by the whole community. After the concert we were invited for a potluck at Cecilia and John Moelter's home prepared by the three families that hosted us. John took us for a walk before dark to the beach to see the Harbor Seals. There they were, dozens of mothers and babies seemingly oblivious of our presence (there was a place where you can stand as far as you are allowed to avoid disturbing the nursing mothers). Back at dinner we had a good time with all of our hosts, they were all very special people and it almost seemed as we were long time friends getting together again. The next morning Tim, my host made a great breakfast (better than any 5 star hotel!) while Margui, his wife, took me to see their beautiful horses. Before my colleagues picked me up, Margui gave me an Abalone shell (the size of a person's face) which she picked from the shore, just walking distance from their house. Then they arrived, we had a long drive ahead of us and we had started late already, we were going 500 miles north to Corvalis Oregon.

      The drive, which should have taken 9 to 10 hours ended up being 13. But the way we took (following instructions from the locals) was very scenic and worth the drive. We drove thought the coastline with impressive ocean bluff views and passed near the place where we were in February last year (see entry below) around where the Russian River meets the ocean. Last year we walked around there thanks to Kit Neustadter who took us to see the Harbor Seals. We were deeply saddened to hear that Kit had passed away only a couple of months ago after battling a terrible cancer. I will always remember her, she made a great soup for us before our concert in Occidental last year (see below).

      We finally made it in Corvalis pretty late but still Gary and Ingrid Larson were so wonderful to have some food for us (thank to you both for such great attention) and all of our hosts were gathering there. The concert in Corvalis was at the LaSells Stewart Center which seats over 1000 people but despite of the size the acoustic was great for even a small ensemble. After the concert we gathered again at Ingrid for more food and drinks. Towards the end of this reception I had the most special 10 minutes conversation of the evening with two beautiful people, Marilyn Miller and George Liferman. They made the evening so special and made me remember that there are plenty of goodhearted people in this world than mean well and are worth remembering forever.

      And talking about remembering people forever, I would like to dedicate the following lines to Kit Neustadter who passed away recently:

                                                      Remembering Kit Neustadter:

      In an email to us Kit wrote:

      Dear Amy and the Euclid:

Thanks for a great concert and I enjoyed the time we spent together. I look forward to seeing you next year when you will be performing in Santa Rosa. Thanks for the mug; I will use it for my tea.
The soup I served you was a doctored up version of a wonderful vegetarian soup that I had on a retreat. I am attaching that recipe which you will note is general; she did not have any specific quantities. It is a wonderful light healthy soup. To that i added some fresh cream of tomato bisque soup  that you can  get at Whole Foods organic grocery store. and sautéed local chicken apple sausage. That is basically it, though I might have tweaked it a little here and there so no two soups are ever the same for me. Hope this helps.
KIT

     And here's the recipe for that soup she made for us, it's delicious! 

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April:

Kent State and Michigan: from Bartok to a kid's show

      The Euclid Quartet was formed at Kent State University in Ohio while the quartet was the graduate quartet there almost 10 years ago. I actually went to audition for the quartet while they were still at Kent. This month we were in the very same room where I auditioned for the quartet in 2001. This time, to get ready for a challenging all-Bartok's program to be performed on that evening of April 10. I have to admit it is quite a lot of fun to play an all-Bartok's program, especially for the first time, but it was a heck of a lot of work! There was a great reception afterwards and I got to meet a lot of the people that were associated with the beginnings of the Euclid Quartet. They also had some really good beer (courtesy of Tom Jansen, a beer connoisseur himself).

      The children of the Bedford schools of Temperance, Michigan, along with parents and the general audience witnessed an unusual world premiere: one that involved lots of kids of different ages, a professional string quartet and a conductor. It was the world premiere of "Symphony of String Instruments" by the English composer James Leatherbarrow which features the Euclid Quartet as soloists and a large ensemble comprised by three level orchestras: elementary, middle and high school. It's the first time that something like this is done! The work dedicates a movement to spotlight every orchestra and begins and ends with everyone playing together. The experience was beautiful and unforgettable for us, the kids did such a wonderful job and Jeff Thomas did an amazing job preparing the kids and putting it all together on the day of the concert on April 15.

      Not a quartet travel story: Also this month, I traveled to Iowa City to see the Emerson Quartet play a concert at University of Iowa (taking advantage of one of my many trips to visit my wife who is getting her Doctoral Degree in Flute from UI). I spoke to them after the concert and I got my book "The Savior" signed by its author Eugene Drucker, and talked about viola bows to Larry Dutton, and shared our new projects with Phil Setzer. I also spoke about coffee with David Finkel with whom I share a particular interest in the subject. It all started in Aspen in 2002 when I mentioned to him how much I like coffee and that I had started roasting my own coffee at home. He was very interested in the idea so I gave him a book on home coffee roasting and since then he roasts his coffee at home.

March:

James Dunham's mini residence at IUSB: 25-29 of March

      We had the privilege of playing with James Dunham, former violist of the Grammy Award winning Cleveland Quartet (also known as The Beatles of classical music). As part of a mini residency at Indiana University South Bend, he gave two masterclasses, taught some of the local students and performed the Dvorak Viola Quintet Op. 97 with the Euclid Quartet. We even took a road trip with him to play in Richmond, Indiana, which was a lot of fun specially learning travel stories from a veteran quartet traveler and his sense of humor in the company of his three colleagues, all full-equipped with luggage, instruments, music, new jokes.... He also got a taste of the Euclid's sense of humor (a similar enterprise of 4 men on the road playing concerts and having a good time when possible). During this trip he shared with us the Cleveland Quartet's outtakes (those takes that were edited out of their recordings), which he had put together over the years, just fabulous...

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February:

My first time traveling without my coffee maker!

      Ok, you probably think I'm crazy, but I have been traveling all these years with my espresso maker. I am so hooked on coffee that my everyday life is not the same without my morning cup of "marrón oscuro" (the Venezuelan way of getting your coffee to look dark brown even after putting the milk and the foam, Venezuelan coffee is great, by the way). I became very picky (no, I really mean it!) with the way I like my coffee and my wife and colleagues have witnessed my frustration whenever I go to get coffee somewhere. Those baristas looked at me as if I was coming from Mars when I've tried to explain the way I like it; regardless, they always do it how they know: A latte that's just milk and foam and has some traces of coffee which was also weakly brewed (with some few exceptions, of course, which have impressed me). Recently my wife gave me a brilliant idea: to get the milk and foam separate and I mix it up myself, but when the coffee is not brewed strong enough I'm left with literally two sips of something that hardly resembles a "marrón oscuro." That's why I had been traveling with my espresso maker which embarked with me on trips to Japan, England, Ireland, Paris and all over this country. But carrying the extra weight and sacrificing an extra pair of shoes and jeans to make room for the coffee maker started to get a little bit weary. For that reason I decided to test it for this trip to Sioux City, Sioux Center and Vermillion and not bring the coffee maker. I traveled instead with... a bunch of tea bags. It was pretty sad, though, and I did ok with the change but there's just not comparison, no matter how good the tea, is just: not coffee. But I'm willing to try for awhile to see what happens.

 January:

New York to start 2008

      As a result of our audition for a showcase for the Chamber Music America National Conference we were invited to New York City. The conference took place at the Westin Hotel in Times Square and our showcase was programmed for noon on Sunday, January 6. We first arrived in New Jersey and stayed at my wife's parents to do some post break rehearsals and get back on shape. Martha's parents were such wonderful hosts (as always!) and made our short stay in their home very enjoyable. We all went to hang out at the Triumph brew pub in Princeton, NJ (where Martha and I went for a really fun New Year's eve party). Then we headed to New York by train and stayed at the Westin Hotel to get ready for the conference.

      We were invited to the Oberlin Conservatory by their violin faculty Greg Fulkerson to do a master class and to perform an evening concert on Jan 22. It's great  to be so close to Oberlin (just under 4 hrs driving). The groups we coached were very good and they all seemed to have enjoyed the class. I was happy to see Ms. Monique Duphil at the concert, who is a piano faculty at the conservatory, and whom I met in October when Martha and I were visiting Oberlin. I remember when I was around 10 and before I even contemplated playing an instrument, my sister (who is also a pianist) took me to see her perform in my home town. After all these years I wanted to meet her and I finally did! She also speaks perfect Spanish...

      The day after we returned from Oberlin we caught an early flight from South Bend  to Charlotte, North Carolina to play a concert there with the guys of the Degas Quartet. Yes, we played the Mendelssohn Octet and it really makes a great excuse to bring two quartets to perform together but, nevertheless, we were  once again all captivated by this all-time little gem.  It was particularly meaningful to have played it after seeing the original manuscript at the Library of Congress last spring (read entry for April 2007).  It was also a really fun trip and we together make an unbeatable "super-octet bond" personality wise and we never lack of a good laugh. Even backstage, hearing Jamie's rendition of a theme from a Tchaikovsky's quartet gone wrong, and then having everyone else trying to play it that way, was quite amusing. The concert was on January 26 at Queens College.

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2007

November and December:

Sudden repertoire change: Quintets are on the menu

      We took a little pause on the work we need for our next local concert so that we could prepare two piano quintets to be performed at the Odyssey Chamber Music Society in Columbia, Missouri. Once again, we met our dearest pianists friends, this time to perform the Shostakovich Quintet (with Ayako Tsuruta) and the Dohnanyi Piano Quintet (with Peter Miyamoto). The concert was on Sunday, Dec. 2 but we left South Bend on Thursday, Dec. 29 to get some rehearsal with them. We drove to Columbia which was a lot of fun. And also was seeing our friends Peter and Ayako who took such nice care of us (and took us to the local brewpub, which is a seemingly must-visit stop built into our schedule every town we go to across the country). Back in town, we have to immerse ourselves into our repertoire for our next IUSB concert on Dec. 7 for which we have to play Schubert's "Quartettsatz"  Mozart KV 387 and Bartok's Quartet # 2.

October:

Our debut concert at IUSB and first travel with David:

     The Euclid Quartet opened the 07-08 season with a debut performance as the faculty quartet at Indiana University South Bend on the 14th of the month, which was also our first performance with David as our new cellist. We also traveled west to perform at the National Music Museum in Vermillion, South Dakota on the 26th and at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, on the 27th. We also ended up visiting our previous home, Sioux City, to visit some friends. It was weird to be back in Sioux City because it felt as I was away for a few months and then I was returning "home." But then I realized that I was not driving my own car there but a...rental van! It was great to be back there to see our friends Ken and Barb Ackermann and Joe and Hahn Shufro.

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August:

A month of changes:

     The month of August brought some changes along for us. One was the appointment of the Euclid Quartet as full-time faculty at Indiana University South Bend. This of course came with the unavoidable moving headaches but a further reward awaited. The quartet was leaving Sioux City, Iowa (but not the midwest) after 6 years to make South Bend, Indiana, their new center of operations. We also had a change of personnel, Amy announced her leaving the quartet and that also came with the unavoidable audition process that took place until mid August. After a national search we welcomed David Beem as our new cellist to join us for a new and exciting life together. To read more about David, visit our official website: www.euclidquartet.net.

July:

The lovely New York State:

     One of my favorite places  to visit is Upstate New York , far enough to the big metropolis and so full of character and surrounded by the Catskill and Adirondack mountains. I love mountains, more so than beach, it might be because I grew up in Venezuela and went to the beach quite often. But there are beautiful mountains in Venezuela too, in the state of Merida. Anyway, our visit to New York was due to a concert in Lake Luzerne, New York, at the Lake Luzerne Music Camp on July 23. This was a very well attended concert, and a fine audience too...

June:

Beverly Hills:

     After returning from Europe, and after taking a few days off, it was time to get back to work. Just a week after my return the Euclids went to take the audition for the job position at Indiana University South Bend. The following week after that we were embarking to Los Angeles, California, for a performance in Beverly Hills. The folks that we stayed with were excellent hosts (Toni Schuman and Margaret Shipman). It was our first time in the area so it was fun to go check out the Hollywood scene as well. Our concert included Beethoven 59 No.3, Mozart's Quartet KV 499 in D and Alberto Ginastera's Quartet No. 1 (for a fair chance performance of these works after playing it earlier this year with a broken hand).

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May:

A trip to London, Ireland and Paris:

      From May 14th to the 26th we traveled to London and Ireland with Morningside College's Camerata Orchestra. We had a much easier time than our usual quartet travels because we didn't have to do anything other than show up for the rehearsals and play the concerts (5 total). This is an orchestra that has no conductor and our students play alongside with the faculty (the Euclid Quartet plus Mr. Shufro on the bass). The repertoire included Bach's B minor Suite for Flute and String Orchestra with my wife Martha on the flute, Hindemith "Trauermusik" for Viola and String Orchestra with me playing the solo part, Grieg's Holberg Suite and Elgar's Serenade. The tour started in London and then we went to Ireland to the cities of Dublin, Sligo and Galway.

      After our tour with the Camerata, Martha and I spent two more days in London to visit my cousin Maria Fernanda who I hadn't seen for maybe 5 years. Then we took a trip to Paris for a short vacation (May 26-June 3). We had been in Paris in different times but not together, I had been in 1992, 93 and 95 and Martha was there in 2005. As cliché as it might sound, Paris is quite romantic. The highlight of our trip was having wine (a bottle) by Pont Neuf overlooking the Notre Dame Cathedral (see photo below). But I don't mean sitting at a restaurant, I mean actually under the bridge by the Seine! as cool as that, we also had wine by the Eiffel Tower after dark. Something different we wanted to do! But also going to the Bois de Bologna, the biggest park in Paris, was a relief from the city stress. And talking about stress, the one not-so-cool event of this trip was, guess what!?...I got my wallet stolen! credit cards, driver's license, health and car insurance cards, some cash, all gone in a matter of an eye-blink. The most painful loss, though, was: my green card! you could not imagine what a pain in the neck that has turned to be.  I got my wallet stolen the day we arrived in Paris and in the RER train from Charles de Gaulle airport (typical). So the first thing we visited in Paris was the Police station and the American Embassy (I wanted to make sure I could come back to the US without my green card and it was ok). But even with that little bothersome experience we still had a lot of fun in Paris!

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April:

Historic places and instruments:

      This was a very cool month for us! We went to Boston, Massachusetts to play a concert for the Harvard Music Association on Friday, April 13th. The program included a work by French composer André Caplet (1878-1925): Conte Fantastique after Edgar Allan Poe's "Masque of the Red Death" for String Quartet and Harp, which we played with harpist Ursula Holliger. I liked downtown Boston a lot (I liked the Upper Crust's pizzas). The concert venue is a historic landmark and the Harvard Music Association was founded in 1837 by Harvard graduates. We met very smart and interesting people in various fields: Arts, Physics and Math Sciences, Harvard scholars, faculty and students.

      Also this month we performed at the Library of Congress in Washington, DC. They have a collection of fine instruments, mostly Strads, which we got to play. They have two of Stradivarius few violas (13 total in the world I believe): the 1690 "Tuscan-Medici" and the 1727  "Cassavetti" both of which I played but the last one I used for the concert (see photo). Very beautiful instruments! I also had a chance to hang out with my sister-in-law, Sarah and her husband Bob, which is always enjoyable. We went to a cool place after the concert, the Capitol City Brewery next to the Union Station in downtown DC.

      And finally, to nicely end this busy month of April, we performed a concert for the Chicago Music Society in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, April 28th. The concert was hosted by the board of the Women's Athletic Club of Chicago, one of Chicago's North Michigan Avenue landmarks, and a very elegant modern French style building. The concert was shared by the Degas and Euclid Quartets and we ended the concert with Mendelssohn's Octet. It was the first time for the two groups to play this piece together, even though we had played Armando Bayolo's octet "Ludi" about 7 times. Just a week before, at the Library of Congress, we were shown the original score of Mendelssohn's octet (written when he was only 16). The manuscript was impressively neat and beautifully handwritten and signed by the composer.

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March:

Spring is coming!

      March was an interesting month for us. We were called by our manager to take a concert in place of a group that canceled in the last minute. It was just during the time I had decided to take a break from playing and get my hand a rest so my right hand fracture could heal sooner. This concert was hard to say no to, though. It was in Minneapolis (drivable distance from us) and we had repertoire ready to go. I saw a hand specialist two days before the concert and asked his advice, and he say "go for it and use your pinky again." This concert was on March 7th and was the first time I use my pinky since January. Since then I've been playing normally again.

      Later in March, on the 22nd, we had a performance at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach, Florida. It was a great venue and very well known and the staff was very kind with us and assisted us with all of our needs.

      On March 31st we had a concert at Dordt College in Sioux Center, Iowa, which originally was on February 24th but it had to be postponed because of a huge winter blizzard that made Iowa a National Disaster area. This time the weather wasn't that great neither and as Spring arrives is time for the thunderstorms to cause problems. A huge storm and a tornado watch were getting in the way but we were able to play the concert. Another concert was happening right after so we made ours a little shorter by not doing the repeat in the first movement of Beethoven's 59 No.3 and, apparently, by me taking the last movement's fugue WAYY faster than usual!

February:

Our experience in the wine country

      This month we got another chance to get out of the cold winter, the ice and the snow. We went to the beautiful state of California (my first time visit), on Feb. 15th, to perform concerts in the wine country of Sonoma County and in Fullerton just outside of Los Angeles. The trip, once again, was hectic "thanks" to bad weather and the airline's irresponsible over-booking. Only Amy was able to board on the original flight at 6:45 am, Jacob made the list for the next flight at 9:30 while Jamie and I were not able to board a single plane at all with this airline for the rest of the day (along with other frustrated bumped passengers). We finally got on a flight with a different airline 11 hours after we've been at the airport. Only Jacob and Amy made it on time to give a master class at San Domenico School in San Aselmo, California.

      But the travel nightmare was over, the Euclid Quartet was again reunited later and were there to perform a concert on Feb. 18th in Occidental, California, a charming little town in Sonoma County near the Napa Valley and close to the coast of the Pacific Ocean (we were also interviewed on KRCB Radio) We felt like we were in paradise and our hostess and music presenter Kit Neustadter took great care of us and made our stay unforgettable. She took us to the coast to a place known to be a Harbor Seal Nursery right at the mouth of the Russian River. This phenomenon happens later in April but we were able to see some Seals sticking their heads off the sea waves seaming to have some fun. We also saw a huge Elephant Seal taking a nap on the shore (see the photo below).  Then we took a plane to LA and drove to the town of Fullerton, California for a concert at the Sunny Hills Performing Arts Center on the 19th. They offered a nice reception for us where we met very nice people. An update about my broken hand: It's still broken unfortunately, and I still have two more weeks to heal completely. I still have to play tonight (Feb 22) Hindemith's "Trauermusik" with Morningside College's Camerata String Orchestra and two more concerts in the area with the Euclid Quartet (not involving TRAVEL!).

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January:

Playing with a broken hand!

      We never stop playing, and a small fracture in my right hand (due to falling on the ice on 01/21) doesn't stop me neither. I have to say, though, it's being really hard! but thanks to pain killers and some tricks I've been able to play. Since I can't put pressure on my right hand's pinky, I've been playing holding my bow with just four fingers. That's been ok for Mozart's K. 499 quartet, but not so easy for Beethoven's Op. 59 No. 3, or the first quartets by Ginastera and Janáček. When my hand gets tired and sweaty I feel like I'm loosing the grip of the bow. But I've managed. The timing was awful though, with a few concert just followed the incident including one in Naples, Florida (01/28) and another at Hamilton College in Clinton, New York (01/31). We arrived very late in Naples and unfortunately a misunderstanding about our hotel reservation  didn't get us to bed until 3:00 am (and our concert was at 2 pm). After the concert we were able to relax and enjoy Naples's beaches (see below) not bad for a break from the cold winter, the ice and the snow. But that was over when we had to flight to New York State and deal with a terrible winter storm, and then with temperatures dropping to the 18°F (-8 °C). Now back home, we are dealing with wind-chills of -30° F (-34°C)! 

Lose your only car keys and you'll be in trouble! 

      I guess I got lucky this time, but this year started out with a stressful trip to New York City due to car key issues. The quartet went there for a CMA conference at the Westin Hotel in Time Square and we offered a panel discussion entitled "New Context for New Music" which went really well. The day we arrived I noticed I didn't have my car key in my pocket. After an extensive search and thinking all through, I realized that I might have dropped it at the security checkpoint at the airport or else it fell in one of the planes. The thing is: I only have that one key! and it's that kind which have a chip in it that needs to be programmed. I made so many phone calls to airports and the airline! I also called the dealership  and they told me that I needed to get my car towed from the airport parking to their shop in order to get a new set of programmed keys. I decided to do that as I was in New York and before I returned on Saturday the 13th (they close at 6 pm so I wouldn't have made it). I send a fax to the parking company authorizing the towing and set it all up for 1 pm on Thursday. Just 15 minutes before 1 pm I went out to eat and the doorman asked me if I had lost some car keys, I had dropped them on the street in NEW YORK! and he picked them up! I realized I could still make it before they towed my car at the airport and I canceled the whole thing and saved me a huge hassle and $200!  But the whole trip was definitely more enjoyable thanks to our friend Kathy Dalsimer, Thank you Kathy for spending a good time with us!    

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2006

October:

      On Tuesday the 24th we drove to Sioux Center, Iowa, to play at Dordt College. For this concert we included Bartok Quartet #4, along with music by Mozart, Puccini and Piazzolla. Those who have played Bartok's 4th quartet know how wild it gets in the last movement. With such lack of break in this movement, I still made it to quickly yank off a few hairs of my bow that were hanging for a long time. I think that dramatic moment caught the attention of this little girl (probably 4 years old) who was sitting with her parents in one of the fist rows. After we had ended the concert with a standing ovation and were brought onstage twice, I went just a few minutes later to get my music. When I got to my stand I saw this little girl looking for something on the floor next to my chair. Then she screamed: "I FOUND IT" holding one of the hairs that I yanked off the bow...

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September:

      We drove on a van to the southern states of Arkansas and Missouri for a week long trip performing from school classrooms to concert series. The trip started with a performance early morning at Millard North High School in Omaha, Nebraska on the 13th. Then I took the driving  and headed south and 10 hours later we arrived at Little Rock, Arkansas, for the Midwest Conference in Little Rock and just in time for a boat ride on the Arkansas River with the event's participants. The next day, the 14th  in the morning we did a mini classroom performance at the Parkview Magnet Arts High School and in the evening we performed for Little Rock Chamber Music Society at St. Mark's Episcopal Church. We spent three great days in Little Rock and our hosts were all very nice to us. Karen Seale, my hostess and who is an Orthopedic Surgeon, taught me some great massage tips for arms and shoulders (common problem areas for string players) and I thank her enormously because they've helped me a lot. On Friday the 15th we presented three independent showcases at the Midwest Conference which took place at the Convention Center attached to the Peabody Hotel in Little Rock. On Saturday the 16th we drove from Little Rock to Columbia, Missouri, where on the 17th we played a morning school performance at the Hickman High School. Then in the evening we played at the University of Missouri two piano quintets: Brahms' and Dvorak's, with our great friends, and wonderful pianist, Peter Miyamoto and his wife Ayako Tsuruta. After the concert we drove to Kansas City and the next day we finished our trip by playing for high school students at the Shawnee Mission HS in Kansas City.

      On Friday the 29th, we performed at another conference: the Performing Arts Exchange in Baltimore, Maryland, for which we were the only classical string quartet selected to perform a juried showcase. The trip was pretty short but we encountered a few problems especially on our way back. The conference was great and it was huge! I've never seen so many people together working for the arts! The flight back was a problem. First, they let us in the airplane but advised that the heater in the plane needed to be fixed and maintenance was in their way for a "quick fix" of the problem which, they say, could take just a few minutes. I was constantly checking the time to make sure we could make the connection in Memphis. Forty minutes had passed, no sign of the maintenance guy and by then we had already lost our connection flight. Then the guy shows up, did some work on it, and said "this will need a lot more time." Then they got us out of the plane. Good thing I was in the second  row, so I was one of the first of a long line of passengers that needed re-booking. Then they put the four of us (plus the cello, for which we buy a ticket every time we flight) in the next flight on another airline and through Chicago. We made it to the gate just in time for boarding but they said that we might not make it in that flight because we were "too last minute" and they said to Amy that she could not get the cello in the plane unless she bought a fist-class ticket. They also gave Jamie and Jacob a boarding pass for a later flight. The lady said to me, "get in now or you'll lose this flight" Then I asked the guys if they would be ok with me going alone because I wanted to get home early enough to celebrate my first wedding anniversary. And they were ok with that, but then I saw all of them boarding. Great, we made it!  but THEN, the pilot announced that because of bad weather in Chicago we were asked to take a detour around and southeast of Chicago to avoid the storm. I was listening to music and flipping channels when I heard in a channel a lady saying "here Kansas City" (we were not supposed to be any close to Kansas City) and realized that the detour was quite far. Later, the pilots were asking for no more delays as the plane was running low on fuel. Finally we made it in Chicago 40 minutes later than we were supposed to. Then we ran to the next gate and they announce that the flight was delayed for one hour (it was already delayed for half hour) because they were waiting for the pilot which was also late arriving in Chicago from another flight. The last thing was, they didn't allow Jamie and Jacob on that flight because they were put in a different flight. Amy and I got that flight and arrived in Omaha, however, our luggage didn't make it! Anyway, Martha and I still celebrated our first anniversary in a restaurant in Sioux City for a nice end of the day.

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August: 

      A great month for me because of my birthday (Aug. 8th). After two well-deserved  vacation weeks in July we got back to work and traveled to Michigan to perform at the Manitou Music Festival, Michigan. We had a late arrival at Traverse City airport from Detroit (after the airline was dealing with a needed crew member and had canceled the flight to the next day, but they fixed the problem). We got into town (Leland, Michigan) after driving from Traverse City on a full moon night by the lake shores of Lake Michigan and our hostess Caroline Brady was still awake. Her house was gorgeous and had a lakefront to Lake Leelanau and we felt like we were in "paradise" (at times I forgot that we were there to perform, because we were all very relaxed!). The town is very pretty and it's around the 45th parallel which is half way between the Ecuador and the North Pole.  The locals call tourists "fudgies" because they walk around town carrying bags of fudge brownies (delicious by the way and well-known apparently). We met Debra Fayorian (director of the Manitou Music Festival and retired cellist from the Detroit Symphony) and her husband Wesley who played the Tuba with the Detroit Symphony and had a great time visiting them at their new gorgeous home. Our concerts were  in Glenn Arbor on Aug. 10th and in Leland the next day and we also were interviewed at IPR Interlochen Public Radio where we played live on the radio.

      On August 12 we got on a plane from Traverse City, Michigan to Albany, New York and drove to Amy's hometown Saratoga Springs where we rested for a couple of days before our next concert.  We had a chance to check out the famous horse races of Saratoga Spring, thanks to Jennifer and Kyle (Amy's sister and her husband) who let us stay in their beautiful home which is only a few blocks from the horse tracks.  

      On August 15 we drove from Saratoga Springs to Williamstown, Massachusetts which is a very nice drive by prairies and valleys and the road cross a tiny section of Vermont before our destination. We performed that night at the Clark Institute of Art in Williamstown and Jamie and I stayed at the home of John and Susan Hadfield to rest for a couple of hours (we got up at 3:30 am to drive to Albany airport and flight back home).

June: 

      The Euclid Quartet traveled in June to Aspen for a world premiere during the Aspen Music Festival (June 27th).  Ludi, which in Latin means "games," is a string octet commissioned by the Aspen Music Festival for the composer Armando Bayolo and was written for the Euclid and the Degas quartets. The program also included Mozart's String Quartet in G major K. 387 performed by the Degas Quartet and the Debussy's String Quartet No. 10 in g minor performed by the Euclid Quartet. The program closed with "Ludi" after the intermission. 

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May:

      We had a wonderful time traveling to Los Gatos, California, for a performance on May 19th. Not only was the audience so supportive, also the attention we got from Mr. Ted Lorraine was one of the best ever while on tour. We also got to meet wonderful people (like always when we are "on the road" performing) for instance, my host Mr. Ralph Hays was a wonderful company during our short visit. I loved hearing his stories from when he was in the Air Force during World War II (not every day I get a chance to meet people from that generation almost gone completely). I also was fascinated to learn about Japanese Fukusas and a beautiful private collection of those that Mr. Hays showed me (only in photos, the originals were donated to the Art Institute of Chicago). Anyway, what a wonderful visit!

      We were in New York for a couple of days for a performance at Merkin Hall on May 30th. In New York we had a chance to visit with our good friends Yabet (violinist) and Emi (pianist) which we met last summer teaching at Hartwick Festival. We also performed at the Brookhaven Laboratories in Long Island where we met very interesting people such as Dr. Geoffrey Hind with whom we had a wonderful afternoon  chatting over lunch.

April:

      The quartet drove from Sioux City to Columbia, Missouri, for a gala performance during the Plowman National Chamber Music Competition (April 1st). The road trip was nice and we enjoyed performing there (though a little too hot on stage, but we managed fine). Prior to the concert we had a nice dinner with the directors of the Plowman Competition. After the concert we were very happy to hang out with our friends the GREAT pianists (and married couple) Peter Miyamoto and Ayako Tsuruta with whom we made future plans to perform together again in the fall.

      As an update on the DVD of the Bartok's Workshop (May of 2003): It is now available but not on DVD. Carnegie Hall has finished and published a website instead which is available for everyone on the internet. The website is a guide to the String Quartets of Bela Bartok as videotaped during the Emerson String Quartet's Workshop at Carnegie Hall in May of 2003. The Euclid Quartet participated with performances of Bartok's Quartet #4. The website is: http://www.carnegiehall.org/article/explore_and_learn/art_performanceguide_bartok.html

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March:

      This was a busy month for us! but it was fun to travel south to Hickory, North Carolina from Washington DC with a rental car. We performed in Hickory with the Degas Quartet with whom we did a preview concert of the Octet which will be officially premiered in Aspen in the summer. Amy and I stayed with a lovely lady by the name of Nan Fanjoy. She treated us so well and made our stay in Hickory very enjoyable. Back in Washington DC we performed at the State Department (March 8th), gave a masterclass at the Levine School of Music and performed at the All Souls Church (March 9th). For this last concert we performed Beethoven's Quartet Op. 59 #1 and Schumann Quintet with pianist Ralitza Patcheva. The best of this trip was meeting (and performing) with Ralitza who is an excellent pianist and her husband, cellist Vasily Popov. They were definitely the highlight of this nearly three weeks long trip and we feel very fortunate to know them. 

      Also on this month we traveled for the second time this year to Saratoga Springs, New York for a performance and a masterclass at Skidmore College (March 24-25). We gave a lecture on string quartet technique and coached excellent young chamber groups during their Chamber Music Seminar.  This was a nice trip for us especially for Amy, who grew up in Saratoga Springs and got to see her parents. Many thanks to Amy's parents (and her sister Jennifer)  for hosting us in their houses! 

2005

October:  

      Martha and I got married! on October 1st, 2005 in Chicago. We had a wonderful wedding and we were very lucky to be  surrounded by our loved and favorite people. We also had a second ceremony in Barquisimeto, Venezuela on December 23 of 2005 for my family. We then spent some time traveling in Venezuela to the Andes (Mérida) and to the beautiful beaches and keys of Morrocoy National park. Here's a photo from the reception at my parents' home following the ceremony.

July:

      We are very excited to announce that the Euclid Quartet will be now represented by Lisa Sapinkopf Artists management services, beginning this August (2005). For more information and for booking, please visit www.chambermuse.com

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August: Working on a recording project:

Thanks to the support of the Hugo Kauder Society, a recording project is in the works. The project involves the recording of four string quartets by composer Hugo Kauder (1888-1972) who lived in Vienna and immigrated to the US .The release of this CD is projected for the end of 2006 under the label Centaur Records. To learn more about Hugo Kauder visit www.hugokauder.com, and to learn about the project keep checking our website for the latest news, www.euclidquartet.net/latest_news.html

May: 

      This past May we were in Japan for the 5th Osaka International Chamber Music Competition. Eight string quartets from around the world were invited to participate in the live round after going through a tape round selection. We advanced to the second and to the final rounds and were awarded the Third Prize after our performance at Osaka's Izumi Hall. For more information read our comments on our website: http://www.euclidquartet.net/latest_news.html

 DVD of Bartok’s workshop:

      We are waiting for the release of a DVD by Carnegie Hall Corporation of the recorded workshop of Bartok’s string quartets that Emerson String Quartet offered at Carnegie Hall in 2003. The Euclid Quartet as one of the three groups selected by audition to participate with a final performance at Weill Hall.

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