The Telegraph Quartet (Eric Chin and Joseph Maile, violins; Pei-Ling Lin, viola; Jeremiah Shaw, cello) was formed back in 2013 and since then the group has performed at music halls, festivals and academic institutions around the world.
Each week this summer, LebTown will be previewing who’s playing next at Gretna Music — leaving you time to purchase tickets or get more information on the artists by visiting the Gretna Music website or Facebook page, or calling 717-361-1508.
So, without further ado, here are five questions with Telegraph Quartet.
How would you describe your performances to someone who hasn’t seen one before?
Exciting and dynamic. Sometimes a little wild and unexpected. We like to be as spontaneous on stage as we can within the limits of what we rehearsed so that each performance is intentionally different.
What inspirations have gone into the performance?
Well, certainly because of the composers on our program, Bohemia is a very strong inspiration for our program. All of the composers – Antonin Dvorak, Erwin Schulhoff, and Pavel Haas – give their own take, from the Romantic to the Modern, on what makes for Czech music. Overall, there is a freshness and wildness to all of the works on this program, an outdoorsy kind of spirit that makes them a bit more rustic and gnarly than some of their Western European counterparts. For us, figuring out what sets these works apart from other musical cultures and then from one another is a large part of what inspires our musical decisions.
What has the experience rehearsing and putting it together been like?
It is always great fun for us to collaborate with new musicians, and we get that chance with our guest flutist Carl Ellenberger in the miniature Dvorak serenade. We also get the chance in that same Dvorak and the Pavel Haas String Quartet – in the fourth movement – to work with our cellist Jeremiah’s brother Alex Shaw, who is an amazing percussionist and a wonderful addition, if briefly, to our ensemble. As for the Dvorak Quartet in E-flat and Schulhoff Five Pieces, our relationship with them has been going on for a while so the experience is one of regrowing and rediscovering them every time we pick them back up.
Where is the most unexpected place you’ve heard or played amazing music?
We once played on the back of a UHaul truck that had been converted into a portable stage. It was called the MusicHaul (get it? Haul=hall, or music hall) and is the brainchild of Yellow Barn Music Festival’s artistic director Seth Knopp. Telegraph Quartet and several other musicians were hauled around to various small towns and schools to perform outdoors like a musical food truck and share chamber music with people who might not ever have come into contact with it otherwise.
What would be your Jigger Shop order?
Well, we might have to go a couple of times as there seem to be some pretty creative drinks and sundaes that we can choose from. We’ll definitely have to make a trip when we’re in town and might be a draw between the literally flaming Baked Alaska or the Gretna’s Frozen Hot Chocolate. We’ll see.
If you go…
September 7 at 7:30pm, Telegraph Quartet w/ Carl Ellenberger and Alex Shaw
“Second generation of Gretna artists grace our stage.”