The Hawthorne String Quartet is heading into its second decade as Boston College’s string quartet-in-residence.
The Hawthorne Quartet Has a Thing for Strings
For the last decade, the Hawthorne String Quartet has developed a rich history of working with students and faculty members
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During its decade-long affiliation with Boston College, the Hawthorne String Quartet — the University’s first string quartet-in-residence — has developed a rich history of working with students and faculty members, according to member Mark Ludwig.“We love being in residence at BC. Our experiences on campus go far beyond our concerts at Gasson Hall,” says Ludwig, describing the events as “a great forum to share the richness of chamber music and also mix masterpieces from the classical repertoire alongside contemporary voices of our time.”
Through its association with the University, he says, “my colleagues and I are encouraged to explore new repertoire to perform and share with our growing core audience at BC. In a sense we grow as artists and teachers. Our hope and goal is to be an enriching cultural force on campus. As the quartet-in-residence, I see us as ambassadors for Boston College when we tour the US and Europe.”
The quartet will perform a concert on Nov. 18 at 8 p.m. in Gasson 100 that will feature works by Joseph Haydn, Pavel Zemek and Bohuslav Martinu.
Formed in 1986, the internationally renowned ensemble includes Boston Symphony Orchestra violinists Ronan Lefkowitz and Si-Jing Huang, violist Ludwig and cellist Sato Knudsen. Based in Boston, the quartet — which takes its name from the New England novelist Nathaniel Hawthorne — has performed extensively throughout Europe, South America, Japan and the United States, and has an expansive repertoire ranging from the classics of the 18th and 19th centuries to contemporary works.
Hawthorne first played at BC in 1998, and was subsequently invited by then-Music Department chairman T. Frank Kennedy, SJ, to become the University’s resident string quartet. Fr. Kennedy, now Canisius Professor and director of the Jesuit Institute, credits the late J. Robert Barth, SJ, who was College of Arts and Sciences dean, and the Music Department’s Farrell Fund, for making the residency possible.
Among highlights of the group’s campus activities, Ludwig cites the quartet’s collaborations with BC faculty, work with students in classes and performing groups, and his own experience teaching in the Music Department.
“The BC music faculty is a very special group of dedicated and creative mentors. We have enjoyed premiering several works by BC faculty composers [Professor] Tom Oboe Lee and [Assistant Professor] Ralf Gawlick.” And Fr. Kennedy, he says, “deserves a special thanks for inviting us to be the quartet-in-residence.”
“The partnership has been a useful one,” says Fr. Kennedy, who points to the quartet’s collaborations with Lee and its performance of compositions of the Terezin camp, where Jewish artists arrested by the Nazis were held during World War II. Ludwig is a Holocaust music scholar and founding director of the Terezin Chamber Music Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and advancing the music and art created in Terezin.
Ludwig praises Lee as an “amazing musical force” with whom the quartet has forged an “incredible” relationship that has included a critically acclaimed CD of his string quartets (Lee has composed three quartets for Hawthorne).
The quartet also has collaborated on several film projects with Fine Arts Professor and department chairman John Michalczyk. More recently, the quartet performed the music for the new documentary “Writing on the Wall: Remembering the Berlin Wall,” produced by BC filmmakers to mark the 20th anniversary on the fall of the Berlin wall.
Another enjoyable aspect of the quartet’s residency, he adds, is working with composition students, who each year “compose works for us to perform and critique — it’s one of our favorite classes. On occasion we have also coached the string sections of the BC Symphony
Orchestra.”
Ludwig also teaches Music in Holocaust and the Third Reich, which he describes as “among the most meaningful and stimulating aspects of my professional career.” The course examines “the power of art and music during one of the darkest periods in Western Civilization. Studying artists and composers who created and endured so much under unimaginable circumstances is inspiring and mind-opening — it’s a course filled with history, music, art, psychology and politics.
“I love the interaction with my classes. My students have been great in their willingness to open their minds and hearts to examining this time period. Many students have expressed how this course has been a unique experience; each semester certainly has been for me.”
Rosanne Pellegrini can be reached at rosanne.pellegrini@bc.edu