Perhaps you’ve seen the signs around campus advertising them, or your music professor mentioned them in class last week. But what is the Alexander String Quartet? Who are they? Why are they here? Friends and neighbors, it is time to gather round and prepare to be enlightened.

The Alexander String Quartet is a 20 year old group which was founded in New York City and has since moved to San Francisco. It is composed of two violinists, Ge-Fang Yang and Frederick Lifsitz, a violist, Paul Yarbrough, and Sandy Wilson, the cellist. Based in San Francisco, the Alexander String Quartet has performed throughout the United States and abroad. They are the ensemble in residence at the San Francisco Performances, in addition to being the directors of the Morrison Chamber Music Center’s Instructional Program at San Francisco State University. Currently, they also hold visiting residencies at other colleges and universites, such as St. Lawrence University in New York, Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, and Baruch College of the City University of New York.

The last time they were at Pomona, in the fall of 1999, the Quartet coached several student string quartets. Chi Ha, ’02, was a member of one of these ensembles. Finding the Quartet’s help very useful, Ha explains that "we’re only a college quartet, and some are doing it recreationally…[the Alexander String Quartet] has to worry about how they sound every day, so it’s useful to hear what we should be doing." Ha also said that the Quartet was able to relate their work to outside fields, by demonstrating "how music, even though it is wordless, is an effective means of communicating information [and emotion]."

Mark Wolfmeyer, ’02, performed for the Quartet in an open master class during his sophomore year. He said of his experience that "it was an honor to play for them…the advice that they gave was very helpful." Although a music coach had helped his group learn their piece, he said that "having someone else hear it is one thing, but having someone with [that kind of musical background] hear it is really helpful."

In addition to their instructional work, the Quartet has also won several prestigious awards. In 1982, the group was the first quartet to win the Concert Artists Guild International award. They were also the first American group to win the International String Quartet Competition in London in 1985. There, the Quartet not only received the jury’s highest prize, but also the Audience Prize.

The Alexander String Quartet has also recorded on two labels; Arte Nova Classics and Foghorn Records. In 1999, the group recorded all of Beethoven’s 16 string quartets on a one box set for BMG’s Arte Nova label. The Quartet took their Beethoven repertoire on the road during the 98-99 with a unique program called "Beethoven on Demand". Before the concert, audiences were able to vote on which pieces were to be played. The Quartet would only learn which pieces they were performing an hour before the actual concert.

Cynthia Fogg, a viola instructor here at Pomona, will be joining the Quartet as a guest artist for this concert. Fogg has taught the viola for two years at Pomona. She is also an active member of the Pasadena Symphony Orchestra and a performer in Southern California.

Professer Tom Flaherty of the music department said that the last time the Quartet was here, "They appeared in ten classes and that they met with students in a wide variety of subjects, from German to physics to poetry…they related the music that they played in class to each subject." For example, the Quartet visited several language classes, where they demonstrated how the language of the composer affected the writing of his or her music, and would contrast pieces written by composers of different languages. This year, the Quartet will visit a Russian culture class and play a piece which was written in Stalinist Russia. In 1999, they also spent three hours coaching students in various chamber music ensembles, and played an evening concert which was "packed".

Professer Flaherty also commented on how the Quartet related to students. Because of the intimate classes and other informal meetings, they had many opportunities to interact with students. Although a number of chamber music ensembles regularly play at colleges and universities, he said that "it is unusual that the Quartet visits non-music classes…it is largely an outreach program which shows how [their music] is really related to human life."