Solem Quartet in conversation

Following their recent Lunchtime Concert, the University's ensemble-in-residence sat down with us to talk about their recently renewed partnership with the University and their hopes for the new Yoko Ono Lennon Centre.

You’ve just renewed your partnership with the University for a further 3 years. What does the partnership mean to you as musicians?

Stephanie: It’s really exciting for us because we’ve been playing here for about 3 years now. We love coming here and it’s really nice to know that we’re valued and that the University is interested in us long-term. As freelance musicians, there are few opportunities like this.  

Will: I think all of us have an interest in teaching as part of our careers so it’s nice to work with young adults and hopefully pass on some of our music knowledge as specialist trained musicians. The 3 year partnership means we can have the opportunity to work with these students long-term.

You often mentor students and host workshops. Why is that important to you?

Amy: I think we all benefitted from great teaching ourselves and we know through experience you gain knowledge that you can pass down to the next generation and it’s also very fun working with students. We feel like we learn a lot from teaching and the atmosphere her is really great.

You’ve played in some amazing venues across the country. How important is a venue to you as musicians but also for your relationship with the audience?

 

S: It’s really important and there’s a number of factors that all come together to make a venue what it is. So the acoustic is always important, the lighting and just how well it’s designed for performance.

A: I think we play quite differently depending on the space. Sometimes we might do a concert in someone’s living room or an old stately home where it’s a very intimate environment, but for instance in the summer we were playing in a tour in China where the concert halls were massive and you’ve just have to play with that much more projection and amplify all of your ideas.

W: I think what’s especially nice about having a concert hall that is specially designed is that hopefully it’s well set up for the performers as well as the audience, we’ve spent a lot of our time in quite cold churches with nowhere for the audience to go and have a glass of wine. I think a specially designed concert hall enhances the experience for the performers and the concert goers.

 

Why do you think local audiences, communities and musicians should get involved in the new Yoko Ono Lennon Centre?

A: I think music is one of the best things possible to bring people together, there aren’t hierarchies and boundaries within music. If you don’t have any knowledge of music, you can sing, join a choir, and go to watch concerts. Music is language that everyone speaks. It’s an amazing way of breaking the ice between people who wouldn’t necessarily talk at all otherwise.

S: In the digital age that we are currently in, it’s so easy for people to listen to recordings. Actually going to watch live music is something which brings people together and it is a social occasion.

W: We always notice how well attend the Lunchtime Concert series is, it is a credit to the University that they have the local audience attend. But at the end of the day event thought the Leggate Theatre is a great venue, we are in a museum it’s not designed for live music. For the people of Liverpool to have ownership over a concert hall and for that to be housed by the University is a really great thing.

The new space will be state-of-the-art, what opportunities does this open up for you musically as a quartet?

S: Something we’re looking to do over the next few years is work with other musicians of various genres and collaborating on new work. It’s really exciting to think that we could bring that to the performance space. The venue will open so many doors to also work with students as there could be any number of us on the stage.

 

Finally, and this may be the hardest question, what is your favourite piece of music?

W: I think my favourite things to play are string quartets and it’s really hard to pick one piece. But if you’ll indulge me I’d like to pick a composer and that is Béla Bartók because we play him and as a quartet we have spent a lot of time playing his music. I think my favourite quartet is the String Quartet No.4 by Bartók, it was the first of his music we played together and it has richness of soul. The more time you spend with his music the better you get to know him.

S: My favourite is Cello Suite No.1 by Benjamin Britten. I think I first heard it when I was 16 or 17 and it’s the first piece I remember obsessing about and listening to on repeat.

A: I feel like as Will mentioned Bartók, as a quartet I should mention our other big passion, and that is Beethoven. I’m sure we share this with other quartets. I’m going to choose opus 127 by Beethoven which has absolutely incredible slow movement and it’s definitely one that people should go and listen to. I’m going to leap in with a fourth choice. We were really lucky last year to work with the living composer, Thomas Adès. We played his quartet called the Four Quarters and he’s also written another quartet called Arcadiana, they’re both amazing.

S: Is that in fact a fourth and a fifth choice?

A: Okay, I choose Arcadiana.

We love coming here and it’s really nice to know that we’re valued and that the University is interested in us long-term.

Stephanie, The Solem Quartet

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