Bermuda Sun on Marian Anderson String Quartet: 'A classless classical quartet'

[Marian Anderson String Quartet Performs]

The Marian Anderson String Quartet's performance of the second and third movements of Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson's String Quartet No. 1 can be heard at http://www.marianandersonstringquartet.com/?cat=10

Bermuda Sun

1/28/2011

By Sarah Lagan

“A notion exists that classical music is reserved for society’s privileged and highly educated elite.

The Marian Anderson String Quartet, which will perform next week as part of the Bermuda Festival of the Performing Arts, has done everything in its power to turn that theory on its head. While the all female, all Afro-American musicians have played to some distinguished audiences, they have also played — for free — to the homeless in the soup kitchens, disadvantaged schoolchildren from The Boys and Girls Club of America and many churches. And while they do play timeless classics by Beethoven, Mozart and Bach, they also perform the music of black composers such as the Negro Spiritual Calvary by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson.

“For those who do not listen to classical music because they may not understand it and feel they cannot fully appreciate it, the four string musicians make a point of explaining some of the songs and arrangements at intervals throughout their performance. They even invite the audience to ask them questions and to join in singing for some songs. Marianne Henry, one of the quartet’s founding members, said: 'This comes from a basic belief that we feel that music is for everybody. It is really music for the folks. We bring the music we play to places you wouldn’t think of going. Your average person will not go to see classical music because they don’t understand the music. Nobody has sat with them to show them how to enjoy it. That’s what we are about — we explain what is fun about it and talk about the composers. We explain that they are just human beings like you and I — they played exquisite music but they still had issues.'”

“The quartet is made up of founding members Ms Henry on violin and Diedra Lawrence on viola as well as Nicole Cherry on violin and Prudence McDaniel on cello. Their play list, which is subject to change, comprises Dances of Panama by William Grant Still, Four For Tango by Astor Piazzolla, String Quartet No. 1 (based on the Negro Spiritual Calvary) by Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson and String Quartet No. 2 in F by Antonin Dvorak. [Coleridge-Taylor Perkinson (1932-2004) and William Grant Still (1895-1978) are profiled at AfriClassical.com,which features complete Works Lists compiled by Prof. Dominique-René de Lerma of Lawrence University Conservatory.]