Reynolda Quartet joins Winston-Salem's thriving arts scene

The Reynolda Quartet—a string quartet of faculty artists in the UNCSA School of Music—performs its first concert at Reynolda House Museum of American Art this winter. The program features the world premiere of “Last Spring” by UNCSA composition professor Lawrence Dillon, along with Janáček’s String Quartet No. 2 (“Intimate Letters”) and Brahms’ Quartet in A Minor, Op. 51.  

The Reynolda Quartet’s members include violinist Ida Bieler, violinist Janet Orenstein, violist Ulrich Eichenauer and cellist Brooks Whitehouse. Bieler, an alumna of the UNCSA high school program, is also the artist director of the Chrysalis Chamber Music Institute at UNCSA. Orenstein is a two-time winner of the USIA Artistic Ambassador Competition and founding member of the Guild Trio, with whom she played for over ten years

As a member of the Mendelssohn String Quartet and the Waldstein Quartet, Eichenauer is a seasoned quartet performer. He has toured extensively in the United States, Europe and South America. Whitehouse is co-creator of cello/bass duo Low & Lower, along with fellow faculty member Paul Sharpe.

A symbiosis of art forms

“I’m more than delighted about the quartet’s association with Reynolda House,” Bieler says, speaking from Germany, where she also teaches at the Robert Schumann Hochschule Düsseldorf. “I find it an incredible symbiosis of art forms. In Europe, we do a great deal of working concerts around paintings and other works of art, which is what we will be doing at Reynolda House as well. We want to put together programs that are inspired by the collection or special exhibits.”

I’m more than delighted about the quartet’s association with Reynolda House. I find it an incredible symbiosis of art forms. In Europe, we do a great deal of working concerts around paintings and other works of art, which is what we will be doing at Reynolda House as well.

Ida Bieler

New music for string quartet should also proposer at Reynolda House because of its affiliation with the Reynolda Quartet. That’s because the ensemble is applying for grants to underwrite commissions of premieres of pieces that have some relation to Reynolda’s art collection. A premiere is planned for each program that the quartet presents at Reynolda House.

“One of the exciting things about being in this group is getting to know the collection that’s there,” Whitehouse says.

New works

Dillon’s “Last Spring,” a one-movement work in A-B-A form, ensures that a new piece will be featured during the inaugural concert, but it “is not tailored to the museum’s collection,” Whitehouse says. The piece draws its inspiration both from the springtime season and from the notion of a final spring. It features a benevolent, pastoral melody that opens and concludes the piece, along with a middle section that is much faster, more driving and syncopated.

Dillon’s quartet “is quite effective in its soundscape,” Orenstein said. “It’s evocative. I enjoy the colors that he gets from the string quartet.”

Progressive partnerships

The members describe ambitious plans for the ensemble’s progressive partnership with the museum. They’ll commission Reynolda-inspired world premieres and give a concentrated effort to building audiences for music performances by UNCSA’s faculty artists beyond the school’s campus. They will explore music’s connections to visual art. The quartet will also perform on tours of North Carolina and Europe, bolstering recruitment and fundraising in the process.

See the Reynolda Quartet in action during their performance livestream at 7:30 p.m. (ET) on Saturday, February 1, on the UNCSA School of Music Facebook page.

by Ken Keuffel

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