ASHLAND — The New York-based Escher String Quartet has played the Louvre in Paris, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., the Wigmore Hall in London, and many more stages around the world.
The quartet has received acclaim for its “its profound musical insight and rare tonal beauty,” according to a press release from Ashland City Schools. They’ve rubbed shoulders with classical music greats like Itzhak Perlman, the Emerson String Quartet, and Pinchas Zukerman.
Now, they’re coming to Ashland for a year-long residency with Ashland City Schools.
“The same musicians, playing at the same skill and caliber in the high school auditorium or library or band room or wherever it is are exactly what they could hear or see if they were in New York at the Lincoln Center,” Executive Director of the Ohio Alliance for Arts Education Jarrod Hartzler said.
Their residency kicks off with a concert at Trinity Lutheran Church on Oct. 20 at 6:30 p.m., where they will play alongside Ashland and Lexington high school students that have had one-on-one mentoring from members of the quartet, according to the press release.
From there, the quartet will meet with students virtually throughout the year to mentor them on technique, tone, and the music world.
“This is like having the Ohio State football team come down and work directly with our football team,” Ashland City Schools Orchestra Director Jocelyn Taylor said.
Their residency will conclude with a concert in the spring where the quartet will join the students’ orchestra and play alongside them, Music Department Chair Martin Kral said.
Kral hopes that, beyond improvements on playing and technique, students will learn from the quartet that music is more than something you do in school and then forget, he said.
“I want kids to just eat music up, all day long. I just want them to take a spoon and start devouring music and just know that it’s not this extra thing,” he said.
“You know, in like elementary school, it’s fine, they call them ‘specials.’ You know, you go to art, you go to music, you go to gym, it’s a ‘specials.’ I don’t want that mindset when they’re in high school. This isn’t just an extra special thing. This is just as important, this lines up right with math, English.”
The quartet recently finished up a four-year residency with Tuesday Music in Akron, and when it ended, then-Tuesday Music Director Jarrod Hartzler worked with the band to create ESQYRE, an Ohio based non-profit focused on “music performance and education for people of all ages,” according to the press release.
During its time in Akron, the quartet had some short residencies with Ashland City Schools. But the music department heard about ESQYRE, and knew they wanted them for a longer term.
So they put together a budget, a plan, and a timeframe, and presented it to outgoing superintendent Doug Marrah, who used to be an orchestra director.
Marrah, to say the least, was receptive to the idea, Kral said.
“What’s making this possible, if I can turn this a little, is our superintendent. Our superintendent, I don’t know a single school administrator that’s more supportive of the arts than Doug Marrah,” he said.
