Groupmuse: The QuaranTrio – Our First Livestream Massivemuse

Brendan Speltz, violin
Milena Pajaro Van de Stadt, viola
Brooke Speltz, cello

Ernő Dohnányi – Serenade in C major, Op. 10
Chris Rogerson – Brilena
Ludwig van Beethoven – String Trio in G major, Op. 9, No. 1

Of the myriad monumental challenges musicians face in this moment*, one less talked about is the present impossibility of The Ensemble. How can artists gather in quartets, octets, orchestras when being in close quarters, sharing breath and expression has been deemed a risk to public health?

And yet — some exceptions are known to our community, as some players are quarantined together. And so, to celebrate one of those happy accidents, this week, we’re organizing our very first Livestream Massivemuse.

Three of NYC’s finest young string players, long-time Massivemuser Brendan Speltz and his brother Brooke Speltz (violinist and cellist of the internationally renowned Escher String Quartet) and violist Milena Pajaro Van de Stadt (of the equally great Dover String Quartet) find themselves cooped up in an apartment together with a whole bunch of high quality audio/visual equipment. And so is born **The QuaranTrio. This will be their debut.

And what a debut:

The program starts with Hungarian Ernő Dohnányi’s late romantic masterpiece, his Op. 10 Serenade - one of the most poignant and vivacious works ever written for string trio.

It’s followed by a brief contemporary work by Chris Rogerson entitled Brilena.

The finale is the first of Ludwig van Beethoven’s op. 9 string trios, the glorious and youthful G Major. 2020 is Beethoven’s 250th birth year. Orchestras the world over were supposed to be celebrating this greatest of geniuses all season long, but that can’t happen now. Groupmuse will not let Corona spoil Beethoven’s birth year. Let’s be together with Beethoven.

It’ll be a top-quality musical livestream, sandwiched by Zoom gatherings on either end so we can applaud together, share together, be together. We’ll also have a Q&A with the artists after the performance for all who wish to join.

We’re charging $3 to reserve a spot because there's a maximum capacity allowed by Zoom. We’re then asking that everyone at the concert contribute what they can ($10 recommended minimum) and all of the money collected will be split between these great artists and Groupmuse itself - which is fighting so hard to keep this community alive in these times.

The livestream will take place at 7:30 PM PDT / 4:30 PM PDT

RSVP for details/livestream link.

$10+ minimum payment to musicians, $3 reservation fee.

Note: Livestream concerts are subject to change without notice. If livestream doesn't take place, we hope you'll visit the performers' website to explore their recorded performances, or discover another group to listen to online!

About Groupmuse

Groupmuse is a worker- and musician-owned cooperative seeking to uplift artists and strengthen broader community bonds through live, intimate performances of historically-rooted music.