printable versionShiffman to leave ensemble-in-residence; new violinist announced
BY BARBARA PALMER
Scott St. John
Barry Shiffman
When violinist Barry Shiffman, a founding member of the university ensemble-in-residence, the St. Lawrence String Quartet, agreed to help the internationally renowned Banff Centre in Alberta, Canada, find a director of music programs, he had no idea that the ideal candidate would be found so near at hand.
But after talking at length about the position—and after writing letters of support for other candidates—Shiffman realized that the directorship would "be sort of a dream job for me." Shiffman will join the staff of Banff Centre full time beginning in September.
His new position means that Shiffman also will leave the university's much-loved ensemble-in-residence, which he co-founded in 1989 with current quartet members Geoff Nuttall, violinist, and Lesley Robertson, viola. The musicians, along with cellist Marina Hoover, who left the quartet in 2002, grew up in Canada and crossed paths during summer chamber music series at the Banff Centre.
After its founding, the quartet established itself quickly by winning both the Banff International String Quartet Competition and Young Concert Artists Auditions in 1992. They launched a glittering—and grueling—performing career that has taken them across North and South America, Europe and Asia.
In 1998, the St. Lawrence String Quartet became Stanford's first ensemble-in-residence. Its members not only teach in the Music Department but also have engaged in numerous collaborative projects with composers including Jonathan Berger, an associate professor of music, and Osvaldo Golijov, and performers including the Pilobolus Dance Company. At Stanford, the quartet also began a popular and passionate outreach program, which included evening programming in campus residences for students. Shiffman counts his relationships with students and the residence performance programs among the highlights of his tenure, he said. "We're bringing music into people's homes—literally."
The quartet's peripatetic concert schedule is among the good reasons for making the change, Shiffman said, speaking by cell phone Monday from New York City as he headed toward the Lincoln Center. Since the Saturday before, the quartet had played in Maine and Connecticut, and was scheduled to play two dates at Lincoln Center, as well as in Massachusetts, Toronto and Detroit before returning to play on Sunday at a Stanford Lively Arts performance. Later this month they'll travel to Atlanta and Utah.
That kind of intense travel schedule is the lifeblood of the quartet, which performs more than 100 dates a year, Shiffman said. "The insanity of the busy schedule we embrace is how we perform best," he added. "But 190 days on the road has serious implications, not just personally. I find a lot of my enjoyment in project development," which is hard to do while he is on the road so much, he said. "And I've spent quite a bit of time performing as violinist. I look forward to having more time to explore the viola repertoire."
He and his wife, Robin Fribance, acting director of Stanford Lively Arts, are expecting their first child, "which also ties into all of this," Shiffman said. Fribance will resign her position at Lively Arts later this year. ("Trust me ... it'll be harder to replace Robin than me," Shiffman wrote in an e-mail.)
St. John to join quartetIn late January, the quartet announced that violinist Scott St. John, who has been on the faculty at the University of Toronto as professor of violin and viola and coordinator of the chamber music program, would join the quartet in September.
St. John, who has collaborated with the quartet in quintets and sextets, was the first name on a list of dream candidates for the position, said Nuttall. "When we sat down to play with him we all realized he really is the perfect fit for the [St. Lawrence String Quartet]."
St. John came to international attention after winning the Young Concert Artists Award in 1990. He has appeared in recent years with orchestras including the Boston Pops, Cleveland, Philadelphia and National Arts Centre (Ottawa), and with the Cincinnati, Toronto and Vancouver symphony orchestras. St. John has commissioned many new works and has taught and given master classes at the Banff Centre and the Encore School for Strings.
And, as they did with Shiffman, members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet have close ties with St. John. Nuttall said he, Robertson and cellist Christopher Costanza "have known Scott both individually and collectively over many years."
Shiffman said his relationship with Stanford will continue in the future through the Banff Centre's close ties to the university. In a "twist that's actually quite wild," St. John will be at the Banff Centre this summer with the St. Lawrence String Quartet, while Shiffman is at Stanford on family leave.
During his and Fribance's time at Stanford, "there's been a huge shift in the interest in the arts—and it can't come soon enough," Shiffman said. It is "really, really encouraging" that Stanford is committed to the idea of the arts initiative and new space for the performing arts, he said.
"It is unusual to leave a place that has been so supportive," Shiffman said. But, "it feels like we are leaving at a time of real strength. I take great comfort in that."