November 16th Chamber Ensemble to Feature World-Class Musicians

By Judith Dorato O’Gara 

LiveARTS, of Franklin, disbanded last year.

Right?

 Not so fast, say those who are collaborating to revive the LiveARTS String Quartet in Franklin. They even have a concert and venue planned – Sunday, November 16th, 3 p.m., at the Franklin Historical Museum, 80 W. Central St., Franklin. Admission for this concert is free with voluntary donations gratefully accepted.

“Our goal is to start a string quartet chamber music series in Franklin and surrounding areas coming out of the dissolution of LiveARTS,” says professional violinist Donald Krishnaswami, of Norfolk, who served for eight years on the LiveARTS board.

LiveARTS, he says, was formed in 2001 at the First Universalist Society of Franklin, although it was separate from the church. “We always called it a gem of a concert series, with world class artists coming from outside the Boston area, and sometimes internationally,” says Krishnaswami “It was Boston-caliber musical performance without having to go to Boston, and much less expensive.” 

The LiveARTS String Quartet began in 2009, when Krishnaswami reached out to BSO players. They performed a world premiere of his String Quartet #1. The following year, the four musicians performed another concert, “and lo and behold, we ended up establishing the LiveARTS String Quartet,” he says, what would grow to be a beloved quartet-in-residence of LiveARTS which generally played an annual concert.

As good things sometimes do, the larger umbrella of LiveARTS simply ran its course.

“We reached a point in LiveARTS, I think, (where) there was a bit of a burnout,” says the musician.

When the group notified its fans, Franklin resident, musician and composer Jon Mitchell felt so unhappy with the news, he reached out on a group thread to then LiveARTS president David Burnham, asking if the decision to end the group wasn’t premature. Krishnaswami followed along on the email thread.

“I thought, what about the LiveARTS String Quartet?” says Krishnaswami, who emailed Mitchell privately. “Within days, David, Jon and I had a meeting at Birchwood Bakery I thought was exploratory, but my jaw dropped. I came out of that meeting with a scheduled concert date. Two Franklin residents who were LiveARTS patrons and very dedicated to the arts thriving in Franklin, particularly classical music, had already gotten the gears moving, having already talked to the Franklin Historical Museum, and a portion of the funding was in place already.”

Mitchell describes his part in the effort as “very small,” simply reaching out to Don and Randy LaRosa, the latter a retired music educator who performed with the Metrowest Symphony, to Timothy Ayers, a choral conductor at Dean College, and to Alan Earls, head of the Historical Commission at the museum.

The November show will feature a world class ensemble, whose partial biographies, follow:

• Gregory Vitale-Newton, Violin, Concertmaster of the Boston Landmarks Orchestra, repeat featured soloist on Boston’s Esplanade, guest soloist with the New England String Ensemble, Nashua Chamber Orchestra, Brookline Philharmonic, and Wellesley Symphony orchestras, who plays regularly with the Boston Pops on occasion with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. 

• Katherine Winterstein, Violin, Concertmaster of the Vermont Symphony, Associate Concertmaster of the Rhode Island Philharmonic, and Co-concertmaster of the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. She has performed as Concertmaster of the Palm Beach Opera and the Boston Modern Orchestra Project, and she performs regularly with the Handel and Haydn Society, Boston Baroque, and A Far Cry. She was a member of the Hartt String Quartet, the Providence-based Aurea Ensemble, and has been with the Craftsbury Chamber Players of Vermont for 21 years.

• Donald Krishnaswami, Viola, has played with many members of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, is a founding member of the LiveARTS String Quartet, has been a guest artist with the Walden Chamber Players, a core member of the Art of Music Chamber Players, a founding member of the South Coast Chamber Music Series of New Bedford, Mass., and the Persichetti String Quartet. He has played internationally and on radio, with orchestras including, among others, the Boston Pops, Boston Symphony Orchestra, Boston Lyric Opera Orchestra, Boston Ballet Orchestra, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, the Orchestra of St. Luke’s, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. 

• Guest artist Emmanuel Feldman, Cello, enjoys an active career as a soloist, chamber musician, recording artist, champion and commissioner of new music and educator. Feldman has concertized throughout Europe and North America. He has performed as soloist with the Boston Pops, Nashville Chamber Orchestra, Greensboro Festival Orchestra, Boston Philharmonic, Boston Modern Orchestra Project, New England String Ensemble and many others. 

LiveARTS String Quartet’s regular cello player, Jan Mueller-Szeraws, not available November 16th, has an equally impressive CV to the musicians above.

If all goes well with LiveARTS String Quartet’s first concert at Franklin Historical Museum, Krishnaswami is hoping the string quartet can perform a series of three to four concerts per year. “It’s an exciting thing, the establishment of a top-notch professional high caliber string quartet that’s based in Franklin,” he says.

Although the LiveARTS String Quartet does not yet have a website, you can reach out to Krishnaswami at [email protected].