What happens when four string players with a deep love for chamber music come together? You get the Verona Quartet.
“The Quartet was initially formed at Indiana University,” said violinist Jonathan Ong. “We were four students doing separate degrees and we got together just to play chamber music for credit. We were all incredible chamber music lovers, and we just live, breathe, and die for chamber music.”
The group consists of two violinists, a violist and a cellist with each calling a different country home. “I’m from Singapore,” said Ong. “JD (cellist Jonathan Dormand) is from the UK, Dorothy Ro, our other violinist is from Nova Scotia, Canada and Abigail [Rojansky] is from San Francisco.”
Even the Verona Quartet’s name is a reference to another well known artist. “Music is one of the greatest forms of storytelling,” said cellist Jonathan Dormand. “We wanted to pay homage to possibly the greatest storyteller of all time, William Shakespeare, and his beloved city of Verona in which several of these plays take place.”
The quartet’s big break came after winning the Concert Artists Guild competition in 2015. Since then, the Verona Quartet has appeared across four continents and performed in venues like Carnegie Hall in New York City, Wigmore Hall in the United Kingdom and Melbourne Recital Hall in Australia.
When not on tour, the quartet serves on the faculty of the Oberlin College and Conservatory at the Quartet-in-Residence.
The Verona Quartet will be bringing their talent to First Presbyterian Church in Stamford, New York on May 19th at 3pm.
Watch the full interview with Bill Snyder below:
String Quartet No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 12 -- Felix Mendelssohn
Adagio non troppo—Allegro non tardante (1809-1847)
Canzonetta—Allegretto più mosso
Andante espressivo
Molto allegro e vivace
String Quartet No. 4 (1951) -- Grażyna Bacewicz
Andante—Allegro molto (1909-1969)
Andante
Allegro giocoso
String Quartet No. 15 in A minor, Op. 132 -- Ludwig van Beethoven
Assai sostenuto—Allegro (1770-1827)
Allegro ma non tanto
Heiliger Dankgesang eines Genesenen an die Gottheit, in der Lydischen Tonart:
Molto adagio—Andante
Alla Marcia, assai vivace
Allegro appassionato
