Big music comes to Bozeman

Big names in music came to Bozeman this past Friday when the Grammy-nominated Dover Quartet performed in Howard Hall. Hosted by Montana Chamber Music (MCM), the quartet played for about an hour before leaving the stage to a standing ovation.

The Dover Quartet is described as “one of the greatest string quartets of the last 100 years” by BBC Music Magazine. According to the Quartet’s website, the Quartet’s 2023-2024 season has taken them international, with stops in Europe and Israel. It is composed of members Joel Link and Bryan Lee on violin, Julianne Lee on viola and Camden Shaw on cello.

MCM is a Bozeman-based organization which describes its mission as “[advancing] chamber music by delivering the highest quality performances in the Big Sky country, and to expand ongoing cultural relevance for all by engaging a diverse public.” The president of MCM, Renée Westlake, explained during her interview with the Exponent, “what you heard tonight, we do that six times a year. Plus a summer festival and then we have two educational programs and then we have a rural outreach program.”

Among other pieces, the quartet played Antonín Leopold Dvořák String Quartet No. 12, known popularly as the “American Quartet.”Before playing the piece, Shaw provided some brief remarks explaining its origin. Dvořák was a Czech composer who composed the piece during a stay in Iowa, at the behest of a wealthy American. In his composition, Dvořák hoped to capture the sound of America. According to an online archive dedicated to the life and works of Dvořák, the symphony pulled from all members of American society, including Native American and African-American traditions, making it unique for its time.

The venue was not the only piece of the show MSU had a hand in providing. Two MSU alumni, Alex Fisher and Ellie McLachlan, created and distributed the program for the show. “We teamed up with [Westlake], and we partnered with our inside sales team with Staples and we helped them design and make a program,” Fischer said. “I've had a lot of fun with it. That's for sure. Cool opportunity to come out here and see their music and partner with them, just as a local community. And then we got to see a quartet, which was super cool.”

After the performance, Duncan Gentry, a philosophy major who said he came to the show to fulfill a requirement for his Intro to Music class, shared his overall impressions of the performance. “Jaw dropped,” he said, sharing that he had never been to a chamber music performance before.

“Chamber music, the, the idea was that people got together and played in each other's kitchens. And so it's a very intimate environment. Setting so that the musicians and the people that are listening can look each other in the eyes,” Westlake said.

“You can watch them communicate with their eyes and with their breathing and with, you know, how they lean and it's fascinating to watch these chamber musicians. Because they're communicating all the time.” Westlake continued.

In the interview, Westlake emphasized the Montanain MCM. “Our goal is to get into areas of Montana that people don't get professional music. And so we've played in Pony, we've played in Lewistown, we've played in Big Timber, we've played in White Sulphur Springs, and we keep trying to reach further in Montana. It's a big goal of ours to make this not the Bozeman Chamber Music, but Montana Chamber Music,” she said.