Credit Midsummer’s Music newest ensemble for helping new and younger faces attend their performances. The Griffon String Quartet began last fall as a collaboration with the Fine Arts Institute at Green Bay East High School and St. Norbert College to help enhance music education across Door and Brown counties. Midsummer’s Music Executive Director Allyson Fleck credits the musicians’ outreach and community approach for bringing in audiences of all ages.
The Griffon String Quartet will play their next concert at the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship on Friday beginning at 7 p.m. You can find more details about the concert online with this story.
FLECK DISCUSSES THE PIECES BEING PERFORMED
The quartet is the result of a collaboration between Midsummer’s Music Ltd. in Door County, the Fine Arts Institute at East High in Green Bay, and St. Norbert College in De Pere. With a mission of enhancing student learning and academic achievement through increased exposure to—and participation in—music, the three-year program is embedding a professional resident string quartet—the Griffon String Quartet—into the classrooms of schools throughout Door and Brown Counties.
In addition to student outreach, the Griffon String Quartet plays concerts for all ages in venues across Door County and Brown County. The March 15 concert, which begins at 7:00 pm, includes Beethoven’s String Quartet in B-flat Major, Op. 18, No. 6; Joan Tower’s String Quartet No. 5, “White Water”; and Debussy’s String Quartet in G Minor, Op. 10. A reception follows the concert for an opportunity to meet the musicians.
The four musicians are young, well-educated, energetic, and dedicated to the success of the program. Ryan Louie (cello) has toured extensively and has degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and the Cleveland Institute of Music. Blakeley Menghini (viola) is a 2018 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she earned her Doctoral of Musical Arts. Roy Meyer (violin) has a Bachelor of Music in violin performance from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Master of Music degree from the University of South Florida in Tampa. Vinicius Sant’ Ana (violin) earned his Master of Music degree at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Tickets to the March 15 concert are $29 for adults, $10 for students, and free for children 12 and younger.
The Griffon String Quartet will play another concert with a new repertoire at 7:00 pm on Saturday, May 25, at the Kress Pavilion in Egg Harbor. Combo pairs of tickets are available for the Mary 15 and May 25 concerts at $50 for adults and $18 for students.
