The Ninth Street Quartet promised something really different, and even though it was right before Christmas, holiday shopping wasn’t done, decorations were still in boxes, and the party season was in full swing, I recklessly left it all behind to attend the Winter Solstice Concert on Dec. 20, at Saint George’s Episcopal in search of a few quiet moments in a music-filled church. The Quartet never disappoints. 

Jennifer Wade introduced the concert saying, “This is the kind of tradition I long for as the year draws to a close. I’m not religious, but I still want a sacred experience. I want to feel like I’m a part of the winding down that’s happening in the natural world around me.” Wade, violinist of 9th Street Quartet and founder of Lifescape Visionary, took a risk in sharing her vision of a concert which combined poetry, color, art, photography and music. “This program is the evolution of a private event I started running several years ago. With the help of my 9th Street colleagues and friends, and Saint George’s beautiful space, I'm delighted to share the beauty and reflective mood of this season with a much wider audience.” 

The music, the readings, and the lighting, conjured up a sense that the moment had come to reflect, move from frenetic activity to one in which snow, birds, silence, stars, and rest were more important than crossing another thing off the list. Themes of Celebration, Perspective, Winter, Darkness, Hibernation, Liminal Space and Expectation, and Hope. 

Starting with less somber pieces from The Danish Quartet, like “Staedelil,” a jaunty tune, the quartet moved into “Tenebrae” by Oswaldo Golijov. Despite its jarring short bow strokes and almost “Psycho” like crescendos, “Tenebrae” also then entered another world: a walk on a starry night, a sleigh ride floating over the snow, nostalgic, romantic, emotional. I was moved to tears. 

“Plan and Elevation” by Caroline Shaw, was equally provocative and beautiful. In Steven Snowden’s “Bird Catching From Above,” Wade had told the audience to listen carefully as somewhere in the concert we might hear sounds reflective of the environment, and one did indeed hear the birds in the sky, the seagull and the trickle of the stream. It’s amazing what string instruments can do. 

“Saint George’s is thrilled to partner with 9th Street Chamber Music in their mission to offer high quality, innovative programming and instruction,” said Ben Keseley, Minister of Music at Saint George’s Episcopal. “As our Artists in Residence, together we share a strong belief that music’s beauty can change people’s lives for the better. This culminates in the exquisite performances they offer in our beautiful space which is known for its resonant acoustics and allows us to experience music in a way that more deeply touches the heart.”

The quartet was helped in its delivery of this sublime concert by Finn Bernuy, Suzie Bousquet, and Cecilia Berger, who read poems and readings from a diverse set of writers — Billy Collins, Maria Popova, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and Susan Cooper, to name just a few. Guest musicians, former students of the Ninth Street Quartet program, were: Ethan Hemmings, Sarah Russell-Hunter, Elfa Hassan, Arista Wilson, Sophia Urbom, and Chris Fox. Although I didn’t see the accompanying digital program until later, it was full of lovely art and photographs reflecting the season. 

It’s as though Jennifer Wade and the Ninth Street Quartet were channeling a color rich work of art at the Renwick Gallery right now, “1.8 Renwick” by Janet Echelman, in which she “uses fiber and colored light to examine the complex interconnections between humankind and our physical world. Echelman’s knotted meditation explores the contrast between the “forces we can understand and control and those we cannot….” as did this moving tribute to the winter season.

To learn more about Lifescape VIsionary, founded in 2017 by Wade, see: www.lifescapevisionary.com . 

To find out what the Ninth Street Quartet is doing next, see: www.9thstreetquartet.org. 

More about concerts at Saint George’s

https://saintgeorgesmusic.org/concerts