Student Diary: Tianjin Chamber Music Week

In November, The Tianjin Juilliard School hosted its first Chamber Music Week which brought together students from six music schools including The Juilliard School in New York, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music at the National University of Singapore, and Seoul National University College of Music. Under the guidance of the Juilliard String Quartet and Tianjin Juilliard resident faculty, the students participated in rehearsals, coaching, master classes, and many more activities. It was a rewarding and enriching week for the Juilliard students as they immersed themselves in joyful music making and cultural exchange in Tianjin, China. While on the road, Juilliard students Valerie Kim (violin), Rannveig Sarc (violin), Samuel Rosenthal (viola), and Sterling Elliott (cello) kept a collective diary of their shared experiences and adventures in Tianjin.

 

 

Sunday, November 10

Rannveig: After many plates of breakfast at the hotel in Tianjin, where they serve every kind of food imaginable, we headed out for a day of exploration with Dean Meyer and Bethany Marshall (who works at The Tianjin Juilliard School). Bethany was our awesome tour guide for the day. We took the high-speed bullet train to Binhai to see the Tianjin Juilliard construction site. It was fascinating to see it with our own eyes. It is almost ready to open! We also got to wear Juilliard-labeled helmets and vests that we ended up keeping as souvenirs. After a tour of the new campus, we had hot pot for lunch. It was my first hot pot experience and it was delicious, spicy, and enjoyed in great company. Bethany was so helpful with the translations at the restaurant!

 

 

After lunch, we walked around and explored Minyuan Stadium and Ancient Culture Street.  Sterling got to play the Erhu in one of the stores! Afterwards, we met up with the Juilliard String Quartet and Shen Yiwen, Juilliard alum and assistant dean of performance activities at Tianjin Juilliard. We went for dinner together – it was so nice to get a chance to know them better before the seminar began. After dinner, we went to our first concert of the week which featured the amazing cellist Qin Liwei and Tianjin Juilliard faculty members. The musicians sounded amazing and the concert hall was magnificent! I will be honest and admit that after a long day of exploration, we were all exhausted and battling severe jet-lag, so getting through this concert was a challenge!

 

 

Monday, November 11

Valerie: After another indulgent breakfast, all six ensembles headed out to the Tianjin Conservatory for our first official day of the seminar. After formal introductions and an overview of the week, we set off to our first coaching session with Ronald Copes. We hadn’t had a chance to rehearse in about a week and were all tragically jetlagged. However, receiving Mr. Copes’ enthusiastic insight on the first movement of Bartok’s 2nd String Quartet was an absolute pleasure that morning. After a brief lunch break and chat outside with the piano quartet from the Yong Siew Toh Conservatory of Music, we went on to our afternoon coaching with Tianjin Juilliard faculty, Sheila Browne on the second movement. She helped us direct our attention towards focusing our physical energy in the most effective and efficient manner, which is such a crucial aspect of this thrilling movement. After processing and rehearsing a bit more, all six groups headed out to dinner at a restaurant, Get Together, where the four of us sat with the lovely Gallant Quartet from Shanghai Conservatory before the evening concert.

 

 

Tuesday, November 12

Valerie: After rehearsing and coaching in the morning and afternoon, all of us went out to Meringue Duck for dinner – this might have been the most memorable meal of the week! Topping off the mouth-watering, melting Peking duck and the other incredible dishes, was the warmth of great company from the Juilliard String Quartet, Dean Meyer, and Dean Shen. After this treat, all six groups gathered to read Dvorak’s “American” Quartet, string orchestra style, with each section led by the corresponding member of the Juilliard String Quartet. My fondest memory of the entire seminar was when we continued this reading party on our own with the joyous Mendelssohn Octet and intimate Mozart G Minor Viola Quintet. There’s nothing quite like the thrill and vulnerability of sightreading to bring new friends together. I wish we could have the chance to do it more than once!

 

 

Wednesday, November 13

Valerie: After our customary five plates and bowls of breakfast, we had our morning coaching with Mr. Copes on the second movement. He spoke to us about the rhetorical aspects of the music and encouraged us to be present and react in the moment to collectively sense the abrupt transitions. Later in the afternoon, Gergely Ittzés joined our coaching with Ms. Browne to give us his feedback on characterizing and identifying the folk song and dance influences in the second movement. Then we stuffed ourselves with yet another delicious dinner at Go Believe, a restaurant famous for their Goubuli (steamed buns), before our master class with Areta Zhulla and Roger Tapping. This was actually our very first public performance as a quartet, and after playing through the first movement of the Bartok in quite a boomy acoustic, Ms. Zhulla and Mr. Tapping imparted their wisdom on the movement’s colors and textures being quite Debussy-esque and encouraged us to explore the different possibilities of espressivo.

 

 

Thursday, November 14

Valerie: We had our last valuable coachings with Mr. Copes and Ms. Browne. In the afternoon, we took a break and walked to a nearby McDonald’s (after all, we’re American) to try the spicy fried chicken sandwich we had been seeing on advertisements all week. We enjoyed these sandwiches by the Hai river, concluding that McDonald’s is way better everywhere outside of America, and happened to see a man strip down and go for a swim in the unimaginably cold water! That night, we watched one of the most stunning, satisfying performances I’ve ever heard to date. On the program was Penderecki’s Duo Concertante, Brahms’ G Major Sextet and Dvorak’s Piano Quintet, played by the Juilliard String Quartet and Tianjin Juilliard faculty. Such spontaneity and exquisite chamber music-making – the perfect concert to inspire us for tomorrow’s performance. Tomorrow, we will give a joint concert with the other five student ensembles.

 

Friday, November 15

Samuel: On Friday morning, the day of the final concert, we had our first opportunity to play in the beautiful Tianjin Grand Theater. With the inspiring help of Mr. Copes, our dress rehearsal was very fun and gave us a good sense of how to approach the space as well as the performance. With our dress rehearsal out of the way and the rest of the day freed up, the four of us decided to go on an adventure on our own. With the help of the hotel concierge, we got a taxi to the Five Great Avenues. Upon arrival, we began to search for an exciting place to eat. We tried to get help from the tourist center which recommended a very interesting Russian restaurant. However, since we were in China we wanted something a little more authentic. We stumbled upon a quaint restaurant across the street where there was no English on the menu, not even a picture! Also, the waiters did not speak any English. Luckily, our waitress turned out to be extremely kind and patient, using a translation app on her phone to communicate with Valerie. Not quite certain what we ordered, it turned out to be an excellent and very fun Hot Pot feast! When the shrimp came with the full shell intact, Valerie, the most courageous of the four of us, shelled each one by hand. This was one of our most exciting and delicious meals of the trip! That night, we had our wonderful concert. It was incredibly inspiring to watch all the other amazing student groups perform. After the concert, we had a great reception with all the faculty, staff, and students which was a wonderful way to celebrate and say goodbye.

 

Saturday, November 16

Rannveig: On our last day, we gave an early morning presentation about the second movement of Bartók’s Quartet No. 2 for the Tianjin Juilliard Pre-College students. It was such a delight to get to know these kids, who all listened so attentively and asked us great questions! They were all very curious about the music and eager to learn. We had a wonderful translator for the presentation, and I want to thank all of the translators at this seminar for their amazing work! We had some time to kill before heading out to the airport. Along with Dean Meyer, we went to the Italian District and got some delicious street food. With our stomachs and hearts full, it was time to say goodbye and head to the airport. It was very sad saying goodbye to all the other students and the wonderful staff of The Tianjin Juilliard School. It seemed as if we had been there for much longer than just a week, because we experienced so much and formed such strong friendships. We really miss our time in Tianjin and are so thankful for these beautiful memories!