Chamber Music Seminar
About the Chamber Music Seminar
This 10-day intensive program is designed for those with a serious ongoing interest in chamber music and follows a rigorous schedule of study and performance in a uniquely supportive environment, blending advanced students destined for careers in performance with passionate adult musicians.
During the Seminar, participants receive dynamic instruction from members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet as well as special guest faculty in a relaxed and supportive atmosphere. Participants focus on one or two major works in chamber music literature while learning the delicate art of cooperation as part of an intimate group.
The SLSQ Chamber Music Seminar will be held on the Stanford University campus. The Seminar attracts participants from ages 18 to 82, ranging from intermediate to advanced in skill. Though most participants are string players, we also include pianists and wind players with an interest in chamber music. Participants from our previous seminars have overwhelmingly rated their experience outstanding and hoped to return again to enjoy the experience of working with the St. Lawrence String Quartet and our adjunct faculty.
The 2025 Seminar will run from Saturday, June 21 to Sunday, June 29. (Participants are expected to arrive Friday June 20.) Seminar programming will begin Saturday, June 22.
Applications to the St. Lawrence Chamber Music Seminar will open on December 4, 2024.
Preference is given to pre-formed ensembles. Individual applicants are welcome to submit an application but will only be considered after pre-formed ensembles are placed. Enrollment is limited due to space considerations. If accepted, ensembles must attend with the roster of musicians listed on the application. Please note, we are not able to accommodate Duos. Application fees are non-refundable. All applicants must be at least 18 years of age by June 1, 2024.
For more information please contact stlawrenceseminar [at] gmail.com (stlawrenceseminar[at]gmail[dot]com). See additional application information here.
Comments from Participants of the Chamber Music Seminar
I now have so many new ideas and tools to move forward with. Our work will be forever changed by this experience and I see many projects that will be directly influenced by our time at Stanford. – Rachel Desoer, cello, Cecilia String Quartet
The encouragement that we received during the seminar to try to think outside of the box, and to push our boundaries and imaginations, will keep our group striving to always grow and find connections throughout our musical lives. – Caitlin Boyle, viola, Cecilia Quartet
I truly believe there is no other place in the world that combines such an intense commitment to great music making with a spirit of discovery and friendship. – Alex Fortes, violin, A Far Cry
Trying to describe the SLSQ seminar is like trying to describe the Grand Canyon: words fail. I can say it's fun and all-consuming and rewarding, but none of those words really capture what it's like to be immersed in chamber music and marinate in the most energetic and inspiring environment. – Christine Choi, violin, Emergency Physician
About the St. Lawrence String Quartet
After a one year hiatus following the death of founding violinist Geoff Nuttall, the members of the St. Lawrence String Quartet (SLSQ) today announced that 2023-24 would be the ensemble’s final season. Lesley, Owen and Chris continue, however, to make their lives at Stanford University, where the SLSQ has been in residence since 1998 —performing, teaching, directing Stanford’s chamber music program, and producing their annual Chamber Music Seminar, in addition to pursuing other musical projects.
Founded in Toronto in 1989, the SLSQ were renowned for their high-energy, deeply expressive, and “take no prisoners” approach to all music, and beloved for nurturing an engaged and inclusive musical community. As Alex Ross of The New Yorker aptly noted, “the SLSQ is remarkable not simply for the quality of their music-making, exalted as it is, but for the joy they take in the act of connection.”
Well-known for performing a broad and eclectic repertoire, SLSQ were especially regarded for their commitment to the music of Haydn—recent concert programs included all six quartets from his Opus 20 in a single afternoon—and to new music. Commissioned works were written for the ensemble by celebrated contemporary composers, such as Osvaldo Golijov, John Adams, Jonathan Berger, Mark Applebaum, and R. Murray Schafer. These composers, with whom they forged rich and abiding friendships, were inspired to return time and again to write for the SLSQ.
The St. Lawrence String Quartet shot to international attention following their 1992 win at the Banff International String Quartet Competition. Early protégés of the Emerson String Quartet, the quartet also studied extensively with the Tokyo and Juilliard String Quartets; members of Canada’s Orford String Quartet; and Denis Brott, Lorand Fenyves, Henry Meyer, and Zoltan Szekely of the Hungarian Quartet. They collaborated with a host of legendary artists, including Menahem Pressler, Todd Palmer, the Emerson, Ying, & Brentano Quartets, conductors Gustavo Dudamel, Michael Tilson Thomas, Marin Alsop and Peter Oundjian, pianists Stephen Prutsman, Inon Barnatan, Anne-Marie McDermott and Wu Han, cellist David Finckel, among many others. They released award-winning albums on EMI (Schumann String Quartets, Tchaikovsky String Quartets, “Yiddishbbuk” by Osvaldo Golijov); Naxos; Nonesuch; EASonus (Haydn Opus 20); and, most recently, Phenotypic Recordings (Haydn Op. 76 and Korngold’s Piano Quintet). Over the years, the SLSQ were represented by Andrew Kwan Artist Management, Young Concert Artists, EAS Musik Management, Columbia Artists and David Rowe Artists.
At home and across the globe, the SLSQ inspired and nurtured communities of chamber music enthusiasts and influenced generations of young artists. The quartet was ensemble-in-residence at Spoleto Festival USA for 25 years, building a loyal following and a wide circle of life-long friends and supporters. The foursome believed deeply in the universality of the chamber music experience and brought the same fierce musical integrity to prisons, construction sites, hospitals, living rooms and scientific laboratories as they did to the venerable stages of the world, including Carnegie Hall, the Concertgebouw, Wigmore Hall, Berlin Philharmonie, Hanoi Opera House, and Bing Concert Hall.
In a statement, Lesley Robertson, Christopher Costanza and Owen Dalby remark: “We have had the adventure of our lives. We can’t imagine a more gratifying, challenging, inspiring, exasperating, deeply joyful, heartbreaking, life-affirming experience than this joint effort over so many years. We are profoundly grateful to have had the opportunity to explore the magic kingdom of the string quartet repertoire together – and for the deep friendships, beautiful discoveries and transformative life lessons learned along the way”.
The ensemble’s final season concluded with performances in Charleston, SC, La Jolla, and at Stanford University.