Ravinia 2022, Issue 2

PREVIOUS PAGE: JAMIE JUNG During their week of performances with Wilco in New York, Karen Ouzounian and the Aizuri Quartet also appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert with the band to play “Poor Places” from their seminal album Yankee Hotel Foxtrot . It’s important for us not to have people assume that we would play a certain type of repertoire or in a certain way. As a quartet we can play Beethoven but also rhythmic, groove-based new music in a very powerful way. “That came about in a really cool way,” Ouzounian said with a laugh. “In February of 2021 during lockdown we got together with Nels Cline, the Wilco guitarist. He’s an incredibly versatile musician who plays a lot of experimental music and new music in addition to playing with Wilco.” Composer Douglas Cuomo enlist- ed Cline and the Aizuri to play one of his new works, Seven Limbs . “We loved working with Nels so much,” said Ouzounian. “He is the consummate chamber musician. He did this incredibly powerful, impro- vised playing for Doug’s piece. He was a joy to work with. Then he asked if we would be interested in opening for Wilco on its 20th anniversary tour for the album. We were able to do it for five concerts in New York.” So after chamber concerts in Texas, New York, and the Eastman School of Music in March, the Aizuri Quartet took the stage April 15–20 at the United Palace, a lavishly restored vintage movie house in New York’s Washington Heights neighborhood. “The band was so nice to us,” said Ouzounian. “The general vibe was so open and kind. We got to play our music for about 25 minutes in the opening set, and the audience seemed to absolutely love it. And then we just transitioned immediately into the Wilco show after that. It was awesome.” For the Aizuri, “our music” can be anything from works by the medieval nun Hildegard von Bingen and J.S. Bach to newly written pieces by a diz- zyingly wide range of emerging and more established composers. Their Wilco set included a string quartet arrangement of the bluegrass gospel tune “Working on a Building,” and the third movement of Lift by Paul Wiancko. At times lyrically brooding, at times gleefully manic and off-kilter, Lift was featured on Blueprinting , the Aizuri’s Grammy-nominated debut album. The Aizuri Quartet grew out of Ouzounian’s two summers as a fellow at the Ravinia Steans Music Institute, in 2010 and 2011: “After the second summer at Ravinia, two other fellows [violinist Miho Saegusa and violist Ayane Kozasa] and I started talking about perhaps starting a string quartet. Chamber music was such a home, such a passion for the three of us. It was interesting to start pointing our compasses in one direction and learn by doing. We didn’t know what we were embarking on, but from the start, we were really serious about it.” Returning to the Steans Institute in 2014 as the Aizuri Quartet was an important step in the group’s development. “Miriam Fried [director of the in- stitute’s Program for Piano & Strings] was a hugely influential mentor to all of us individually, personally and as a group,” said Ouzounian. “Her belief in the group was huge for our develop- ment at that time. The seriousness of the study at Ravinia is so inspiring, the coaching we had that summer, all the rehearsal time we had, living together.” But the quartet’s musical profile did not emerge overnight. “Our identity sort of evolved in its own way,” said Ouzounian. “Over time we realized our string quartet really loves experimentation and be- ing versatile and playing a vast range of styles. We love playing Beethoven, RAVINIA MAGAZINE • JULY 4 – JULY 17, 2022 14