Avalon String Quartet members (from left) Blaise Magniere, Sumire Kudo, Marie Wang and Anthony Devroye started a two-year residency in the fall at IU South Bend.
 The reviews are in for the South Bend campus’ very own quartet, which is facilitating a quality string program and giving balance to an overall music program that has a tradition of excellence all its own. |
The newspaper reviews from across the country are in, and the Avalon String Quartet has been called “exciting” and “dynamic.”
Formed in 1995 at the Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, the quartet has traveled throughout the world, won numerous honors in Europe and North America, such as the Fischoff Chamber Music Competition in South Bend, and premiered new works.
The members are all brilliant soloists who have performed with orchestras and at competitions in every corner of the world.
This past autumn, the quartet became a dynamic and exciting addition to IU South Bend as artists-in-residence. There are perhaps 20 such residencies nationwide and most of them are on larger campuses.
According to Thomas Miller, dean of the Ernestine M. Raclin School of the Arts, a campus tradition since the 1970s is to have a quartet in residence. The quartet members facilitate IU South Bend having a quality string program and give balance to the overall music program.
When the Avalon Quartet came to campus for the interview and auditions, the performance was brilliant. The quartet was the clear winner, Miller said. “They are very serious musicians, but they are also lively, fun companions and colleagues. It is a joy to have them here.”
Anthony Devroye (violist), Sumire Kudo (cellist), Marie Wang (second violinist) and Blaise Magniere (first violinist) are all enjoying the combination of teaching, performing and participating in the community.
“The residence offers the flexibility of performing and teaching,” Magniere said. “This makes us stable and gives us a base as we work together and with students.”
Devroye said that it is often difficult to survive in the music world without a residency. “This makes us economically viable.”
Devroye added that part of their role during the two-year residency at IU South Bend is to bring awareness to the program and recruit students. For example, at the beginning of January, the four members had a workshop for high school small ensembles.
Miller said they are doing some coaching with the philharmonic and are a resource for youth symphonies. “In addition, they are very good faculty members quite apart from being good musicians—good teammates.”
The four members know they are building on a rich music history in South Bend. There is a tradition here with the string quartets as well as the Toradze Piano Studio. They intend to add their own pages to this history.
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