Ryan Louie, Cello
It’s great to begin our second season as the Griffon String Quartet! This summer the four of us taught and performed at chamber music camps at Illinois Wesleyan University and Kansas State University. It was an awesome experience to coach young and enthusiastic chamber musicians and to perform for different people in different states. It was especially great to visit Manhattan, Kansas, once again, where we performed as a quartet for the first time in 2018. It was also nice to see the growth of students who came back to the chamber music camp for a second straight year. What a difference a single year makes!
In a personal venture, I had the opportunity to perform Haydn’s Cello Concerto in C Major at the Concerts in the Shed in Sherry, Wisconsin, a music festival directed by our very own Roy Meyer. It was exhilarating to say the least! I had a chance to meet many great string players from Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, and Wisconsin to perform as an unconducted chamber orchestra. I have also always wanted to perform Haydn’s C Major concerto with orchestra so I definitely had a great time.
Before the start of the Griffon season, my girlfriend Leah and I went to Hong Kong and Macau with my parents to celebrate my dad’s 70th birthday. My dad spent most of his childhood there before moving to the states. Despite the many times I’ve been there, it was actually the first time I went there with him. It was nice to see his old neighborhood and to hear his childhood stories. Personally, it was also a great chance for me to speak my first language, Cantonese! Our travels had more unbelievable food than fathomable. I had many opportunities to eat my favorite foods that I can’t regularly get in Wisconsin. On top of all the culinary escapades, we visited family and saw some great sites. Hong Kong is a wonder of a city and I hope to travel there more regularly.
After a few weeks of intense rehearsals I can say I’m super excited to share our upcoming program with everyone. In October, we will be performing Shostakovich’s 8th string quartet along with Schubert’s epic “Death and the Maiden” quartet. We look forward to presenting these dark pieces to set the mood for Halloween. Lastly, we hope to spread the beauty of chamber music and music-making even more this 2019-2020 season. We are looking forward to expand and grow our teaching programs and reach more and more people throughout Wisconsin. We can’t wait for another successful season with you all!