(Above: Members of the Delgani String Quartet; from left, Jannie Wei, Althea Kreston, Eric Alterman, and Kimberlee Uwate.)
By Daniel Buckwalter
The Delgani “family” was out in full force for the Eugene opening of the ensemble’s eighth season, following season openers in Corvallis and Salem and preceding one in Portland.
How Eugene came to be home to the Delgani String Quartet — this exquisite ensemble that grabs technical mastery and paints artistic majesty — is a mystery. It’s fate, I suppose, and sometimes it is better to love what is in front of you and let it be.
Which is what two good-size audiences did in the sanctuary of the First Church of Christ, Scientist on Pearl Street in Eugene on Oct. 16 and 18.
The technical and artistic mastery showed by Delgani — violinists Anthea Kreston and Jannie Wei, violist Kimberlee Uwate and cellist Eric Alterman — was displayed in the string quartet works of Franz Joseph Haydn, Béla Bartók and Ludwig van Beethoven.
From the melodic to the spritely, with elements of dance, Delgani tightly wove through the narrative of the three European giants, receiving standing ovations for both Eugene performances and, based on reports from the other locations, for the concerts in Corvallis, Salem, and Portland also.
As for the Oct. 18 concert, the Tuesday night affair I attended, there was a relaxed vibe in the sanctuary; a testament, perhaps, to people finally ready to permanently shed masks from the past two-plus pandemic years and embrace beauty.
That relaxed atmosphere played itself out at the beginning when Wyatt True, Delgani’s founder, former violinist and now executive director, had to call out the quartet a second time to take the stage and start the concert.
The quartet walked onto the stage, each one grinning.
“We were busy chatting, not listening,” Kreston said to laughs all around.
From there, Delgani took off with Haydn and Bartók in the first set.
After intermission, Delgani played Beethoven’s string quartet in E minor, which Alterman introduced as one of his favorites, and it’s easy to hear why.
The fourth and final movement, in particular, has a vibrant dance-like phrase that is repeated throughout. It’s pace and tone picks up to a gloriously grand finale.
The first time the phrase was repeated, I couldn’t help but notice two young women sitting near me, swaying their shoulders and bobbing their heads to the music, smiling the whole time.
It was done as a response to the joy of the piece and that movement, and it was done with the secure feel of being in a familial surrounding.
It was good to see the Delgani String Quartet back in full force.
