(Above: The Delgani String Quartet; left to right, Jannie Wei, Wyatt True, Kimberlee Uwate, and Eric Alterman; photo by

By Randi Bjornstad

The Delgani String Quartet’s summer concert on Sept. 27 was a sell-out, but a few tickets remain for the identical Oct. 2 concert that starts at 6 p.m. in Springfield’s Island Park, right off the Willamette River between B and C streets. This concert replaces the one originally scheduled for Sept. 25 that was postponed because of rain.

“We had 40 people last Sunday, but we probably could have accommodated more,” Wyatt True, the quartet’s founder, said. Because of the requirements for social distancing and mask wearing in the public park, the number had to be limited compared with outdoor concerts of past years, he said.

The program on Friday will be a repeat of the one last weekend, featuring the American Quartet by Antonin Dvořák plus the pastoral melodies of William Grant Still’s Lyric Suite.

These summer concerts are the Delgani String Quartet’s first in-person, live performance since the shutdown occasioned by the coronavirus outbreak.

“We are really aware of the way many arts organizations have been affected by this pandemic — and we have been, too,” True said. “But we have been fortunate, because we finished our fiscal year at the end of June in the black — barely.”

Since starting the Delgani String Quartet five years ago, the group set a goal of maintaining a year of financial reserves, “and we actually started the 2019-20 season with a year of reserves, so we feel very thankful about that preparation — we hear a lot of stories about organizations that may be about to close,” he said.

He always has held the memory of the 2008 Great Recession in the back of his mind, “and I never wanted to find myself in that position,” True said “Fiscal responsibility is of high importance, especially when you are asking people to contribute to the group’s financial support. So we will be okay.”

That’s not to say things have not changed, he acknowledged. This year, in the face of the coronavirus, Delgani’s popular summer camps that teach strings lessons, music history, and music theory had to be virtual instead of in-person, which reduced the number of participants from 38 last year to only 18 this year.

“That was to be expected,” True said. “We will see what happens going forward.”

Likewise, season subscriptions to the quartet’s concert series for the coming season has dropped by approximately half, “because many people do not feel comfortable coming in person with the uncertainty of what will be happening with the pandemic,” True said.

That means that the quartet has had to become more inventive with its performances. There will be live performances in Eugene on Sundays and Tuesdays at the Christian Science Church at 1390 Pearl St., and the Sunday concerts also will be live-streamed. The in-person numbers will be limited to 40 to accommodate social distancing and mask wearing. Season subscribers will be able to choose between the in-person and at-home concert experience.

The normal Salem and Portland venues will not be open for 2020-21, but season ticketholders there also have the option to live-stream the concerts, and season subscribers in Eugene, Salem, and Portland will be able to take in the virtual versions for 30 days following the actual live concerts. They also will have access to pre-concert lectures and interviews with guest artists.

“This is all new territory for us,” True said. “We currently have about 110 subscribers in Eugene, so if 80 want to come instead of 40, we may add a second live performance of each concert. We will just have to see as the season unfolds.”

There will be another change in the 2020-21 season, occasioned by the expected addition of a second daughter in the family of True and Jannie Wei, his wife and fellow violinist in the quartet. The other quartet members are violist Kimberlee Uwate and cellist Eric Alterman.

Tom Stone, the founding violinist of the Cypress Quartet that performed in San Francisco for 20 years, has been a mentor to the Delgani String Quartet for the past three years and will be playing with the group in Wei’s place starting with the Oct. 25 concert.

For information about the upcoming regular season and ticket purchases, go online to delgani.org.

Delgani String Quartet concert

When: 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Friday, Oct. 2

Where: Island Park, 200 West B St., Springfield

Tickets: $20 regular, $5 students, available online at delgani.org

Details: Masks and social distancing apply; bring chairs or blankets for seating, and feel free to picnic